Stuffed Tomato

Oh boy! I am a slacker! I am so behind on recipes right now! I have been blaming my holiday "schedule", but really I think the blame needs to go to Pinterest. Check it out, though you have been officially warned. It is highly addicting. You can browse the site for different stuff people have pinned or you can pin any sort of website you like to the page. I have been looking for recipes and craft ideas on there. Hopefully as I pin my blog entries, I will get a little more traffic. So, HI to anyone new that has found their way here through Pinterest!

Ive been getting bored with some of the vegetarian recipes I have on hand, so I went searching for some new ones. I decided upon this one because I had just about everything I needed on hand, all I needed to pick up was mushrooms. Since my family is so small, I cut the recipe in half to suit our needs, but I will share the full sized recipe with you.

• 6 large tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 - 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup quick cooking rice
• 1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.
Slice tops off tomatoes and use a spoon to remove pulp. Leave the shell to be 1/4 inch thick. Chop pulp and set aside. Heat oil over high heat in a skillet. Add mushrooms and onions. Cook and stir until tender, about 10 minutes. Add spinach, tomato pulp, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Stir in rice. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Place tomato shells in a baking dish and spoon in mixture. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake 15 minutes.

I served this over a bed of white corn kernels. Pairing white corn with cooked tomato is absolutely to die for, especially when looking for tasty light flavors. I decided not to stir the Parmesan into the mix, since I am trying to lose a few lbs. The extra calories were not missed! This was absolutely delicious. Sophia loves spinach so she gobbled it right up. I tried chopping the mushrooms on her plate to tiny bits to get her to eat them. She was not fooled at all! They had to go! I am definitely going to serve this again. It seems like it could be more of a summer meal though.

One little tip: if you are big on presentation, be majorly careful transferring your tomato from the baking dish to a plate. The tomato becomes so soft that it will fall right apart. I managed to get one for my mom transferred nicely, but I had to use my hands instead of a spoon. Not the most hygienic during flu season, but I swear I did wash them first!!!


Since I am so behind (well only two days behind actually, but Ive spent lots of time in the kitchen these past two days), I am able to give you a sneak peak of what is coming up next. I have not posted my Sunday dinner yet, which consisted of Crock Pot BBQ ribs and Swedish baked potatoes. Also, I spent most of my day yesterday baking Christmas cookies. I now need to get them out of my house! I have Potato-chocolate chip (which has already been posted), oatmeal, Russian tea cakes, and white trash. As soon as possible, I will share all the delicious goodies with you!