Annual White Elephant Gift Exchange and Stuffed Mushrooms

We had our annual (second time) white elephant at our house a few days ago. The prerequisite for the party was to bring a wrapped gift and some kind of hor d'oeuvres. Besides being a French word I can never spell (thank you, Google!), hor d'oeuvres means appetizer-type foods. At first, I was afraid that we wouldn't have enough food at the party. However, as it always turns out at potlucks, there is too much! We had a varied and very pretty table spread. Also, there were lots of first-time recipes, which contributed to the fun!

Menu:

1. Spinach and Cheese Pinwheels (Tiff)
2. Green Onion Pancakes (Aud)
3. Stuffed Mushrooms with Cream Cheese Filling (Lydia- recipe below)
4. Baguettes Topped with Cream Cheese Filling (Lydia- I made way too much filling!)
5. Lettuce Wraps (Mom)
6. Potstickers (Rich)
7. Muddy Buddy (Mare and Glo)
8. Cream Puffs (Mare)
9. Chicken Meatballs (Cass)
10. McDonald's Chicken Nuggets (Mols)
11. Punch (Ann and Ben)

I have made stuffed mushrooms in the past, but this time I used a new recipe. I modified it a bit, and it was a great hit! I made too much filling, so I have cut down the filling to fit about 30 small white mushrooms. 

Stuffed Mushrooms 

25 whole fresh mushrooms 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/3 cup chopped crab meat (I used imitation crab meat because I had that on hand)

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened 

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

Black pepper and salt, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Wash mushrooms and twist off stems. Drain mushrooms and dry on paper towel. Arrange mushroom caps on greased baking sheet. Remove woody part of stems and chop rest of stems finely. 
3. Heat oil in pan, and add garlic and mushroom stems. Cook until moisture is gone. Remove mixture, and cool until warm (no longer hot). 
4. Mix together cream cheese, mushroom and garlic mixture, crab meat, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper in bowl. 
5. Put cream cheese mixture into large ziplock bag, snip off corner, and pipe mixture into mushroom caps. Top each mushroom with extra Parmesan cheese.  
6. Bake mushrooms in oven for 20 minutes, until mushrooms release their juices. 

Stuffed Mushrooms

more 'shrooms

Baguettes with Cream Cheese Spread

Who's dat blocking all the food? :)

Our Abundant Feast!