Mm! Wouldn’t you love to get a bite of that above? Here’s my easier-than-it-looks recipe for bite-sized stuffed mushrooms. Perfect to make with day old crusty bread.

What’s great is that you can make this out of whatever is lying around the house. I’ll throw in left over sausage and day old bread, let’s not waste!

Ingredients: to make 6 stuffed mushrooms

• 6 bite sized mushroom caps (washed/stem removed). I like to buy “baby portobella’s” at Trader Joe’s, but you can use crimini or even white mushrooms.
• 1 can of diced tomatoes or 2 fresh (roma) tomatoes diced
• 4 leaves fresh basil, or 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 sweet or hot Italian sausage (optional)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1-4 cloves garlic, depending on how
• 6 inches worth of day old bread. (about 2 fist sized rolls), cubed
• your favorite hard cheese (parmesean, asiago, fontina, or all of the above)
• Secret ingredient: 1 tablespoon of ketchup (shh! don’t tell anyone)

Directions: A cast iron skillet works best, but your average frying pan will do!

1.  Saute onions, in olive oil until they become translucent. Add garlic now if you want the taste to be mild. A pinch of red pepper flake is optional here if you want a kick!
2. Take sausage out of the casing and brown with the onions.
3. Toss in diced tomatoes and herbs. and let it simmer for 5 mins. Salt and pepper to taste now. I like using white pepper rather than black. Add garlic now, after the simmer is over,  if you want the taste to be sharp.
4. Mix in cubed bread, let it soak up the tomato sauce over low head. Stir in the ketchup and mix well.
5. Scoop the mixture into the caps of the mushrooms, pack it into little mounds.
6. Pop them in the over for 10-15 minutes at 300*F (you just want the mushrooms to sweat and become softer).
7. Remove from oven, garnish with shredded cheese and basil leaves.

Enjoy!

Photo from the Baby Blues BBQ website

I think I’m in love. The Memphis style ribs at this little BBQ joint simply blew me away, with their combo of dry and wet rub. I enjoy wet and dry styles of BBQ, so this is the best of both worlds. Surprisingly, this place is in LA!

Photo from the Baby Blues BBQ Website

The place is called Baby Blue BBQ (www.babybluesbarbq.com). If you come here, come early. We barely beat the dinner rush on a Saturday night by showing up at 6:00 PM. And we still had to wait for 15 minutes. A few minutes later, the line was out the door. The place is small and occupies an odd shaped corner spot on Lincoln Blvd., and you can either pull up a seat at the bar or in the dining room on the other side.

I shared the “Memphis Queen” plate (1/2 rack each of Memphis & Baby Back ribs, plus sides) with my husband and it was more than enough food for the both of us. Their style is a nice fat St. Louis style cub pork rib with the chewy rib tips left on. I prefer this cut over the baby backs, because I think the Baby Backs are just too soft. I like a variety of texture on my meat! But their Baby Back ribs are mighty fine as well.

Photo from the Baby Blues BBQ Website

The dry rub really penetrates the meat and gives it great flavor down to the bone. The wet sauce is mopped on at the end and caramelizes, giving it a slightly sweet and tangy finish. It’s a tomato based sauce with a balance between salty, sweet and tangy. Nothing overpowers the senses, unlike the cloyingly sweet ribs you generally find at chain restaurants.

Photo by Caroline on Crack on Flickr

Each table has two versions of a hot sauce, made in-house daily. One was “hot” and the other was called “XXX DANGER”. I think I have developed an abnormal tolerance for spicy food, because I really didn’t think the XXX version was unbearable.

Single guys will also enjoy coming here for the other “meat”, the ridiculously hot women that waitress here. Seriously, every single girl was so beautiful. Obviously, this is not your average BBQ joint. Our waitress insisted that we try the jumbo grilled tiger shrimp with remoulaude sauce, so she brought out a few on the house. The shrimps were huge and very fresh, with that juicy “snap” when you bite in. I will definitely order these next time.

Photo from the Baby Blues BBQ Website

Another great thing about this place is that the owners seem like down to earth guys that do their fare share of hustle in the kitchen, all while drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon. They have an awesome restaurant and I’ll definitely be coming back here again.

Baby Blues BBQ

444 Lincoln Blvd. @ the corner of Sunset. 310.396.7675 www.babybluebarbq.com