Mini Stuffed Mushrooms

Mini Stuffed Mushrooms are a simple recipe for parties and maybe for children to make for the family. They are an easy way for someone who is just starting out in recipes and making food for parties. They can be vegetarian or even vegan and they are quick and easy to prepare. Usually served straight from a fairy cake tray, they are informal finger food that will have guests or family reaching out for more.

Ingredients
Serves 4
 * a dozen ordinary mushrooms
 * 4 ounces/ 200 grammes of any hard cheese (edam doesn't melt over things well), Cheddar is ideal
 * half a green or red pepper

optional suggestions:
 * various sprinkles of herbs & spices can be tried, such as celery salt, parsley, pepper
 * various salad dressings like vinaigrette can be dropped on the mini 'shooms.
 * small chopped veg can be included, such as onion, celery, carrot
 * cooked ham, chopped small, could be added

Utensils Required

 * Baking Tray, ideally a Fairy Cake Tray
 * Sharp knife to chop veg.
 * Cheese Grater

Directions
Wipe mushrooms with a damp cloth as normal and remove stems; these can be chopped up and added to mix if desired. Lay mushrooms upside down one in each of a fairy cake tray if available- it fits quite well and stops them falling about, but a flat tray will do. Grate cheese and chop peppers very small, put onto/into the upside down mushroom tops, sprinkle with a light dusting of pepper to taste. Put into a moderate oven - gas mark 4 is fine - for about 10 mins or until cheese has melted. Add any desired sprinkles or dressings.

Serve
Either serve onto plates or, if informal, just offer the tray around for guests/family to take and eat. Best served hot straight from the oven- be putting a second tray in as the first comes out- they will want more!

Tips

 * If you don't overdo the fillings, the tray will stay quite clean, otherwise the cheese can overflow.
 * Rather than putting all of everything onto each mushroom, make them different, with some just cheese, some green pepper, some with say cheese and parsley. This gives an impression of choice and skill in preperation.
 * experiment with cooking time- as the mushrooms cook they become moist, then dry out depending on mushroom size and cooking temp.

Nutrition
Mushrooms are relatively harmless food with few calories we can digest and little nutrition value. Cheese has a lot of saturated fat and calories. Peppers have vitamin c, which will remain in the food if it is lightly cooked. Salt is not really needed with most cheese, though a light sprinkle is possible. Parsley chopped in will add iron and vitamin C.