It seems that every winning recipe has a secret ingredient and Lu Bartosiak's must be the milk in which she cooks the stuffed mushrooms. Or, maybe it's just the love with which she prepares this dish.
Never mind the reason, the fact is that Ms. Bartosiask's entry was selected the winning recipe in the "Fun Food" category of the Enlivant Resident Recipe Contest, and she walked away with a $250 William Sonoma gift card and an award plaque. Nice, hum! Plus, Cherryvale Place, the Envilant retirement community in Rockford, Illinois in which she lives, will be the recipient of a special awards dinner. Really nice, hum!
The Envilant website had these comments about the recipe and its author: "If you like mushrooms, you are going to LOVE this winning recipe from the Enlivant Resident Recipe Contest. These stuffed mushrooms are overflowing with creamy goodness. Resident Lu Bartosiak of Cherryvale Place in Rockford, IL first discovered this delicious recipe in an article in 1997 after it won a blue ribbon at the Arizona State Fair. The recipe sounded wonderful, but Lu put her own spin on it by cooking the mushrooms in milk. She’s been making this dish ever since for all types of family gatherings, parties, or just simple dinners. We can see why, we couldn’t get enough of this savory snack!"
Stuffed mushrooms are a wonderful and versatile treat.
Allen Witzel submitted a recipe for "Surf and Turf
Stuffed Mushrooms" in last year's recipe contest.
Lu Bartosiak's Stuffed Mushrooms
20 large white button mushrooms
1 pound bulk pork sausage (aka breakfast sausage), browned
8 ounces cream cheese, chopped into small cubes
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup milk
Parmesan Cheese (Optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown sausage and crumble well.
- Drain sausage from skillet leaving a thin coat of oil, and saute onions in oil until slightly wilted.
- Return sausage to pan with onions and cream cheese.
- Over low heat, stir sausage, onions and cream cheese until well blended.
- Remove stems from mushrooms and stuff each mushroom cap with sausage mixture.
- Top with Parmesan Cheese.
- Add milk to bottom of baking dish, place mushroom caps on top and bake until heated through and mushrooms are beginning to leak their water (20-25 mins.)