Mushroom Philly Cheese French Bread Pizza

One of the big trends right now is "Meatless Monday"...it's a healthy and economical option for a lot of families including mine!  The problem is #1 - I am not that organized to plan that Monday will always be meatless and #2 - I may want some sort of meat on Monday.  So...I usually have a meatless day during the week, I'm just not promising you that it is going to be Monday.

Now, you are probably looking at my picture and saying, "Wait.  I see pepperoni on one of those slices."  Yes you do.  I probably mentioned before that I have one child who hates cheese (Yes, my son with the Italian name Rocco...its a disgrace:).  I usually don't customize dinners for him...its usually "Eat it or make yourself something else."  But today was his lucky day.  I didn't have enough topping to cover all my bread so he got a piece with spaghetti sauce and pepperoni.  Don't judge me!

Today's "Meatless Wednesday" night dinner was Mushroom Philly Cheese French Bread Pizza.  I don't even use the fancy mushrooms!  I use regular button mushrooms!  This whole meal is under $5...you can't beat that!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
16 oz button mushrooms
1 small onion (rough chop)
1 green bell pepper (rough chop)
1 garlic clove (minced)
2 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Oregano
3 sprigs of fresh thyme or about 1 tsp of thyme seasoning (fresh is better)
Salt and Pepper
6-8 Slices Provolone Cheese (optional)
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
French Bread *I used 1 1/2 Mini-Italian loaves because they were out of French Bread.
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Step 1:  Put large sauce pan over a medium high heat.  Allow it to heat up (with no oil or butter) and throw all the mushrooms in.  The mushrooms will literally sound like they are screaming...it kind of freaks me out a little.  Let them brown up a few minutes.

Step 2:  When you start to see the mushroom juices, add your onions, peppers, and garlic.  Add Worcestershire Sauce, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper...it is important to season to taste.  My family likes things heavily seasoned and for this pizza, I like my onions and peppers to still have some bite to them.

This is just a picture to show what size I like to chop my veggies for this dish.  You can take off points because they are not uniform pieces but that's ok with me.

Step 3:  Cut bread in half length-wise.  If the bread is really thick (sometimes the Italian loaves are), scoop out some of the bread in the middle.  Lay the Provolone slices on top of the bread...now if you don't have any cheese slices, its OK.  Just leave that part out.  Add mushrooms, peppers, and onions.  Cover that with Mozzarella and bake at 425° for about 10 minutes.  Then I switch my oven over to broil for the last minute or two to brown some of the cheese on top.  I garnish mine with chopped fresh parsley. Pin It Now!

Blackberry Lemon Freezer Jam

Today, the boys and I went blueberry and blackberry picking....my 2 favorite berries!  Blackberries especially remind me of spending the week my grandparents.  My grandparent's entire backyard was one huge garden.  I remember rows of tomatoes and beans, a few blueberry bushes on the side, a grape vine up close to the house, and in the very back of their garden was a long vine of blackberry bushes.  I can remember my papa and grandma giving me these colored tin bowls to fill with blackberries.  Personally, I like them plain.  With every bite I am filled with happy memories of my grandparents and my weeks at their house.

Ok...for the recipe.  I looked at a lot of recipes but found that most had at least 5 cups of sugar and I just think that is too much.  Blackberries are meant to be tart!  I cut my recipe back to 3 cups of sugar but may even cut it back some more next time.

Ingredients:

~3 cups crushed blackberries

~3 cups sugar

~1 package of pectin (1.75oz)

~1 lemon peel

~3/4 water

Directions:

~Crush blackberries with a potato masher.  (I read on a lot of recipes to use a food mill but I don't have one and I really don't mine the seeds)

~Use a vegetable peeler to take the rind off of one lemon.  Add the peel to the blackberry mixture with the 3 cups of sugar and stir.  Let it sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes.

~Add pectin to 3/4 cups water and bring to a boil.  Let boil for 1 minute.  Stirring constantly as you bring to a boil and boil....don't let it burn.  

~Add boiling water to the blackberry mixture and stir.  Make sure the sugar gets dissolved.  

~Place in your freezer safe container and store in your freezer for up to a year.  Or store in your refrigerator for about a month.

Serving Suggestion:

~I put the jam in between layers of a lemon cake

~One of my favorite ways to make this Overnight Oatmeal is with this jam.  Check out this website for the recipe and add the jam in place of any other fruit and sweetner:  http://www.theyummylife.com/Refrigerator_Oatmeal

Enjoy Friends!

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