This is a recipe I picked up while living in Georgia for a very brief period of time.  It is definitely the second most favorite thing that I took with me.  It was love at first bite! Thanks Claire!

If you love mushrooms and cheese, you are about to experience a very lucious, decadent dish.  The best thing about mushrooms is that just 3 mushrooms provides a whole day supply of vitamin D and is probably the only source of vitamin D in the produce aisle!  The only down side to mushrooms is their recent hike in cost!  This week, however, the grocery gods were smiling upon me and I actually got mushrooms on sale!

Cheesy Mushroom Casserole:
3 pounds mushrooms
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup half and half
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large stock pot on medium heat, melt together butter, salt and pepper.  Add mushrooms and stir to coat.  Allow mushrooms to cook until almost all liquid in pan disappears (around 20 minutes)*.  Add half and half and allow to cook until again almost all liquid has disappeared.  Transfer mushrooms to a glass baking pan or casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese on top has melted and begins to brown a little.  This dish can also be prepared ahead of time, stored in the refrigerator and finished in the oven later, though you will need to increase your baking time to 30-35 mintues. You could even do this in little ramekins if you wanted.

*At first you will wonder why the instructions say to “cook until most liquid disappears” because your mushrooms will look like this:

However, if you allow them to continue cooking, they look a lot more like this:

Eat well!

~Trish