Counting Down to Thanksgiving......A Great Appetizer...Stuffed Mushrooms!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow, actually it feels more like Easter than Thanksgiving, it's just too warm here in Northern New Jersey!  It would be nice for some colder days to roll in, just makes the holiday feel so festive, especially when the fire is going.

Here's another great appetizer for your Thanksgiving Feast, Stuffed Mushrooms.  My Stuffed Mushrooms are so delicious, and EASY!  Actually this recipe is my mother's but she never used lemon juice in her recipe, but I think the added lemon juice really adds flavor. 

I like to serve appetizers for Thanksgiving, but the meal is so heavy, and when my family comes, I want them to eat a little bit before dinner, you know while I'm in the kitchen getting the final things done, and they all can just mingle around and munch. But I don't want to serve "heavy" appetizers.  Stuffed Mushrooms are perfect, they are light, and I think everyone loves them. I usually serve them with tomato juice, and a tray of cheese and crackers. Usually around Thanksgiving, the grocery store has those big "stuffing mushrooms", I love those, and they are big enough to hold a lot of the stuffing.  Try my Stuffed Mushrooms, you will love them! 

Stuffed Mushrooms

About 20 big White Button Mushrooms (if you have a crowd, double the recipe)
3 cans Minced Clams - sold by the tuna fish
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or more
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
4 TBS Parm Cheese
2 TBS Lemon Juice

With a damp paper towel, rub the dirt off the Mushrooms, and carefully pop the stems out.  In a frying pan, melt the butter on med heat, add the clams, bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper, Parm cheese, and lemon juice.  Mix up, is the mixture dry?  Add some water, if too wet, add more bread crumbs, you don't want it crumbly, it should look like stuffing and moist enough to hold together to stuff a mushroom. Taste it, what does it need, more salt, pepper, more lemon juice? Taste your food, make sure there's enough seasoning in it!  Stuff each mushroom generously, and put on a cookie sheet, or a 9x13 dish, and bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, until the mushroom is soft.

Hint....I always make these a couple of days before, they hold great in the frig, but bake them the same day you make them, and heat them up in the microwave or oven right before everyone comes to dinner!  YUMMO!