Chicken Sausage Stuffed Portobellos over Baby Kale and Red Rice

In my last blog post, I talked about how I'm trying so hard to stay away from "bad carbs". I'll be honest, it hasn't been easy. I really love pasta and crusty french bread. I've often wondered if this love came from spending time in Italy when I was 20 years old. Probably not. I think I just love bad carbs. LOL.

So, I guess a good thing about not using spaghetti, linguini, ziti, polenta, white pizza crust, etc, etc, it forces me to think outside the box. I like being creative and have no problem trying things even if they don't really work out. Luckily, my husband is so grateful to be fed (wouldn't you be?) that he loves everything I make. My son, well, that's a different story. Lets just say that I'm still making pasta-just not for my husband and I to eat.

I spotted a week or two ago a pin on pinterest of a sausage stuffed portobello. I pretty much just glanced at it and probably made a mental note in my head because when I had some Costco chicken sausage in the fridge and some just bought portobellos, the mind started going...

This was really easy and took only about 30-40 minutes to make. You can vary up the ingredients if you like but this is what I did:

Ingredients:

5 or 6 portobello mushrooms cleaned well with a paper towel
olive oil spray
4-5 fully cooked links of chicken sausage, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
a pinch of fresh basil leaves
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
sliced tomatoes (any type, your choice)
shredded mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 450

In a large deep skillet, saute olive oil, garlic, onion, peppers, and chicken sausage until soft. It will take at least 10 minutes. Don't let it burn. Add dried basil, and salt and pepper. Be easy on the salt because the sausage can be salty.

Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray. Place mushrooms, stems up, and top the mixture in each mushroom. Fill them up pretty high. Add the tomatoes and mozzarella on top with a little more dried basil.

Place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked and cheese is melted and browned.


***I placed the mushrooms on top of baby kale and red rice but feel free to do whatever you'd like. These stuffed mushrooms would go well with just about any starch of your choice. Or no starch at all.