Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms

 found a copy of Betty Crocker’s Italian Stuffed Mushrooms on my mom’s counter the other day. Oh, how I love stuffed mushrooms, but in the past I never seemed to get the seasonings quite right. Well, I grabbed the recipe and decided to give it a go (action beats standing still any day).

Here is another challenge: to make them without butter or cheese. Note: I very rarely find a recipe that I do not alter and either take away, substitute or add something. This was no exception.

First I separated the stems from mushroom caps. The recipe called for 36 medium fresh mushrooms, but I used only two packs…about 20 or so mushrooms. They were so good that I should have used all three packs I bought. Plus I had left over stuffing. You can also make ahead if serving as appetizers. Just cover and refrigerate.

I chopped up green onions, white onion, red sweet pepper, green pepper, celery stalk and most of the mushroom stems. These were added to a hot pan with a bit of water.  No butter or oil needed when sauteing. (I always keep my cruet full of water for sauteing.)

My cruet, always filled with water

I must confess, I got to chopping all these veggies and had them piled around my cutting board and completely forgot the garlic. I have a glass dish full of garlic which was left untouched tonight. So, I guess garlic is optional but recommended.

For bread crumbs – I toasted and blended up some , dry pieces of bread I had made last week (saving for breadcrumbs). Have you seen the ingredients in store bought bread crumbs?!? Interesting. That made me want to make my own. Just add a couple of dry pieces of bread to your blender and pulse until you have reached your ideal size. I know the exact ingredients for these bread crumbs and they are much healthier than the store bought ones … no mystery ingredients here.

Next, I mixed the cooked veggies to the bread crumbs and added seasonings, then spooned this mixture into the mushroom caps. I topped each cap off with a sprinkle of “homemade Parmesan cheese“.  (Recipe: 1/4 cup nutritional yeast + 1/4 cup cashews + garlic powder to taste — blend all to a powder.  Store in a small glass jar and use as you would dairy Parmesan)

Bake caps at 350 for 15 minutes then broil on high for 2-4 minutes. Be sure to watch them at this point to prevent burning.

I served this as a side dish with some field peas I put up this summer, sauteed okra from my garden, pan seared zucchini spears from my dad’s garden and whole wheat rolls I made today. Yummy!!!

Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

• 36 whole fresh mushrooms (1 pound)
• water for sauteing
• 3 green onions chopped
• 1/2 white onion chopped
• 1 small red sweet pepper chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper chopped
• 1 stalk celery chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (optional but recommended)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
• 1 tsp Tony’s
• 1 tsp Season salt
• pepper to taste
• Homemade Parmesan for sprinkling on top (see recipe above)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Separate stems from mushroom caps. Finely chop mushroom stems to measure 1/3 cup. Reserve mushroom caps.
3. To a hot skillet add onions, peppers, celery and garlic. Add some water to keep from sticking. Cook until white onions are soft.
4. To bread crumbs add seasonings and cooked vegetables.
5. Fill caps with filling. Sprinkle with Homemade Parmesan. Place mushrooms (filled side up) in stone or glass casserole dish.
6. Bake 15 minutes. Broil 2-4 minutes. Serve hot.The extra stuffing made nice Stuffed Banana Peppers and Bell Peppers.

Let me hear your comments and variations to the this recipe below.