Crabdip Stuffed Portabella Mushroom Caps

Last night my mom calls me and says there's a surprise party for Mr. Meyer, the owner of a liquor store we all go to, because he's turning 90. She and my sister are in Ohio, and my Dad's in Milwaukee, so I was the family representative. I needed to come up with a quick appetizer to take over, which was great, because I had a recipe in mind I needed guinea pigs for! The recipe was a hit, so I will post it for you here!

For a party of 10-16

Crab Dip:

• 2oz fat-free cream cheese or 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (for those health concious eaters)
• 2 tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp finely chopped chives or green onions
• 2 tsp lemon juice (1 squirt is roughly equivalent to 1 tsp)
• 2 cans (8 oz each) lump crabmeat, well drained (I prefer Chicken of the Sea for the brand - had bad experiences with Bumble Bee)
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• cayenne pepper to taste

1. Combine cream cheese and mayo, stir until smooth.

2. Add chives/green onion, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Taste often to get the perfect flavor! *I love cayenne pepper with seafood; I add just enough to get the spicy flavor, but not so much than you need a gulp of water after each bite.

3. Drain crab meat and stir in. I use a fork to gently break up the crab meat and combine with the rest of the mix.

4. Flavor again with cayenne if needed!

Mushroom Caps:

• 3 packages of Portabella mushrooms(roughly 30-40 mushrooms)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• big pinch of salt
• medium sauce pan

1. Wash the mushrooms and twist the stems gently and pull to remove them, giving you nice mushroom caps to stuff!

2. I went to my new Julia's Kitchen Wisdom book for advice on how to do the caps, because I didn't want to sautee them; they'd get too mushy, but I wanted them cooked with some flavor.

• In the medium sauce pan combine 1/4 cup of water, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and a big pinch of salt.
• Add 10-12 caps, and simmer for 2-3 minutes. *they hold shape better if you put them in with the bowl facing up.
• Repeat steps until all caps are cooked.

3. Set your caps bowl side up on a plate/serving platter. Use a napkin or paper towel to gently dry the caps and remove excess liquid from the bowl.

4. Fill each cap with 1-2 tbsp of crab dip

Enjoy! Sorry I didn't get better pictures. I was in a rush to get to the party!