Stuffed Mushroom - you can never fix enough

I needed an appetizer.
Mushrooms were on sale, buy one get one free.

Please, whatever you do, don't tell me that something involving fate, higher powers, and/or a universal plan had nothing to do with this coincidence. Because those mushrooms - those exact mushrooms that wound up in my kitchen and no other mushrooms - were destined to become Stuffed Mushrooms.

And I was determined to use whatever I had in my kitchen to make the filling inside them. What did I happen to have in my fridge? A half a cup of leftover queso dip from my local Mexican restaurant.

It's like fate moved into my kitchen and set up permanent residency.



Stuffed Mushrooms

• 1 pound white mushrooms, washed and stems removed (I saved them for something else)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup queso dip
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
• About 3 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut in tiny little cubes - small enough to fit in the bottom of the mushrooms

Cook your onions in your oil slowly, but let them get the beautiful brown carmeliz-y look that makes you almost forget about the mushrooms patiently waiting to be stuffed. Add the bell pepper and cook until it's starting to get soft.

Zap the queso in the microwave for about 20 seconds so it's softer. Stir in the sour cream. Add the onions/garlic/bell peppers, salt, pepper and bread crumbs and thoroughly combine.

Put a piece of cheese in the bottom of the mushroms, and spoon the filling on top, mounding it up a little high. The stuffing is the best part, so don't skimp!

Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes.

Notes:

You could easily add the mushroom stems to the stuffing - I'd probably cook them a little with the onions and peppers. But I wanted to save them for a pasta dish the next night.

I wanted the peppers to be a little crisp, to have a little bit of crunch. But feel free to make them as soft and smooth as the onions.

If you don't happen to have leftover queso, you can use softened cream cheese, more sour cream, mayo or whatever tickles your fancy. Queso, as always, tickled mine.