Uncle John's and Grandma Bobber's Stuffed Mushrooms

More mushrooms! When you find a bag of 30+ mushrooms on sale for $1 (as we did recently), you may need to make UBY soup and Uncle John's and Grandma Bobber's stuffed mushrooms. Forgive the unorthodox directions and measurements. Instead of getting frustrated, consider it a new cooking experience... It's like coloring outside the lines, or modern music. Just go with it.



INGREDIENTS
• 10 large-ish mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• a bit of green onion (3-4 onions), finely chopped
• a bit of red onion, finely chopped
• (more on what constitutes "a bit" below)
• 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large pinch of oregeno
• some spinach
• some bread crumbs
• some parmesan cheese (2 tablespoons? 1/4 cup?)
• (again, more on what constitutes "some" below)
• 125 grams of cream cheese (sorry, I live in Canada! Google "125 grams" and you should get a conversion)

DIRECTIONS
• wash the mushrooms
• take out stems of mushrooms carefully, set tops aside
• finely chop stems
• add to stems chopped green onion (about 2/3 as much as stems), chopped red onion (about 1/3 as much as stems), and two chopped garlic cloves
• NOTE: we just kind of played it by ear w/ regards to the different elements of the stuffing; that's why the amounts are so non-descript. You are the chef... you are responsible here for getting desirable proportions! Remember: Anyone can cook.
• fry all of this in 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil, until garlic is starting to turn yellow (i.e., it is a little cooked; about 5-10 minutes)
• while frying, season with a big pinch of oregeno
• remove from heat, add lots of spinach (about 1/2 as much as everything else together)
• let cool somewhat
• thicken with bread crumbs (1 tablespoon?)
• add 2 tablespoons (or so) of parmesan
• add 125 grams of cream cheese
• mix it all up
• in the meantime, you should have pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees (F); you should also have put the mushroom tops topside-down in a pammed pan (not a cookie sheet... there may be some juices, so you'll want to keep them confined).
• put the stuff in the mushroom tops
• cook in the oven at 350 degrees (F) for 20 minutes
• we ate them when they were just starting to turn brown on the top in some places... some pictures we saw online had them all poofed up... probably depends on your proportions in the cream-cheese mix
• Eat. We used a fork and knife.

Samosas with Potatoes and Peas

Now we know many of our family members don't like peas, but you can always make this recipe without them! Or use carrots! These are delicious and would definitely be fun to make them with kids.

Boil 1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes (6 to 8 potatoes). Cover and cook until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain, peel, and mash in a medium bowl. Heat 1 TBSP vegetable oil in skillet. Add 1 tsp black or yellow mustard seeds, and heat until they pop. Add 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves and cook for 20 seconds. Stir the garlic mixture into the mashed potatoes, along with 1 cup thawed frozen peas, 1 diced onion (1/2 cup), 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 diced jalapeno pepper, 2 TBSP lemon juice, and 1 1/4 tsp salt. Preheat oven to 375. Grease baking sheets. Unroll 1 pound thawed phyllo dough on a dry work surface. Cover the sheets with a plastic wrap sheet and then a damp towel on top of the plastic. Melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove 1 sheet of phyllo and lay it on the work surface, with a long side facing you. Brush lightly with melted butter, lay a second sheet on top, and brush it with melted butter. Cut the sheets vertically into 2 1/2-inch strips. Scoop a rounded teaspoon of the potato mixture and pat over the bottom corner of the strip, so it fills the entire corner and not just the corner. For the corner to the other side to make a triangle and continue folding to the end of the strip, as if folding a flag. Place on a baking sheet and brush the top with melted butter. Repeat with the remaining phyllo and filling. Bake until lightly browned about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.