Life is too short to stuff a mushroom. I suppose Shirley Conran didn’t want to waste precious moments on trivial things. She didn’t value stuffed mushrooms as worth the effort. I suspect that’s because Shirley never experienced mine. Ha! Enjoy my recipe for a much-loved holiday appetizer. While you’re pushing the delightfully pungent filling into the prepared mushroom caps, will you join me in meditating on the unworthiness of stuffing the mind with disquieting, distracting, distrustful worries?
Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients:
- 16 oz. medium mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup minced onion
- ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 slice soft bread
- ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup water
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350o. Wash mushrooms; drain on paper towels. Pull stems from mushrooms and chop finely. Place bread on cutting board and use fork tines to tear off crumbs. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat; add chopped mushroom stems and onion. Sauté until tender. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, soft bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper. Sprinkle salt over mushroom caps and fill with sautéed mixture, mounding over the top. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Before serving, arrange stuffed mushrooms in a shallow dish and add ¼ cup water. Bake for about 20 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 16 to 20 appetizers.
Disquieting Worry
Anxious thoughts and cares add nothing profitable to my life’s journey. Since I can’t alter the way God orders and arranges my circumstances, might it not be better to find that place of contentment wherever God has planted me? If you think about it, dissatisfaction registers a complaint against God. Instead, if I truly pray in faith, will I gain the strength to bear up under daily difficulties and not be so moved by them?
Distracting Worry
If I want to care for the world, the care of my own thought life might be the best place to begin. When I stuff a mushroom—or anything—I’m filling a space under pressure. Any space—including my mind—can only hold so much. When I stuff my mind to capacity with worry, other thoughts are forced out to make room. If my mind is preoccupied with everyday anxieties, the focus of my thinking is not on the most important things.
Distrustful Worry
God has given me life. If he did that, what can God not do for me? Should I worry about the future? My life is in God’s hands, very good hands. He preserves my life by supplying all my needs. I can trust him to provide for me. I can depend as much upon the Giver as I depend upon the gifts themselves. If I place my trust in God, I can focus my care on my soul and on the souls of others.
Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Matthew 6:27
Prayer: Father, thank you for the abundant life you have given me. Forgive me for the times I have wasted my thinking on unworthy things. Help me to focus my mind on the things that are really important. Amen.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS!
Susi Robinson Rutz 