Enoki or the Winter Mushrooms

I am not quite sure what it is about mushrooms and me lately but I have stumbled upon a kind I had never seen before: Enoki mushrooms or, as they are sometimes called "winter mushrooms". They not only look nice, they taste delicious:

Soup with Enoki

a handful of Enoki mushrooms,

a teaspoon of butter

2 carrots (cut into small pieces)

a handful of frozen peas

a bunch of chives

3 cups of vegetable broth

heat butter in pan, add carrots, after about one minute add broth, then peas and chives (cut into small pieces). Let come to a boil. Cut mushrooms into smaller pieces and add just before serving. 

Mushroom Dinner

I went to the farmers market to buy some apples when I saw these mushrooms. An old lady was selling them. After telling her that I am not much of a cook she supplied me with following receipe:

* a handful of mushrooms

* 2 small zucchinis

* a few potatoes

* bit of butter

* few spoonfulls of cream cheese with herbs

Boil potatoes. Cut mushrooms and zucchinis in small pieces/slices. Let butter melt in pan. Add zucchinis and later, mushrooms. Add cream cheese to vegetables while still in pan, mix well. Eat with potatoes.

Now this is my kind of receipe. Only a few ingredients and very easy to prepare! 

I bought the mushrooms from her, went home, cooked and was very impressed with myself. So much, that I have made the same meal twice in the last week. It really is delicious. Husband likes it, too. Son pretends to like it. I haven't offered it to daughter yet since I fear her reaction. (ZUCCHINIS!!!)

Cherry Sheet Cake II

Here is our cake. We ran out of cherries because somebody ate most of them, so we added apricots. Instead of normal flour we used wholemeal and instead of frozen cherries we used fresh ones. It is the healthy version of the Cheery Sheet Cake! We haven't tried it yet but it smells delicious.  

Cherry Sheet Cake

My daughter amazes me. Her interests and talents are very different from mine. Cooking and baking is one of those things. She loves being in the kitchen, mixing food, preparing it and then cleaning the dishes, mopping the floor. And I don't. But I am willing to try and so, after all the cherry picking and talking about cherry pies, I went on the internet and found a Martha Stewart receipe that we surely are able to master:

Martha Stewart's Cherry Sheet Cake

Ingredients: 2 sticks unsalted butter

                       2 cups all-purpose flour

                       2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

                       1/4 teaspoon salt

                       1 cup sugar

                       3 large eggs

                       1 teaspoon vanilla extract

                       1 pound frozen cherries (we will take fresh ones!)

                       Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheet, line bottom with waxed paper. Butter paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined (batter will be as thick as cookie dough).

Spread batter evenly on prepared baking sheet; scatter cherries over the top. Bake cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Invert onto a wire rack; reinvert onto another rack to cool completely (top side up).

To serve, cut cake into triangles with a serrated knife. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.  

Baked Stuffed Red Peppers with Cherry Tomatoes, Feta and Thyme

On July, 28th 2007 Nik decided to cook and picked the receipe "Baked Stuffed Red Peppers with Cherry Tomatoes, Feta and Thyme" out of a Martha Stewart Living Magazine. He has cooked it regulary every since. He asked me to put it in the blog so when he visits his grandparents this summer he can cook it for them.

You need: 2 small red bell peppers, halved lengthwise through stem, seeds and ribs removed, 1 heaping cup cherry tomatoes, 1 1/2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled, 1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme, 8 basil leaves, torn into pieces, freshly ground pepper, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit, with rack in top third. Place bell pepper halves, cut sides up, in a baking dish. Toss together tomatoes, feta, thyme, and basil in a medium bowl; season with black pepper. Fill each pepper with tomato and feta mixture, dividing evenly. Dizzle each with oil.

Bake stuffed peppers, covered with aluminum foil, until they begin to soften, about 30 minutes. Remove foil; continue to bake until tomatoes begin to burst and cheese turns light brown, 13 - 15 minutes more. Remove stuffed peppers from oven, and serve warm.