Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Hi!

I made these for dinner when Kristen was our guest blogger.  Mark and I tend to really go for it with these blog meals since it's not an every day thing (we get together for dinner a few times a month) which I love...but for this meal I was looking for something delicious but a little lighter, these really fit the bill.  They are super healthy and super delicious.   These are fine as a main course if you have a filling side (we had baked sweet potatoes) but if you are serving these on their own I would make 2 caps per person.

Also I had some leftovers of the filling fixin's and I cooked them up and topped with a poached egg for breakfast.  yum!  The recipe is from Epicurious.

Yield: Serves 2 2 portobello mushrooms 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar Salt and black pepper 1 leek, thinly sliced and rinsed clean (white and light green parts only) 2 cups spinach leaves 1/2 cup canned white kidney or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 450°F. Set the mushrooms gill side up on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium heat. Add the leek; cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Add the spinach a handful at a time, stirring constantly, until it cooks down. Stir in the beans and salt and pepper to taste; cook for 1 minute to combine the flavors. Fill the mushroom cavities with the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are warmed through and the cheese is melted. Serve.

Nightmares

Mark here...Laurel has made us dinner and we are sitting down to watch the next episode of Buffy, "Nightmares".  Laurel has made us a dinner of stuffed portobello mushrooms, sweet potatoes and an arugula salad.  All turned out delicious.  We also have a special guest blogger with us tonight, our friend Kristen!

On to the episode.  This was a good one.  The episode starts with some odd events, tarantulas showing up in the middle of class and Buffy randomly having a test in history she had no idea about.  As it turns out, everyones nightmares appear to be coming true.  These range from the generic, like Xander ending up in class without clothes, to character-specific, like Giles losing his ability to read, to the comical, Cordelia having a bad hair day.  Through it all a little boy is showing up every time one of these nightmares occurs.  The end of the episode is a bit quick and predictable, but overall the theme of the episode is fun. We also get a reminder of the season's overall arc when the Master shows up in Buffy's nightmare.

Laurel here...I thought this episode was really thoughtful and effective.  Like Mark said, the nightmares ranged from universal (spiders, naked in class) that we can all relate to, to the specific, especially Buffy.  Her nightmares included her father telling her that her parents' divorce was because of her (he just couldn't stand another day in the house with Buffy!), to her fear that the master got out of his cave, and her turning into a vampire herself!

I thought that another noteworthy nightmare was Willow's, part of which was getting stuck as a Geisha, a nod to her role on the show (despite her mild mannered nature) as the resident feminist.

KP here...Wonderful healthy meal brought to us by Laurel. After 5 days of only raspberries and yogurt this meal was not only delicious but totally on the health plan.

Overall this was a great episode, everyone's worst nightmare coming true culminating in an apocalyptic end until Buffy quickly saves the day.But I will say it was rather dark, (Buffy's father rebuking her and the little boy getting beat up by his coach). On a lighter note I have to mention Buffy's nails. long, robins egg blue rounded to a point, a very 90's nail look. I mean, how can she really slay all those vampires without breaking one of those bad boys.