Holiday Gatherings… and a Stuffed Mushroom Recipe!

So… how’s about a stuffed mushroom?  More on these in a minute! ;)

Today we had our annual Bridges Family Holiday gathering at Ryan’s Aunt Susan and Uncle Larry’s house.  Of course, it’s always a fun gathering, and it’s fun to see everyone.  I tried to snap a few photos, even though everyone hates the camera!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The kids all enjoyed playing outside.

 
 
And Sadie had lots of fun playing in a trunk full of toys with her cousins! 
 
Then, we headed over to the mall with hopes of seeing Santa (for the real Christmas pic)… but the line was VERY long.  I mean, we’re used to waiting in line for Santa and we have done it every year… but this line was beyond my line-waiting capacity.  We’ll try again.
 
We headed home, but decided to make a quick stop in the Stafford Park neighborhood to see their annual lights.  The whole neighborhood goes all-out for the holidays.  They have one weekend where they line all the streets with luminaries and all the visitors get ballots to vote for their favorite houses.  We waited in line to get in…
 
…and it was worth the wait!  So many houses were completely lit up!
 
 
This one was fun… very beach-themed!
 
We also liked this one that was Carolina Gamecock-themed.
 
 
By the time we made it home, we were too tired to cook, so we picked up food that I refuse to photograph on this blog. 
Instead, my featured food is an easy, yet delicious stuffed mushroom!
 
Oooooh….ahhhhhhhhh…..
Last night, I got together with a few friends and my friend Tracy made these amazing stuffed mushrooms that everyone loved.  We were all begging her for the recipe.  So today, I sent Ryan to the store and then we made them to take to our family gathering.   I did tweak the recipe slightly.  The parsley and the mushroom soup are my additions and I also cooked the onions with the sausage, just so they'd be soft.  They are really very easy, but very tasty!  A great appetizer!
Here is the recipe, which is adapted slightly from Tracy’s original:
1 lb. Jimmy Dean HOT sausage
1 block of reduced fat cream cheese
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
Parsley for garnish
15-20 whole mushrooms—medium-sized
Prepare mushrooms by using a spoon to scoop out the stem and scoop out some of the cap—not too much—just enough to have a place to put the filling.  Rinse mushroom caps and pat dry with paper towels.  Lay mushrooms, cap down, in a baking dish sprayed with nonstick spray.  Over medium-high heat, brown the sausage with the onions in a skillet.  As the sausage browns, the onions will become translucent.  Reduce heat to low.  Add the cream cheese and soup, and mix until incorporated into the sausage and onions.  Fill mushroom caps with the sausage mixture.  Garnish with parsley.  Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, or until the tops are browned and the mushrooms are tender.  You’ll know when they are ready because they will smell amazing!
Serve hot!




Is anyone having a hard time getting it all together this holiday season???  We still haven’t finished our decorating at our house and usually I am the first one I know who is done!  We are going to try to use tomorrow as a catch-up day!  I am hoping to get our candles in the windows and also get through the mountain of laundry that keeps getting bigger… and bigger…
Happy weekend! ;)