Mushrooms, glorious Mushrooms!

I'm not sure if it's a pregnancy craving or just a renewed love of mushrooms, but I can't seem to get enough of them these days!!  I'm thankful that the other tongues in my house can tolerate and even enjoy them, wheew that's a relief!

My newest and most favorite way to add the delicious, savory, buttery, earthy, goodness to my meal is with Garlic Herb Mushroom Quinoa! It's amazing (I want to put an exclamation point here, but know I've already used too many).

My version is a combination of two different recipes and just some of the typical "what's on hand" adaptations.
Here is one of the original recipes and here is the other.

Or...here is my version.

1-2 cups of quinoa, cooked to the package directions (slightly under versus over cook)

This isn't a recipe that needs specific proportions to turn out, so make as much quinoa as you would want to eat and season with as many or as few of the herbs that smell good to you..make it your own :)

In a skillet with medium heat melt
-1-2 T. Butter
-4-5 cloves of minced Garlic. You don't want to brown the garlic, just cook for a minute to get rid of some of the pungent raw garlic-ness. It will continue to cook with the mushrooms, but I wanted to make sure there were no raw pieces.
-1 8oz package Mushrooms, washed and cut to your size preference
-pinch (1/8 -1/4 t.) of Rosemary.  PLEASE crush the rosemary sprigs in the palm of your hand with your opposite thumb before adding to the mushrooms as they will not cook long enough and in not enough moisture to soften the springs and it will feel like you are eating a dried out Christmas tree :(
-1/2-1 t. Thyme
-1/2 t. Parsley
-1/8-1/4 t. ground Sage (optional)
-1/4 t. Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Let it cook until the mushrooms have browned and become soft. Add more butter if needed to keep everything from sticking to the bottom of the pan. You can use a lid to help it cook quicker and not need to stir as often.

When mushrooms are soft add:
3-5 T (drizzle over the top of all the mushrooms) Balsamic Vinegar
Let this cook without a lid to reduce (cook off or evaporate) the balsamic vinegar until it is just a glaze over the mushrooms and the bottom of the pan - stir continuously.

Add more butter (1-2 T.) to pan, once melted, stir in the cooked quinoa. Stir to coat quinoa in herbs and butter/vinegar glaze and distribute mushrooms throughout quinoa.

-Salt to taste. I find that when I cook with butter I don't usually need to add butter, so try it first before adding any.