Portabella Prosciutto Burger

This was such a delicious burger.

Yeah, yeah I know it technically isn't a burger per say....or is it?? I do know that is was damn delicious. I could eat one of these 3 time a week.

I've been making portabella burgers for a long time. It's one of my favorite things to throw on the grill. I usually will grill up a nice big slice of onion to go along with it, but when I made this a small monsoon decided to pass through, so we were grilling these while marble-sized drops of water bombed us. Let's just say the grill was a smokin'. Regardless of the torrential rain, we managed to grill them to perfection.

This was the 2nd Pioneer Woman recipe I made last week. I pretty much followed her recipe but I was a wee bit skeptical about the first step where she soaked the mushrooms in wine. So I did a little experiment. I soaked only half of them in wine, grilled them all up and you know what....no noticeable difference. Next time I'll skip the wine step and save it for drinkin'.



I opted not to make PW's herbed mayonnaise either. It had a wee too much basil in it for me and I felt it might overpower the mushroom, so I used my own herbed mayo. It's my go-to recipe. I make it about once a month and keep a little container of it in the fridge. It's extra special mayo. Now who wouldn't want that on their sammich?

Herbed Mayo
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice from half a lemon
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoons fresh chives, finely chopped
few springs fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 heaping teaspoon of Dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic minced

Mix it all together and store in the fridge.

Here's the recipe for PW's Burger. I call them Portabella with an A at the end. PW puts on O at the end. I'm partial to the A and since I'm Italian and I'm pretty sure that Ree is not, I'm stickin' with my A. Ok.

Portabella Prosciutto Burgers
8 whole Large Portobello Mushrooms
1 cup Red Wine (optional)
Olive Oil For Brushing
Salt And Pepper, to taste
4 slices Provolone Cheese
4 slices Prosciutto
4 whole Kaiser Rolls, Split
Extra Basil Leaves or fresh greens

Preparation Instructions
Rinse mushrooms thoroughly. Soak in red wine for 20 to 30 minutes (this is totally optional!)

Grill mushrooms in a grill pan or on a charcoal grill, brushing lightly with olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Melt provolone cheese over the four largest mushrooms. Remove mushrooms from grill and stack the other four mushrooms on top of the cheese-topped mushrooms.

Drizzle griddle with olive oil. Toast kaiser rolls over medium-low heat until very crispy and toasted.

Spread herbed mayonnaise on both the roll. Place the double-decker mushroom on the bottom half, then place the prosciutto slice on top. Finally, top with basil leaves (or fresh greens like I did) and the other half of the roll. Press lightly so some of the juices from the mushrooms will run into the bottom half of the roll.

Serve immediately.

"They always say that time changes things,
but you actually have to change them yourself"

~ Andy Warhol

Wordless Wednesday - Italian Purple Beans

Simple Sesame Noodles

One of the first blogs that I really got hooked on was the Pioneer Woman.

I was new to the whole world of blogging. I was surfing the web, trying to see how it was done when I found PW. Back then she wasn't the mega-blogger-celebrity-author she is now. Yeah she had a boat load more followers then I could ever imagine even back then, but she wasn't quite the queen of blogdom that she is now.

What drew me to her was her no-fuss recipes. Nothing fancy. There was no need to head to the local gourmet shop to find an obscure ingredient. Most of the recipes included stuff I already had in my cupboard. For a working Mom who has to come home every night and try to make something new and delicious to cook, these recipes were just what I was looking for.

I was really happy for her when her cookbook came out. I pre-ordered a copy. I waited in anticipation for it's arrival and it didn't disappoint.

When I want to feed a crowd, when I want comfort food, when I need to make something with just what I have in the pantry, I turn to PW's book.



I'm always happy when I see a new recipe posted on her site. I'm even happier when I see 2 new recipes that I want to make, and that's just what happened last week.

I spotted these sesame noodles and thought they would be the perfect summer side. I made them late in the afternoon and we ate them at room temperature with another PW recipe Portabella Mushroom Burgers (that recipe will be coming up next - man they were good).



I made these with some noodles I picked up at the Asian market. They called them soup noodles. You could use thin spaghetti or linguine or whatever thin noodle you have on hand.

Simple Sesame Noodles
recipe from PW
12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained
¼ cups Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil
½ teaspoons Hot Chili Oil
4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
2 Tablespoons Hot Water
4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed. Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat. Sprinkle with green onions and toss.

Ornamental Oregano

I guess I'm in a picture posting kinda mood.

Here's a few more.

I have been cooking, just haven't been inspired to type up the recipes and get them posted.....it'll happen soon!

Everyone has a favorite flower right?

Mine is the hydrangea.

I think everyone should have a favorite ornamental herb too. This is mine.

Ornamental Oregano.



I fell in love with it the moment I saw it.

John and I were at our favorite organic nursery, The Good Earth when this spectacular plant caught my eye.

It's called Kent Beauty (Origanum rotundifolia). Beauty it is.

It's not an edible herb. Who could eat should gorgeousness??



It's color comes not from the diminutive flowers they have, but from the light lilac hued bracts (a leaf-like part of the plant that is found just beneath the flower) that are really showy.

Wow I just sounded like a horticulturist didn't I?? Course I did, I swiped that line from a webpage, lol.

I love how it looks different depending on the lights it's in.



I love the prominent veins found in the heart-shaped blue green leaves.

I love the way that fragile little purple flower peaks their heads out from under the leaves.



If you stare at that flower long enough, you'll see a little fairy-like creature with a bouffant hairdo.

Ok maybe that's just me.



Just look those leaves. A perfect waterfall of chartreuse and lilac pink.





I planted it in a footed pot so I can move it around and enjoy it where ever I am in the yard.





I'm probably posting way too many pictures, but I just can't help myself.

I wish I had a way with words, they way some folks do, yeah I'm talking to you Kim.

I don't. Sometimes I can just say it better with pictures.

Watson Farm, Jamestown, RI

A few weeks ago John and I took a much needed break.

Just the two of us.

That doesn't happen very often.

We needed some quiet time.

We needed some "just us" time.

We needed time to just walk and not talk very much.

To feel the sun on our backs and the wind against our faces.

We ventured out to Watson's Farm on the beautiful island of Jamestown, RI.

What I loved about Watson Farms was that you went from pastures, big stone walls, and gigantic trees......right to the bay.....

and the bridge.

...to a shore filled with shells and and the skeletons.....

...and beautiful rocks swept smooth from the sea.

There were quite a few boats on the bay that day.

We walked hand and hand down the beach.

I know if my kids are reading this, they just stuck their finger down their throats and made a "blech" sound.

We even saw a heart shaped mussel. Maybe it didn't look heart shaped when it was closed...

...but when you pushed open the shell.......a heart.

We walked back on a path lined with a towering trees.....

....we met a few horses....

...and a rooster, who wanted no part in having his picture taken.

We also met two very friendly farm cats....

...who happily posed for pictures.

We wandered around a bit while I snapped some pictures....

The weather was perfect. The day was perfect.

I'm a lucky girl.