Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Well, we made it home from our week at the beach. We had a really good time with the husband's family. The boy absolutely loves being at the ocean, so he had a blast. Although it breaks my heart because he keeps asking for "more ocean house." :( And of course now we're back in the blazing summer heat of Phoenix. Ugh. If anyone has an extra $30K lying around they don't know what to do with, I'd gladly take it off your hands so I could get a pool in my backyard. Someday...

Anyway, back to our regular routine. I was excited to see that portobellos were on sale this week because it seems like a long time since we've had them. Plus after vacation binge eating, we wanted some healthy stuff this week. Or rather the husband did...I've been thinking about making a tres leches cake all afternoon. ;) I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the mushrooms, other than grill them and throw them on a bun, so I did a Google search. This was the first recipe that came up, and it sounds really good. Who knew there were recipes on the Mayo Clinic website. I'm bookmarking it to check out some more later because I'm currently busy uploading pictures from our trip and looking at nursery bedding. Such a multi-tasker.

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers
4 large portobello mushroom caps, 5 inches in diameter
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 whole-wheat buns, toasted
4 slices tomato
4 slices red onion
2 bibb lettuce leaves, halved

Clean mushrooms with a damp cloth and remove their stems. Place in a glass dish, stem (gill) side up.

To prepare the marinade, in a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil. Drizzle the marinade over the mushrooms. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for about 1 hour, turning mushrooms once.

Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill or heat a gas grill or broiler. Away from the heat source, lightly coat the grill rack or broiler pan with cooking spray. Position the cooking rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat source.

Grill or broil the mushrooms on medium heat, turning often, until tender, about 5 minutes on each side. Baste with marinade to keep from drying out. Using tongs, transfer the mushrooms to a plate.

Place each mushroom on a bun and top with 1 tomato slice, 1 onion slice and 1/2 lettuce leaf. Serve immediately.

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I don't have lettuce or tomato, and I don't really want just onion slices, so I'm going to top them with Muenster cheese. I also need to make a pasta salad. Maybe I'll throw some water on to boil for that when I go downstairs to get some limeade. I treated myself today to Simply Orange brand Limeade. I think it has crack in it...that stuff is awesome. It's kind of pricey, but 1) it was on sale, and 2)I can't have beer or margaritas to cool off in this darned heat, so I figured I was justified.