Quick and Simple Mushroom Tart with Goat Cheese

Today was a beautiful day in southern Pennsylvania, a great day to be outside.  My son and his new best friend (can you have a bromance at 2?) had a play date at our house and we were in and out, and in and out.  We played baseball, colored on the deck, played with all the toys in the  living room and had a great time.  While the boys played, I started preparing the mushroom tart. Don't worry, I kept my eye on them at all times, unless my husband was watching. 

I have been wanting to do more vegetarian foods, as I am sure you know by now, and not only less meat but foods that wouldn't upset my stomach. I have been slowly compiling a list of foods that do and don't irritate me and I am finding that mushrooms are one that do not bother me so, I hope to use them more often.  I also am trying to cut out dairy, which I must say is hard even though I don't really eat that much of it.  I tried some dairy free 'cheese', and I lets just say...I didn't finish it.  Luckily, I have found that goat cheese is okay and I like it so it works for me! So here it is, a simple and easy Mushroom Tart with Goat Cheese.

Mushroom Tart with Goat Cheese

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 a large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp sherry

2 pints mushrooms, sliced (I used button and crimini)

1 sheet of store bought puff pastry, thawed

2 oz goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large skillet, sweat together the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat just until translucent  Add the sliced mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, cover and let sweat for about 5 minutes, turn up the heat slightly to medium-high and add the sherry.  Cook until the mushrooms are very tender.

Lay out the sheet of puff pastry on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Pour the mushrooms on the puff pastry, leaving about an inch around the edges.  Sprinkle with the goat cheese, and bake for about 20 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!

Moms Meet: Kashi Chocolate Soft Baked Squares

Last Sunday our moms got together to sample Kashi Soft Baked Chocolate Squares. The verdict was...they were good.

These are family friendly brownie like bars. Soft, chocolaty, and full of things you wouldn't necessarily expect. The second ingredient is sweet potato, there is also black beans. It is something you wouldn't mind giving to your kids; mine thinks it is a treat, and I would rather give him this then a cookie.

We had to rate what is important to us when buying snack bars and also what we thought of the squares. Some of the items were: is it good tasting?; is it a good value for the money?; is it something my kid(s) would enjoy?; is it low in fat?; etc.

The items most important to our group when buying snack bars were; good value, good tasting, something my whole family would enjoy, flavor and high quality ingredients. And they were all found in the Kashi squares. We also liked that the Kashi squares were; healthy, natural, made with whole grains, naturally sweetened and that they contained fruit/veggies.

Currently they only have chocolate and almond flavored squares. Hopefully they will come out with some other flavors eventually. I think everyone in the group will probably purchase these, the only thing that would keep us from doing so is that they are a little dry and aren't available in our local grocery store. Maybe someday our store will branch out, they don't have much in the way of organic, natural or vegetarian options

*We only sampled the Chocolate Squares, I also received a couple cereals and Banana Chocolate Chip Bars.

Please visit the Kashi website for a lot more information.