Stuffed Mushrooms (and other remedies for the blues)

When I had to leave my job, The Caveman was so supportive. SO SUPPORTIVE! I've been working for such a long time. Always in a job that was emotionally taxing. Nurturing people always do tend to be drawn toward taxing jobs, yeah? I love taking care of people.. but as soon as they can take care of themselves, I get a new assignment. 

He said that if anyone deserved a month off, it was me.

If anyone deserved to just sit on the couch for a while, it was me.

I don't know what awful thing I did to deserve such torture =/

In addition, I've been in the process of moving in for.. I dunno. 4? 7? 9 months or so.... but who's keeping track?

This means that every single thing I own is living in the garage or in a box in a closet.

So between the interviews and the unpacking and the trying to figure out how to squeeze my full-grown life into the full-grown life of another human's.. I sometimes don't feel like I've got much time left in the day to just be myself.

I'm sometimes just too tired or too discouraged.. and Happiness Ninjas DON'T GET DISCOURAGED. We don't.

We keep everyone else from getting discouraged.

We bake and decorate and surprise people with trinkets to brighten their day. 

We sneak to people's work and window ninja their car with window crayon magic (more on this later) so they can't help but grin after a long, tough day.

They don't sit on the couch feeling defeated.

Sometimes, it's not until I realize that The Caveman is on his way home from a significantly LONGER, physically exhausting day (9 hours of work followed by 3 hours of training.. ) that I realize I can turn both of our days around.

I just have to do something delicious. Like. Turn on some Hello SafeRide and make something pretty for dinner =)

I've been toying with sides and appetizers lately. It ups the specialness of your meal, I think ;)

So last week, I made some stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer to stroganoff.. and they turned out SOOOO good <3

I used an entire box of Baby Bella mushrooms by the end of this night.. but half of them were used in the Stroganoff.. For the app I only used

4 Baby Bellas 

2 celery stalks, finely diced

1/4 of a yellow onion diced

1/2 red bell pepper diced

1/4 tsp ground sage

salt

Pepper

basil

And mayyyybe 3 TBSP ground almond

Sauté your onion, celery, and peppers in some butter.. salt.. pepper.. sage. basil. Maybe some garlic =)
Mix in a little bit of ground almond to bind it just a little bit.
Do not STUFF your mushroom caps.. just gently fill them. If you pack them.. I dunno. Something bad happens. I think I've blocked out the memory of what.
Sprinkle a lil bit of almond on top (for crunch and texture) and bake at about 375 for 15 minutes.
I put mine in a cupcake pan.. in case they wanted to tip =)

  I served them with a little bit of cream sauce (which was basically 1 cup of beef stock, reduced by half.. 3 tablespoons of sour cream)


I don't usually let myself get down for too long, but when I do catch myself sulking, I try to make someone I love smile.
It's medicine, really. The only cure.
My life is pretty amazing. My friends are interesting and creative. My sisters are beautiful and thoughtful of one another. My brothers are complete opposites of one another in most ways, save for kindness and selflessness. I have 20 nieces and nephews if I ever need to see true perfection. And every night, I get to make dinner.. which I LOVE doing.. and it makes My Caveman smile.
I don't forget why I'm stressed. I don't forget why I'm scared. I just remember why I'm going to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.