I enjoy stuffing stuff.

I've become obsessed with side dishes lately. Maybe it's cause it makes my plate look prettier, or maybe cause I'm just a fat kid at heart and want more to eat...either way, I'm fine with it. But I'm always on the lookout for something different to serve alongside meat or other seemingly boring main courses.

So one day I was trolling around the Cooking Light website and found a recipe for grilled stuffed portabellas. I should preface this by saying that I LOVE mushrooms. Love. As we know. And while I could eat sauteed mushrooms or chicken marsala every day, it's nice to find ideas that require something other than button or white mushrooms.

Since I can't eat the bun, portabella burgers are pretty much out, so I've really been trying to find another interesting way to use them. Which made stuffing them seem brilliant. I mean, hello, I stuff stuff. Chicken, beef, my face...why not portabellas? They're already the perfect bowl shape. It's like it was meant to be.

I've made these numerous times now, but as usual, I ditched the recipe and decided to just go for it. I had fresh basil and oregano, so I used those, but you could substitute pretty much any fresh herb you have. You can definitely use dried in a pinch, but if you do, I'd let the filling sit a bit before you cook it so they can soften up a bit.



This is a really good side for steak and red wine. But in the summer I've also had two as a main course with grilled corn on the cob. Delicious either way!


Grilled Stuffed Portabellas
Two large portabella mushrooms
juice of half a lemon
decent pour low-sodium soy sauce (about 2 tbsp)
1 medium tomato, chopped
small handful shredded mozzarella (about 1/4 a cup)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
About 7 large basil leaves, thinly sliced
pinch of rosemary
fresh oregano, a couple sprigs, finely chopped
Salt and pepper (a couple pinches of each, divided)
splash of olive oil (half a tbsp or so)

Combine lemon juice, soy sauce, a pinch of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Remove stems and use a spoon to carefully remove the gills from the underside of the mushrooms.

In medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients.

Brush both sides of mushrooms with lemon-soy sauce mixture. Reserve remaining liquid. Spray a hot grill(medium heat) with cooking spray. Put the mushrooms gill sides down, and let cook about 4 minutes. Brush them with the sauce, then flip them over and brush the other side. Spoon the filling into the mushrooms (they should be gill side up at this point), and let cook another 3-4 minutes. Remove from grill with spatula and serve while still hot.
Per mushroom, about 115 calories, 6g fat, 2g fiber, 6g carb, 6g protein