Ingredients:

• 1 cup crab meat chopped or shredded
• ½ cup cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 1 tablespoon Savory Herb & Garlic Soup mix
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ cup crushed croutons
• 12 white mushroom caps
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 4 slices of provolone cheese
• Dash of paprika
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Nonstick cooking spray

Serves 4 (3 caps each as a small appetizer)

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.Combine the crab meat, cream cheese, parsley, soup mix, garlic powder and crushed croutons together, adding salt and pepper to taste. Using a damp towel, wipe each mushroom cap clean to remove soil. Remove stems and clean out the gills from the interior of the mushroom caps with a small spoon.Stuff each mushroom cap with crab mixture and place into oven-safe baking dish.Layer the provolone cheese evenly over the tops of the mushrooms and sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Transfer to oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until filling is hot and cheese is melted.

Substitutions:

2 to 4 portobello mushroom caps can be used in place of the button mushrooms. There are many variations to these mushrooms using sausage or vegetable fillings.

When do we EAT? Can we Entertain first?:

I began making this dish while I was catering weddings and dinner parties. I have made slight variations to the recipe of the years but its success at parties still remains the same. This is a great dish to set out while dinner is being prepared for you guest to have as an appetizer. The mushrooms can be made earlier in the day and then put in warm oven to come back to temperature.