Aggie's Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

One of my most favorite cooking blogs is Aggie's Kitchen. I'm also a fan of her page on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. But not in a scary stalker kind of way--just I really like her blog and she posts some amazing sounding recipes!! So imagine my surprise when I logged into my account the other day to check on the blogs I follow and saw I had two comments that needed to be moderated--and both were from Aggie herself!!! Then I noticed I had a new follower and it was Aggie!! Oh man, I was so freakin' excited! I called my friend Jen as soon as I saw it because I know she loves Aggie's blog, too, and really she was the only person I knew that would be as excited as I was.

Aggie, if you're reading this, please don't think we're scary people and please don't unfollow me because of all this!! I'm just trying to share my excitement.

As luck or fate would have it, this was the very same day I had planned on making one of Aggie's recipes for dinner. Weird, huh? I know. So instead of flat out copying her post on it, I'm just going to link to it on her blog so she gets full credit. She has beautiful pictures of this tasty burger as well:

Aggie's Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

These burgers were amazing!! The one downside was that my grill ran out of propane shortly after I started putting zucchini and the mushrooms on it. Oops. TGIHAGP! (That's "thank God I have a grill pan" by the way.) Our burgers consisted of grilled zucchini, some roasted red peppers, portabella mushrooms, and copious amounts of brie because I heart brie very, very much. I was excited to find out that my local Safeway now carries portabella mushrooms in bulk so you can buy them by the pound instead of in the package. It's ridiculously cheaper that way. I got two big portabellas for $2.50 I think it was and the package of two was $4!! The husband suggested we have portabellas on a weekly basis now that I've discovered this.

Here's my picture of Aggie's creation:



I'm telling you...we don't mess around with cheese at our house!

Portobello Burgers with Aioli

I never got around to posting yesterday because we had a crazy busy day. In the morning was my Bible study group, then we met my friend Gina for lunch at Z Tejas. I heart Z Tejas. I used to frequent their happy hour quite often because they make a darn good margarita and just a couple will knock you on your butt. I like a lot of bang for my buck when it comes to happy hour. Or liked I guess, since I really have no idea when the last time was I went to a happy hour. Anyway, I had the smoked chicken chile relleno. I'd never had it before and was feeling slightly adventurous. Per the menu on their website, it's a "Grilled poblano pepper stuffed with chicken, pecans, apricots, raisins, a blend of spices and Jack cheese, served over a green chile and picante cream sauce with green chile rice and black beans." Lordy mama, was it ever tasty. I ate every last bite and only left a couple black beans--and the stem of the pepper--on my plate. Yum. I've never been disappointed with anything there.

Anyway, we got home from lunch and I quickly fed the baby because my mom was coming over to watch the kids so I could try and get the boy in a preschool and then go grocery shopping. The boy didn't win the lottery for the preschool, so after I got home I spent the rest of the afternoon looking up preschools to check out for him. There are a few that look good, so I'm hoping I end up liking one of them. I was way too caught up in preschool searching to stop and post my recipe for last night, so I'm doing it this morning.

Truth be told, I was more disappointed that the grocery store I went to only had one pacakge of portobello mushrooms than I was that the boy didn't get in to the preschool. My two grocery choices are Fry's and Safeway, and I like Safeway so much better, but I went to Fry's because they had portobellos on sale--and then didn't even have enough! Grrrr. I made due, though, and bought a package of the baby portobello caps to make up the difference. It worked out okay. This is another recipe from RecipeZaar.com.

Portabella Burgers With Aioli
Recipe #19147
By: Kim Weimer

4 medium portabella mushrooms
1 cup gouda cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
4 hamburger buns (We prefer whole wheat)

Aioli:
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dill weed

First make the aioli sauce. Just add all the Aioli ingredients and whisk together. Chill for approximately 20 minutes.

Lightly clean the Portobello mushrooms and remove the stems. Mix the Olive oil and Garlic and brush all over Mushrooms. Broil Mushrooms for 3-5 minutes with rib side down. Turn over and top with cheese. Broil an additional 3 minutes. Place on Hamburger bun and top with aioli or anything you would prefer.

*****

I used my grill pan instead of broiling them, and I used slices of provolone instead of gouda. I still had some of the whole wheat buns I had made leftover, so we had our sandwiches on those. They were super yummy!! The aioli was really tasty and a nice complement to the mushrooms. I love having portobello burgers because they're so easy to put together, and the mushrooms just have so much flavor. Yum!

For side dishes I made butternut squash fries (I'm posting that recipe after this one) and some roasted asparagus. It was quite a vegetarian feast. For the asparagus I just lay it out on a cookie sheet, pour some olive oil over the spears, sprinkle with salt, and throw in the oven. Easy and so tasty.

Portobello Penne Pasta Casserole

Alright, back to cooking!! Yesterday I just felt blah and tired and pregnant and lazy, so we had brinner (breakfast for dinner). Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage. I heart brinner. I had a whole list of chores I wanted to do, and all I accomplished was planning dinners for the week and making up my grocery list. The husband wants to get back to more vegetarian dinners, so I looked at the recipes I'd saved on allrecipes.com and found this one. I thought, "Portobello mushrooms haven't been on sale in FOREVER!" Then I looked at the grocery ad, and lo and behold...portobellos were on sale!! I was tempted to eat them all week because we haven't had them in so long, but I settled on one dinner. I kind of wanted to make Portobello Parmesan because we haven't had it in forever, but this got good reviews.

By the way, it's much easier to prepare dinner if your husband is home to entertain your 2.5 year old that's been a total terror all day instead of trying to make dinner and deal with the boy at the same time. Kudos to single parents who have to do this all the time!! The husband had a meeting that ran late tonight, normally he's home to deal with the boy. Of course the boy wanted to sit on the potty while I was trying to get everything together. I hate to deny him potty time because I'd REALLY like him out of diapers, but what can you do. At least he went potty while he was sitting there. Small blessings I guess.

Portobello Penne Pasta Casserole
1 (8 ounce) package uncooked penne pasta
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/4 cup soy sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the mushrooms, cook 1 minute, and set aside. Melt margarine in the saucepan. Mix in flour, garlic, and basil. Gradually mix in milk until thickened. Stir in 1 cup cheese until melted. Remove saucepan from heat, and mix in cooked pasta, mushrooms, spinach, and soy sauce. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and top with remaining cheese.
4. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly brown.

*****

When I first read the recipe I went, "A quarter cup soy sauce?!" but several of the reviews said they thought the same thing but it turned out fine. We'll see. It seemed like there were a lot of calories that could be cut, so I used cooking spray instead of oil to saute the mushrooms, 1.5 cups skim milk and 0.5 cups 2% milk. Oh, and even though it didn't say to do so, I drained the spinach.

And can I just say I hate cooking with margarine? I've become a butter girl through and through I guess. Normally I have some in the freezer, but I used the last of it in my cake over the weekend (which I just remembered is out in our garage fridge...it's probably lonely, I should make sure I have some tonight), so all I had was reduced fat tub margarine. Ugh. It's so oily and there's so much water in it, which means it splatters everywhere when you're heating it up. I hate cooking with it, but I had no choice.

Dinner's in the oven as I type this, we'll see how it turns out! I can't decide if I have high hopes for it or low expectations. Generally I'm a low expectations kind of girl because if you don't expect much, you won't wind up disappointed. Trust me...I've been lectured on this philosophy MANY TIMES in my life.

*****

The results? Yummy. You couldn't really taste the soy sauce like reviewers had said on the website, but I think next time I might scale it back a little anyway. The husband and I both liked it and agreed it's one to keep. The boy didn't really eat it, but he hasn't been eating much lately anyway. I think next time I might add some parmesan in as well to give it a little extra flavor. Definitely one I'll add to my portobello recipe repertoire (sp?)!

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.

*****

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.

Portobello Pita Pockets

Don't you love when something goes on sale that you normally think is too expensive? It's pretty silly of me because a package of portobellos is usually $3 at my grocery store, but I never want to spend that much on them. They were on sale for $2.50 this week, and somehow that price is totally fine for me! Anyway, I was excited they were on sale because we hadn't had them in awhile. I think last time I had some I made Portobello Parmesan, and I know the husband likes these pita things so I figured I'd make them instead of the parmesan ones.

Portobello Pita Pockets
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion, sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices
4 medium portobello mushroom caps (3-4 inches in diameter)
2 whole wheat pita pocket bread rounds, cut in half
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 cup packed fresh baby spinach leaves
4 slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese

Combine vinegar, oil, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the vinegar mixture. Brush both sides of the onion slices and mushroom caps with remaining vinegar mixture.

Heat grill (or grill pan) to medium high heat. Place pita bread rounds on grill, grilling 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove from grill. Place onions and mushrooms on grill; cook 4-6 minutes or until vegetables are tender and have grill marks, turning once.

To assemble sandwiches, cut pita rounds in half. Line each pita round with spinach leaves, one slice cheese, one slice onion, one mushroom cap, and tomato slices. Drizzle each pita with reserved vinegar mixture. Serve immediately.

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff

I've been really excited to try this recipe, so I hope it turns out. I love stroganoff, but really the only good one I ever have is my grandma's. Hopefully this one will be a keeper.

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 ounces dried egg noodles

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles, and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.

At the same time, melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring until softened. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and add sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are limp and browned. Remove to a bowl, and set aside.

In the same skillet, stir in vegetable broth, being sure to stir in any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, and cook until the mixture has reduced by 1/3. Reduce heat to low, and return the mushrooms and onion to the skillet.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir together the sour cream and flour; then blend into the mushrooms. Return the skillet to the burner, and continue cooking over low heat, just until the sauce thickens. Stir in the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

*****

All the reviews said to add soy sauce and worcestire (sp?), so I figured I'd go ahead and do that. I had bought regular portobellos and some baby bellas to use, but the baby bellas aren't good anymore, so it looks like I'll be halving the recipe since I don't have enough mushrooms.

Portobello Parmesan

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday (alone...what a treat!!) and got some portobello mushrooms. We were going to have them grilled in pitas, but I didn't have the balsamic vinegar I needed for that. So we had this instead which was fine by me because it was so good the first time we had it. Yum yum, this is one of my favorite dinners!

Portobello Parmesan
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing the grill pan
4 to 6 Portobello mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup marinara sauce (store bought or homemade)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over both sides of the mushrooms. Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the grill to prevent the mushrooms from sticking. Grill until the mushrooms are heated through and tender, about 5 minutes per side.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Place the grilled mushrooms on top of the marinara sauce and top with the remaining marinara sauce. Sprinkle with the cheeses and top with the butter pieces. Bake until the cheese melts and the top is golden, about 15 minutes. Serve.

*****

Sorry for the late post today. My son for whatever reason hasn't been napping which means my precious mommy alone time has been drastically reduced, so I haven't had a chance to update my blog until late. The upside of that, however, is I can tell you now that it was fan-freakin-tastic since we already ate it. I literally savored my last bite.

Portobello Parmesan

So this is what we are having for dinner tonight. This recipe comes to me from my friend Jen Bowman (Hi, Jen!!). I can't wait to try it. I had seen a similar one somewhere but of course would never be able to find it if forced, and in all actuality probably would have forgotten about it if she hadn't told me she had a good recipe for it. I keep forgetting this is what we're having, then when I look at my dinner list for the week I get all excited.

Portobello Parmesan
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing the grill pan
4 to 6 Portobello mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup marinara sauce (store bought or homemade)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over both sides of the mushrooms. Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the grill to prevent the mushrooms from sticking. Grill until the mushrooms are heated through and tender, about 5 minutes per side.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Place the grilled mushrooms on top of the marinara sauce and top with the remaining marinara sauce. Sprinkle with the cheeses and top with the butter pieces. Bake until the cheese melts and the top is golden, about 15 minutes. Serve.

*****

Doesn't this sound SO GOOD?!?!??! I almost start drooling whenever Jen tells me about recipes she makes because they all sound so good. She's even getting me to branch out and try squash, but that will be another bonus post later in the week. Which reminds me, I need to find out from her how long butternut squash last. Anyway, I only bought two mushrooms because once again I didn't look at the recipe before going to the store. But, I don't think the boy would eat it anyway, so it works out. I will probably cook up a little spaghetti on the side to have with it. That's what we usually have as a side when we have chicken parmesan. My marinara sauce will be Prego or Ragu, whichever it is I have open in the fridge. And I may increase the cheese a bit, too. Half a cup of mozzarella hardly seems like enough for cheese whores like we are!

Tomorrow's dinner is up in the air now, by the way. I bought fresh basil at Trader Joe's this weekend, so I was going to make a basil chicken recipe I have, but 1) I'm pretty low on chicken breasts, and 2) I kind of want to use it to make tomato basil soup to freeze. I don't know, I'll think on it and see what I decide to do.

Portobello Mushroom Fajitas

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I'm the only healthy one in our house today, so I'm having a nice, relaxing day. :) We skipped church this morning, and I'm still in my jammies. I love days like this!

Tonight's dinner is portobello mushroom fajitas. John surprised me with a Cooking Light cookbook (love Cooking Light!! So this recipe is from that book. I can't wait to try a lot of the stuff that's in here.

Portobello Mushroom Fajitas
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups (1/2-inch-thick) slices portobello mushrooms (about 8 ounces)
1 cup vertically sliced red onion
1 cup (1/4-inch-thick) green bell pepper strips
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 serrano chile, minced
12 (6-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled queso fresco
3/4 cup salsa verde

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until almost tender. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 4 minutes or until bell pepper is crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro, lime juice, salt, black pepper, and chile.

Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon about 1/4 cup mushroom mixture down center of each tortilla; top each tortilla with 4 teaspoons cheese and 1 tablespoon salsa. Roll up.

*****
I got red peppers instead of green and yellow onion instead of red, but I don't think it will make much difference. I also didn't buy queso fresco because I didn't know when else I'd use it. The recipe said that feta was a good substitute, so I might try that or we just have regular Mexican blend shredded cheese to use.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I'm not sure if this dinner will happen or not as my husband is home with a sore throat today. He thinks it might be strep, so if he's still under the weather tonight I'll probably skip making this so he can enjoy it. Our grocery store had portobello mushrooms on sale this week, so I bought two packages. I just love them!! This recipe is from a Weight Watchers cookbook and is actually an appetizer, but we'll have it as a main dish. I hope John's feeling better tonight so we can have this...sounds so yummy!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 pound sweet turkey sausage, casings removed
4 ounces nonfat cream cheese
1 small tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
4 drops hot pepper sauce
4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed and wiped clean

Preheat the oven to 425. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet. Crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon, until the sausage is browned and no pink remains, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the cream cheese, tomato, cheddar cheese, parsley, and hot pepper sauce until blended.

Place the mushrooms on the baking sheet. FIll the cavity of each mushroom with the sausage mixture, mounding it slightly. Bake until the mushroom caps are tender and the filling is hot, about 25 minutes. Cut each mushroom into four wedges. Serve hot.

*****

I think I'll half the recipe so we'll each have one mushroom cap and then we'll have a salad and some kind of veggie on the side. Cross your fingers we really get to have it! :)

Portobello Pita Pockets

I've only made this once before, but it was really good. My husband is watching his cholesterol, so I figured portobello mushrooms would be a good substitute for hamburgers because of their meaty flavor. He really liked them. I'm not sure what we'll have on the side. I bought some corn on the cob yesterday, so I may grill that up while I'm doing the mushrooms and onions.

Portobello Pita Pockets
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion, sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices
4 medium portobello mushroom caps (3-4 inches in diameter)
2 whole wheat pita pocket bread rounds, cut in half
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 cup packed fresh baby spinach leaves
4 slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese

Combine vinegar, oil, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the vinegar mixture. Brush both sides of the onion slices and mushroom caps with remaining vinegar mixture.

Heat grill (or grill pan) to medium high heat. Place pita bread rounds on grill, grilling 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove from grill. Place onions and mushrooms on grill; cook 4-6 minutes or until vegetables are tender and have grill marks, turning once.

To assemble sandwiches, cut pita rounds in half. Line each pita round with spinach leaves, one slice cheese, one slice onion, one mushroom cap, and tomato slices. Drizzle each pita with reserved vinegar mixture. Serve immediately.

Now, when I made it last time I found an entire slice of onion was way too much onion for my liking, so I just put a couple rings into each pita. I also didn't like drizzling the extra vinegar on the sandwiches as I thought that made it too soggy. We're using Provolone cheese instead of Swiss tonight, too.