#7 - Stuffed Mushrooms

24 button mushrooms, with stem, equaling one pound
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped red bell pepper
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 tsp cajun or creole seasoning
1/4 tsp ground turmeric

Heat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray a cookie sheet or other baking pan with non-stick spray.

Remove stems from mushrooms. Chop stems finely. Set caps aside, whole.

Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Saute spinach, mushroom stems, onion and red pepper until tender, about five minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients, stirring well.

Stuff each mushroom cap with spinach mixture. Place on baking pan stuffed side up. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Yields two mushrooms per serving, 0 points for one serving.

Yum! I made these as a side dish to a high calorie meal we had tonight and they were soooo good! The filling is good all by itself; I had some leftover and plan on putting it on crackers tomorrow! You could probably just make the filling as a dip if you wanted.

I chopped everything in my mini food processor, which worked out really well. I totally forgot to put the turmeric in - oops! Have no idea how much it will change the taste. The cajun/creole seasoning does give it a slight kick, but nothing over the top. It's very subtle and just adds some flavor. Highly, highly recommend this recipe. Would probably be good with some cheese mixed in for those who aren't watching their calorie consumption.

#6 - Berry Cobbler

Berries
2 c blackberries
2 c strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c sugar

Biscuits
2/3 c flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a shallow, 2 quart oven proof dish, stir together berry ingredients. Bake until hot, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare biscuits. Stir all ingredients together to create a sticky dough. When berries are ready, drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto fruit to form 4 biscuits. Bake until biscuits are golden abd fruit is bubbling, about 25 minutes. Allow cobbler to sit for 5 minutes so fruit can firm up. Yields one biscuit and about 1 cup of berries per serving, 4 points per serving.

I made this for our Easter dinner dessert and it was very tasty. The biscuits tasted good, but we all agreed they were a little chewy. This is probably due to the fact that there is no egg or oil in the dough as it is a low calorie version of berry cobbler.

The berries, however, were absolutely amazing. In fact, Dad, Mom, Ricky and I agreed that next time we would just make the berry part of the recipe and serve it over ice cream! Seriously, it was that good.

I did use all marionberries (a form of blackberry) instead of half blackberries and half strawberries and it turned out wonderfully. Definitely try the berry portion of the recipe, even if you want to create your own higher calorie version of the biscuit.