Rummage sale!

I am getting a new fridge. So, I have about 5 days to clean out the old one so that I can move it downstairs! Dinner tonight, and for a few more nights after that, was themed after a rummage sale. Inspired a bit by the most recent "Hell's Kitchen" where chefs (er, I mean, contestants) had to stretch $10 worth of ingredients into a decent meal, I rummaged around in my fridge for supper and tried to make it fancy.

It passed the test and it cleared just a smidgeon more room out of the fridge and freezer. goodbye frozen scallops, shrimp, M&M stffed potatoes, chicken and feta

The Menu
Appetizer: scallops, tomatoes and shrimp baked with feta
Main dish: greek chicken with overstuffed portabello mushrooms and potatoes
Dessert: Grape jello (what? I was cleaning out the cupbaord too!)

For your recipe viewing pleasure - the overstuffed portabellos
1 zucchini (diced)
1/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced tomatoes
1-2 garlic cloves chopped finely
2 large portabello mushrooms, cleaned.
3/4 cup feta
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Using a spoon, remove the gills from the mushrooms and discard.
lightly oil a baking sheet or dish and place the mushrooms gill-side up on the sheet. Set aside.

In a frypan, saute onions with a bit of olive oil until translucent. Add zucchini and cook until softened. Add garlic, chopped oregano and tomatoes and heat until warm. Stuff mushrooms with filling and sprinkle with feta.

Place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until the mushrooms are softened and cheese is melted.

Groovy shrooms

No, it is not what you are thinking. You will not get to see a picture of me ingesting anything that causes a chemically-induced euphoria. I did; however, stumble onto an old favorite completely by accident the other day. In fact, it was one of those situations where I had completely forgot it was something that I used to eat at home until I realized I was going to make it for dinner.

Isn't that weird how your memory can just block something out until - wham - it comes right back to you like an old forgotten memory?

Well, mushrooms on toast isn't something particulary "dear" but making it did bring back a few memories about home. I am sure that Sandy will appreciate it when she makes it at home herself.

I actually started making a pasta sauce with mushrooms until the shrooms on toast overtook my plans... here is goes.

Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Saute about a half a cup of finely chopped onion in it for a couple of minutes. Add about a cup of sliced fresh musrooms and saute until tender. Sprinkle the entire thing with 1 tablespoon of flour. Add one can of mushroom soup. stir untill blended and warm. Add about a half a cup of milk (cream can be substituted if you feel you need the additional comfort). Stir again and add milk to the consistency you desire. It should be relatively thick... thicker than gravy - more like a thick chili.

THEN - get some nasty white processed bread - 2 slices - toast them and slather them with butter (you need the butter - it offers a hint of flavour that you would miss if you put the sauce on dry toast) Put on a plate and spoon sauce over top of each slice. Serve open-faced and eat with a knife and fork.