Marinated Mushrooms

This is another one of those recipes that has been around for as long as I can remember.  My mom's been making it since I was a kid.

I don't do the mushroom thing, but everyone talks about how good they are, so I'll take their word for it.  The marinade is yummy and I'll tear it up with a chunk of bread - or put it on my salad, but I'll let you scarf down the mushrooms.

You serve these up raw after they've marinated, but I think they'd be yummy skewered and thrown on the BBQ.  However you eat 'em, you can thank my mom for the recipe.

Here it is, with my notes:

Marintated Mushrooms

1 pound button mushrooms
3/4 C oil (olive or veggie, whichever you prefer - half and half is good too)
1/3 C red wine vinegar (you can also play around with this - I've added some balsamic before)
2 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
3 Tbsp chopped chives or green onions (I usually leave this out for The  Dad)
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 small clove minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Feel free to play around with the herbs.  If I have fresh, I use 'em.  This time I used fresh tarragon, dill and basil. 

You can leave your mushrooms whole, or if they're really big, halve or quarter them.

Put them in a ziplock bag or a container with a lid.

In a bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients.

Dump the marinade over the mushrooms and give 'em a mix to coat everyone.

Stick 'em in the fridge until you're ready to serve 'em up.

Poke your head in every once in awhile and give them a shake.

Mine went overnight this time.

Drain off the excess marinade and put them in a serving bowl.

Easy Peasy.

Crockpot Chalupas

(Updated 9/4/2013 - Made this again last night and took some pics of the finished product.  What a concept, eh?  It was as good as I remembered it.)

We ate a lot of good food last month, I just haven't had the chance to post any of it.  December will do that to a person.

This is another steal from one of my regular blog reads.  Her recipe is here.  I made a few substitutions, like using black beans instead of pinto, based on what was in the house, but overall, I followed the recipe.

I can't remember why I didn't end up taking pictures of the actual dinner.  Probably pure exhaustion.  But you can just picture in your head, tender shredded meat on tortillas with all the yummy, typical taco toppings.

The best part about this one was, no browning the meat.  Crockpot recipes typically call for a lot of prep work - in my opinion anyway.  This one is literally dump, hit go, and walk away for eight hours.  Perfect for a busy month.  I made easy Enchilada Pie with the leftovers.

Here's dinner coming together at my house:

Here are the new pics from the most recent batch.

And, dinner on my plate.

Yep, this one's a keeper.

Happy New Year!

Into 2013 we go.

And for the first time since the night we got engaged, I stayed up long enough to see the ball drop.

We headed to my sister's house for dinner and stayed long enough to ring in the new year.  With the exception of Baby, all the kids stayed up to toast at midnight, as well.  Where do they get their stamina?!

Here's our 2012 New Year's Eve in photos:

Their evil cat from hell, Lola.

My niece, twirling.

The Dad.

My sister had yummy appetizers that I was too busy shoving into my face to take pictures of.

For dinner, I made a pot of chicken noodle soup earlier in the day and took it over.

My sister made a salad and cut up some yummy bread.

After dinner, I played with the doll house that my grandma and grandpa made for us when we were kids.

My niece found it under the Christmas tree this year, with a new exterior paint job, courtesy of my brother-in-law.

My grandma made all the furniture and accessories for it.

 

Still fun to play with!

Then I played with my new camera by taking 50 pictures of Baby.

Who is ELEVEN MONTHS OLD today.

Holy crap, where did that time go?!

And then I proceeded to eat leftover birthday cake straight from the pan.

The kids, (and the dads), had a Dance Party USA.

And then we toasted!

Happy New Year!

May the bird of paradise poop on your head.

Or fly up your nose.

Or however the saying goes.