My Best-Ever Stuffed Mushrooms
The question is: How fast can you lose weight and stay healthy?
I’m not sure anyone knows the answer for sure. In my experience with dieting I’ve heard everything.
Those who say you can only lose one to two pounds a week and diet safely are using methodologies that generally can only produce one to two pounds of weight loss per week. That doesn’t mean that’s the only healthy pace at which you can lose weight.
Years ago I worked on two occasions with diet doctors that I often refer to as diet gurus. These gentlemen were MDs and tops in their field. They put me on extreme diets that were designed to help me lose weight quickly and safely. They put me on those diets with a goal of hitting a number on the scale. There was no regard for keeping my losing efforts down to a slow pace like one to two pounds a week.
One of these diets I did in the late 80s. It was the same liquid diet that Oprah did. We happened to be on it at the same time. She lost 67 pounds. (Remember the famous wagon of fat she brought on stage?) On the same diet I lost 52 pounds. I was on that diet for almost three months. The methodology for that diet was almost totally liquid. I drank shakes that came in a powdered form and I added water. I ate a half of a banana or a handful of raspberries once a day. And I took fiber three times a day. That was it. No other food. Only water to drink.
I visited the doctor each week and they weighed me and took my blood pressure. Once every month they gave me a blood test. I stayed healthy (according to them) the whole time and the weight just poured off. Many would say that was crazy. I spent about $5,000 in that effort....
Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com
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My Best-Ever Stuffed Mushrooms
This is a ZReboot recipe. Just in time for Super Bowl or any other partying event. These won’t last long on your platter. Might consider a double batch. They are that good. BIG YUM!
Servings: One batch will make 12 to 18 mushrooms
Ingredients:
6 strips of bacon. I use uncured bacon without nitrates.
1 lb of button mushrooms. You can use the large ones for this dish.
1 Tbl of butter
¼ cup of minced shallots or onion
8 oz of cream cheese, room temp and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp of garlic powder
½ tsp of Italian seasoning
Grated sea salt and pepper to taste
A whisper of cayenne or to taste (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
While your oven preheats, cook your bacon until it is nice and crisp. Then chop or crumble it into little pieces and set it aside.
Take the mushrooms out of the package. Remove all black material on the mushroom caps or the stems. Don’t wash your mushrooms or you make them mushy but you want to get the black bits off. Use a damp paper towel to remove that stuff. Then twist and remove each stem. Cut off the dry ends of the stems and finely dice the stems. You’re going to use them in your mushroom filling. Don’t dice the mushroom heads; set them aside.
Melt butter in a medium saute pan and add the shallots and mushrooms stems. Cook on medium until they are soft. Stir often. Add the cream cheese and keep temperature on low to melt the cream cheese. Stir often so it doesn’t stick. When it’s hot and melty, add the cheddar cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and cayenne. Then add the bacon and stir. Let the mixture cool a bit so you don’t burn yourself while you stuff your mushrooms.
If you have mini muffin pans they will come in handy. If you don’t, you can use a cookie sheet. (In the picture you’ll see the mini-muffin tins on a cookie sheet).
Spray the insides of the muffin containers or the surface of the cookie sheet with olive oil spray. Fill your mushrooms with mounded portions of the filling. Set them in the muffin tin depressions* or put them on the cookie sheet. You might have some filling leftover; depending on the size of your mushrooms. (I suggest you make an omelet with that on another day).
Sprinkle the tops with parmesan cheese. Press the cheese lightly with your fingers so it sticks.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size of your mushrooms. With a variety of medium and large shrooms 20 minutes was enough for me.
Carefully remove your mushrooms from the pan to cool. I use a fork on one side and my finger on the other to take them out. Be careful. They will be pretty hot and you don’t want a steam burn!
I served my mushrooms warm but they would be just as good as they cool on a buffet.
*The reason I suggest the mini muffin tins is because mushrooms give off a fair amount of liquid while they cook. This way the liquid stays in the bottom of the depressions.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
