Red Wine Mushrooms, Aperol Spritz, Lemon-Mint Peas

The other day it was nice and warm in Denver so we decided to grill out...cooking up some buffalo burgers and the like. Sides included a leafy green salad (it seriously I think had 12 varieties of lettuces), lemon-mint peas, and quinoa salad. The burgers were topped with red wine mushrooms.

Red Wine Mushrooms and Sauce
(We made ours with a little less sauce, as we were using the mushrooms as a topping for burgers as opposed to steaks.)

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 shallots minced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 lb white or cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed, and sliced
1 cup red wine, we used Marsala
1 cup vegetable stock (low salt)
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

On medium heat add a little olive oil to a large pan. Add the shallots, garlic, and mushrooms, cooking until the mushrooms begin to caramelize (3-4 minutes).
Add the red wine and stock, cooking until the liquid has reduced to half.
Use to top a variety of dishes.

We also made minted peas again! This time we added some shallots, salt & pepper, and lemon to the mint and peas. Super springy!


Aperol Spritz

Ingredients:
2 ounces Prosecco
3 ounces Aperol
A splash of soda water (we did not have any at the time so we did without just fine!)
Orange slice

Add ice to the glass. Pour in the Prosecco first, followed by the Aperol. Add the soda water. Garnish with an orange slice (twisting to add a splash of orange juice to the cocktail).

On another note, we bought a pre-made vegetarian pho broth a few nights ago just to try. It was okay! We have had pho homemade before but every time it includes an MSG in some form or fashion. Maybe because this broth was MSG free it didn't have that flavor profile to it. We added tofu to the broth for some protein. Either way, we loaded up on bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, green onion and sauce and had a fresh and light dinner that was just wonderful. I love bean sprouts. Oh! The only thing missing for J was jalapenos (which he had used to make a homemade salsa instead). The only thing missing for both of us was some Thai basil, which is a little hard to come by at times.