The Nanny (cooking) Diaries: stuffed 'shrooms

For the past week, I have been living with a 12 year old picky eater (nannying while her parents take her big sister to college in New York.) To be fair, this particular 12 year old has reason to be picky... a deathly allergy (no kidding, deathly) to ALL nuts, egg whites, bananas, and avocados. Every time I feed her, i'm slightly terrified that I'm accidentally going to do her in with a rogue peanut or sneaky almond. Despite her picky-ness (chicken, ketchup, sourdough bread and munster cheese was basically her diet before I came along) I did get her to try (and like!) mushrooms by making her these delicious stuffed 'shrooms. Super easy, super quick, can't mess them up!

Stuffed 'Shrooms a la Avery

8 large white mushrooms, washed and dried
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons parsley
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup shredded parm. cheese
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove stems from mushrooms. Chop up the stems, and mix with all other ingredients. Mix in 2 tablespoons olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper.

Place empty mushroom caps onto baking dish. Fill mushroom caps to the max! push the stuffing down there to make sure they are full to the brim.

 Drizzle with olive oil before popping them into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove and enjoy!!!

The finished product... these were devoured 5 second later

Frosting for Breakfast: Homemade Pop Tarts

After months of avoiding actually starting to train for my marathon, I finally gave in and went with our neighbor Pearl to her Saturday morning running group. Turns out, 15 miles is much easier with a group of people who are equally as miserable! After the run, everyone in the group made something to fill the serious calorie deficit we had created. I brought these little guys, home made pop tarts. They were a HIT, and they are a great excuse to eat frosting in the morning!

1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and diced
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons Corn Starch
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 tsp almond or vanilla almond extract
1 package prepared pie crust

preheat oven to 400.

-Heat cherries, sugar, corn starch, water and extract in medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until filling has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.
-Roll out prepared pie crust and cut into even rectangles. I made mine about 2 inches x 1 inch, but you can make them as small or as large as you would like. Lightly score dough with a butter knife. Pair up the rectangles and make sure you have an even number.
-Spoon about a tablespoon of cooled cherry mixture onto one of the rectangles. Cover with another crust rectangle, and push edges together with a fork all the way around. Repeat with remaining rectangles.
-Transfer to a baking sheet and cook at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn brown. Let cool.

Frosting:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional, but it makes them pretty)

-mix all ingredients together. Add more or less milk to reach desired consistency. Frost cooled pop tarts, and feel free to get crazy with some sprinkles!