Stuffed Mushrooms

One of my favorite appetizers is stuffed mushrooms.  I am including two different recipes - one for sausage stuffed mushrooms, and one for crab stuffed mushrooms.  Here are the ingredients for the sausage stuffed mushrooms:

1 pound sausage
1 cup shredded or roped Provel/Provolone cheese
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 package of large button mushrooms, washed and stems removed
Drizzle of olive oil

Mix all ingredients together and roll a small amount into a ball.  Place each ball inside a mushroom cap.  Drizzle olive oil over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until sausage is thoroughly cooked.

Here are the ingredients for crab stuffed mushrooms:

2 cans of crab meat, drained
1 cups of breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons minced onion
1/2 stick of melted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 large package of mushrooms, washed and stems removed
Drizzle of olive oil

Mix all ingredients together and place a small ball of the mixture in each mushroom cap.  Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until mushrooms cooked through.

Enjoy!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I've always heard about making your own laundry soap.  After a little research, I discovered it wasn't only easy to make, it was VERY inexpensive!  This is right up my alley!

Here are the ingredients for the laundry soap:

1/3 bar of Fels Naptha (or Zote or Ivory)
1/2 cup of washing soda (not baking soda)
1/2 cup Borax
10 drops of Lemon essential oil (you can use whatever essential oil you would like for fragrance)

I found the ingredients in the laundry soap aisle in my local Walmart store.  Here is the process to make the soap:

Grate the soap and put it in a large sauce pan.  Add 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap dissolves.  Add the washing soda and Borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups of hot water into the pan and stir.  Add 1 gallon plus 5 cups of water and stir.  Let this sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  After 24 hours, put it into a large bucket.  This recipe makes about 2.5 gallons of laundry soap - a cost of about .03 per load!

This recipe does not make a lot of suds but that is OK because suds are not what cleans your clothes!
Use about 1/2 cup per load of laundry.  Very easy and cost effective!

Cherry Bars

I came across an interesting recipe on Pinterest and just had to try it:  Caramel Bars (http://cookiesnandcups.com).  It was a great recipe, but a little too sweet for me.  I decided to adapt the recipe and try cherries, instead of caramel.  The result is amazing!

Here are the ingredients:

4 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
4 sticks of butter
1 large can of cherry pie filling

In your mixer, mix together butter, brown sugar and white granulated sugar.  Slowly add powdered sugar.  Add vanilla and flour.

My little helper!  Trevor LOVES to help Grandma in the kitchen!

Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with PAM or cooking spray.  Press 1/2 of the dough at the bottom of the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.  While that is baking refrigerate the remaining dough.  You want the dough to be cold so that you can crumble it on top.

Remove from the oven.  Open the cherry pie filling and spread over the bottom crust.  Take the remaining dough and crumble over the top.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the top crust has some golden on it. 

Enjoy!  If you don't enjoy cherries, you can add any filling that you want!