Recipe #203: Baked Cornish Game Hens

I refuse to buy these cute little cornish game hens if they're frozen, which is unfortunate, since I have a hard time finding ones that aren't.  Luckily, my last trip to Giant Eagle resulted in buying my first hens in a long time.  I found this easy recipe on allrecipes.com and followed it exactly.  Depending on how much you want to eat, a hen will feed 1-2 people.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cornish game hens 1/2 cup melted butter 1/2 onion, chopped 1/2 stalk celery, chopped 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped 1 (4.5 ounce) can mushrooms, drained

and chopped    2 cloves garlic, minced    1 tablespoon dried basil    1 teaspoon dried oregano    1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley    1/4 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

	Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
	In a small bowl combine the 1/2 cup melted butter, onion, celery, bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, basil, oregano and parsley.
	Season hens inside and out with salt and pepper to taste, then stuff with equal amounts butter/vegetable mixture. Place stuffed birds in a 9x13 inch baking dish, breast side up. Drizzle with 1/4 cup melted butter.
	Cover dish and bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove cover and brown at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).