But if you try sometime… you get what you need!
I’ve got another Meatless Monday treat for you today, courtesy of my Poo love.
And funny enough a few minutes after she sent me this post last night, I stumbled across this blog!
Turns out the meat loving Cleveland has declared Meatless Monday an official thing! How cool is that? But more than MM, what really caught my eye in the headline was the Kielbasa mention… Poo and I am both BIG fans of Kielbasa smothered in mustard ❤ And she is actually the first person I ever enjoyed this meaty treat with!
Alright, now for all you Portobello Mushroom lovers… read on!
There’s always room for improvement…
Today’s meatless disaster is brought to you by my lack of culinary prowess and a bit of last minute planning.
Of course I know how to make a handful of delicious go-to’s, my cheesy, very meaty, no-recipe-needed trusties, but when it comes to just throwing something together that isn’t any of those, well, that’s where things get a little tricky for me.
For today I had in mind one of my favorite grilled items-Portobello mushroom caps doused in pesto. Oh how I love to grill those babies up and take a bite out of them fresh off the grill, burning my teeth and mouth because I have zero willpower! Yum.
Well, lo and behold, the grocery store gods were not with me today and there were no Portobello caps to be had. Since I already had the pesto and other goodies I was going to throw on top (artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes) at home, I decided to buy the already sliced Portobellos and think of something else. I still wanted to use the grill but somehow I came to my senses and realized that could-and probably would-be disastrous. So I decided to put the mushroom slices in a baking dish, toss the sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts on top and smack on a few gobs of pesto and let my delicious meal bake away while I caught up on Words With Friends. Since I planned to serve quinoa with the mushrooms, I put some of that on the stove top, popped my weird casserole in the oven, set the kitchen timer and off I went.
Then, not too long after, I smelled something burning. Not too rare in my kitchen, I calmly walked in to see what was being scorched. It was the quinoa. Because that is the kind of cook I am. I burn the freakin’ quinoa for crying out loud. I have also never made a good pot of rice. There, I said it. (Maggie insert – I’m with Amanda there! The only decent rice I’ve ever made, ahem microwaved, has been the TJ’s frozen brown rice!)
I cleaned up my mess and put a pot of Jasmine rice on the stove-top, checked my mushroom casserole in the oven (perfect!) and crossed my fingers and prayed for the life of my rice.
Ten minutes later, bummed about the quinoa blunder, I psyched myself up for my favorite pizza toppings on a bed of rice, served up a plate and dug in. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad, but would have been so yummy with quinoa, I’m sure of it. But, it was filling and easy to clean up, which in my book makes for the best meals!
When I first decided to tell of my meatless Monday adventures it was because of meals like tonight’s. Not perfect but not bad either, with plenty of room for improvement! As I mentioned last week, it is not always easy to find good, easy meatless meal ideas, so while tonight’s meal sure won’t make it onto my current “Best Of” list, I might try it again sometime and carefully watch that quinoa!
Ingredients:
- 1 package sliced Portobello mushroom caps
- 6 tablespoons pesto (half a 6.7 oz jar)
- Marinated Artichoke hearts
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked to perfection (or burned, and in that case…)
…1 cup Jasmine rice
Set oven to 350, combine mushroom caps, artichoke hearts (as many as your little heart desires), sun-dried tomatoes and pesto in a baking dish and set timer for 20 minutes. I gave it a good stir at 20 minutes and let it bake for 10 more and the mushrooms were perfect!
Sweetie And The Kitchen 