To get out of my bechamel guilt from last week, I decided to make something that didn't require a...umm...whole stick of butter. I also ate my weight in melted chocolate over the weekend making desserts for my best friend's baby shower so something bright and fresh was very much needed and appreciated.

I try to have some sort of plan in my head when I go shopping for dinner, but I was at complete loss when I browsed the produce department.

Then I saw them.

I have a love affair with mushrooms. It's true. Guess what The Husband hates with a passion? Yup -- mushrooms. The fact that we are still happily married surprises me too. Luckily, he makes up for it in being adventurous with most every other food. There is no way I could have married a picky eater, seriously. So when he started liking Shiitake mushrooms, or in his words "the only mushroom that doesn't tastes "mushroomy", I was overjoyed to say the least. This recipe can obviously be made with any mushroom, I personally would have picked Portobellos, but in this case for The Husband to eat it I used Shiitake.

As I was contemplating what to make for dinner tonight a show featuring Chinese Dim Sum came on the TV. One look from The Husband sealed the deal and and off I went to grab one of my favorite cookbooks, Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen. This really is the tell-all book about everything from Gyoza to Samosas--a true must have for any dumpling lover. I randomly flipped open the book and there they were: little white, toasty pillows stuffed of gingery pork goodness. Pork and Scallion Mini Buns it is!

I can't wait to cook with Mr. Bean. I started tinkering around in my parent's kitchen when I was very young, so I am hoping my children will want to do the same. Since Mr. Bean can't even sit up on his own yet, I will just stick with cooking for him for now. There are a couple of reasons why I make his baby food: 1. Umm why wouldn't I? I cook everything (well, almost everything) from scratch as it is, so why not baby food? 2. Money honey! Let's be honest: I just made 6+ "jars" of baby food for the cost of 1 sweet potato. Plus I like that I can reuse all the jars for future foods. 3. Have you ever looked at the food they offer for babies? I'm not really a fan of "Turkey and Gravy" pureed into a jelly-like consistency. Bottom line: if I won't eat it, then I don't want my baby eating it. Also, it should be pointed out that sugar is added to a lot of store bought baby food.