Friend of Julie: Sausage Sixes

Are you looking for an appetizer to bring with you to a holiday party? These mushrooms may be just what you're looking for - they're stuffed with sausage and spices - no bread! I'm thinking these mushrooms might be a good metaphor for Julie's reference to her sausage-sixes (while on maintenance, she know it's time to go back in the river when her size 6 clothes are tight). While at a party, I can eat these mushrooms and ask myself which do I want more: to reach my goal size or to eat that non-key food being offered? Easy choice. What about you - what do you plan to do to stay on program the rest of this holiday season?

Stuffed mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 8" sausage links
• 12 2" Bella mushrooms
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 green onions
• 2 Tbsp Parmesan
• 1/3 cup mozzarella (optional; you also may use less)
• 1/8 tsp oregano
• 1/8 tsp parsley
• 2 fresh basil leaves, diced

Directions

1. Chop the sausage finely. 
2. Brown the outside of the sausage.
3. Add a little water and steam sausage to cook it thoroughly while maintaining its moisture.
4. Remove about 2/3 of the insides of the mushrooms.
5. Discard the hard stem tips and then dice the rest and add it to the sausage. 
6. Finely chop 2 large cloves of garlic and the bulb ends of 2 green onions and add the sausage.
7. Remove from heat.
8. Dice 2 more cloves of garlic and mix that in with sausages. 
9. Dice the lower half of the green onions and add to mixture as well. 
10. Add in the Parmesan, mozzarella, oregano, parsley, and basil. 
11. Mix thoroughly
12. Spoon mixture into the mushroom caps; the mixture should mound in each mushroom without falling out. 
13. Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and put the mushroom caps onto the foil with spacing between each. 
14. Cook at 400F for about ten minutes. 
15. Let cool before serving.

This how the mushrooms look before they go into the oven.

Recipe and photo source: Bella Online