Recipe: Delicious "Burger" - Feta Stuffed Portobellos

Recently, I've been a bottomless pit of hungry.  You know the feeling?  Like, where you could eat something the size of Texas?  And then, when you find that thing, you want to inhale it immediately?

Yeah, like that.

If I'm being totally honest, the last month has been terrible for me in regards to eating and weight management.  I'm hungry all the time, I haven't been working out as much as I should, and I've been eating a lot of crap.  Since March I've put on just under 10 pounds, and that all needs to come back off NOW.  (Yes, I know that weight gain isn't all food driven.  Oh the joys of hormones.  But no excuses, it still has to go.)

Anyway!  Taking a trick from my own weight loss book, whenever I feel like my eating is out of control, I take a hard turn towards fruits and vegetables.  They help me fill that hungry hole with lots of volume and very little calories. 

So, needing to fill up on veggies Monday night, I whipped together this creation on a whim.  And I liked it so much, I thought I would share.

I served myself one of the below "burgers" with a side of cantaloupe and a fresh chopped romaine lettuce salad.  Since the feta made me think Mediterranean, I used a tzatziki style dressing on the romaine.  I liked the combination so well, I was pretty happy to know I'd have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Oh, and given the rainy weather here, I was forced to pan cook inside.  But these would be even more delicious on the grill I'm sure.

Enjoy!

-----


Feta Stuffed Portabella Burgers

 

Ingredients

• 4 "burger sized" portabellas
• 1/4 medium green pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 medium roma tomato, seeded and finely diced
• 1 box of reduced fat feta cheese
• 1 mounded palm full of shredded reduced fat mozzarella (less than 1/4 cup)
• 1 mounded palm full of shredded parmesan (less than 1/4 cup)
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• Olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Buns (to serve burgers on)

Directions

Mix all three cheeses, green peppers, tomatoes and herbs in bowl, breaking up any feta chunks that are irregularly large.  Set aside.  Clean portabellas by removing center stem and gently scraping out "gills" with a spoon (this may not really be necessary, but my mushrooms were a little too shallow and I needed some extra room for the cheese stuffing to sit nicely inside).  Divide cheese filling between all 4 mushrooms, being careful not to over stuff or break the edges of the mushroom. 

In a non stick frying pan, put a very minimal amount of oil on the bottom of the pan and bring to cooking temperature.  Add mushrooms.  Before covering, carefully drizzle each cap with balsamic vinegar and a very small amount of high quality olive oil (less than 1 teaspoon of each).  Cover mushrooms and cook at medium high heat.

Check mushrooms every 2-3 minutes to ensure they are not sticking to the pan.  Eventually, as they start to cook down, the natural moisture released from the mushrooms will aid in preventing them from sticking.  When mushrooms are uniformly cooked throughout and cheese appears melted, place on buns and serve.