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Life is in high gear around here right now.  I’m getting ready for our school art show – which means helping 27 classes complete their projects.  That’s almost 600 projects.  I really can’t think about it like that though or I’ll get overwhelmed and just sit in a corner and cry.

This year, each grade level has a theme for their projects:

  • Kindergarten: “Someday My Prints Will Come” – projects made with handprints and fingerprints
  • First Grade: “So Blooming Cute” – projects with flowers
  • Second Grade: “Im-Pasta-ble Art” -projects made with dried pasta
  • Third Grade: “Cool Custom Collages” – each class does a different collage
  • Fourth Grade: “Blowing in the Wind” – projects that hang from the ceiling
  • Fifth Grade: “No Grout About It” – projects with ceramic tiles

I am trying to get all of the projects finished this week since I won’t meet with classes next week due to testing.  So I’m painting backgrounds before school and after school and in between classes.  I’m adding details to little kids’ projects and gathering supplies for the next class.  I’m not sleeping well at night, because my brain won’t stop reviewing The List:

  • Dye pasta
  • Add eyes and beaks to owls
  • Add stems to hyacinths
  • Buy more silver Sharpies
  • Cut out yellow circles

The list goes on and on.

Today we had a faculty meeting after school and then I had several errands to run in the rain.  The whole time, I had a different list running through my mind.  The contents of the refrigerator and pantry.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to cook for dinner.

When I’m stressed, I find it incredibly therapeutic to create a new recipe.  So that’s what I did tonight.  The result was a yummy dish that helped me forget about everything else for a little while.

Sausage-Stuffed Portabellas

  • 6 portabella caps, gills removed
  • baking spray
  • 1 pound of ground sausage
  • 1 pound of mushrooms, chopped
  • 3-4 green onions, sliced
  • 4 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup of Panko breadcrumbs
  • olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Use a spoon to scrape out the gills from the portabella caps.  Also remove most of the woody stem, if any remains.  Place caps on a baking sheet and spray each one with baking spray.  Flip the caps over and spray the other side.  Bake for 20 minutes – cap side up.

In a large skillet, crumble the sausage and brown over high heat.  Add chopped mushrooms and butter and continue to cook until mushrooms are browned and softened – about 10 minutes.  Add green onions to the mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the seasoned breadcrumbs and combine completely.

Remove caps from the oven and top each with a generous amount of stuffing.  Sprinkle the tops with Panko breadcrumbs and drizzle very lightly with olive oil.

Return to the oven for 15 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden.

Well Duh #1:  I used turkey sausage.  There was absolutely no fat to drain away after cooking.  If you use pork sausage, you will need to drain the grease before continuing with the recipe.

Well Duh #2:  I used a pound of sliced white mushrooms and chopped them.  You could use whole mushrooms, but using the sliced ones meant that I didn’t have to clean them first and that part of the chopping was already done.  You could also use cremini mushrooms instead.

Well Duh #3:  The caps will flatten out when you bake them.  It’s okay.  They will look a little sad until you put the stuffing on top.

Well Duh #4:  This is a loose stuffing.  It’s not supposed to stick together.  If you want yours to bind together a little more, you could add 8 ounces of cream cheese to the stuffing.

Michael really, really liked these guys!  Elizabeth liked them a lot, too.  Poor Christopher is following a very strict eating plan right now to help him get in better shape for spring football.  He was not a happy camper when he saw what I was cooking.  I promised to make it for him as a cheat meal soon.  He did taste the stuffing – which only ticked him off more.

And me?  Well, for about 40 minutes, I didn’t think about art projects at all.  I was lost in the world of browning and sauteeing and stuffing and baking.

Pure bliss!

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