Spinach, Bacon, Goat Cheese Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

I made Charles a special Valentines Day dinner based on his favorite foods: cheese and bacon. Let’s face it, women think that flowers and chocolate are romantic and men want bacon.Heart shaped garnishes. The heart shaped bacon was so good – the trick is to bake it in the oven. I was also wearing a heart sweater. I was very festive.

The appetizer, a portabella mushroom stuffed with bacon, goat cheese and spinach. I know this doesn’t look like much but it was incredibly good. The spinach was cooked in bacon fat, and there are crisp pieces of bacon in the filling. I am not one of those people who goes nuts over bacon, but this was really good.

These mushrooms are very easy to make. Chop up 2 slices of bacon, and place in a pan over medium low heat. Render the fat from the bacon and let the bacon crisp up just a bit. Then add 1 pound of spinach. Toss around in the pan letting it soak up the bacon fat. Once the bacon is wilted and cooked, add 2 ounces of goat cheese and let it melt. Stir together. Spoon the filling into 2 portabella mushrooms. Then place the mushrooms filling side down in Italian breadcrumbs (use a spatula to flip back over so the filling doesn’t fall out). Sprinkle a little Parmesan on top, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. The prep time is only about 5-10 minutes, and this would be a great side dish for steaks.

Tomato soup with a bacon heart and a crisp cheddar cheese heart for garnish.

Charles gave me Sugar Bliss cupcakes! He said he had to wait in a very long line to get them.

Charles’s shark mailbox on a pile of gummies and stuffed full of valentines. One of the valentines even said that I love him more than tacos. Charles thought it was very touching; he knows how much I love tacos.