Portobello With Caramelized Onions & Goat Cheese

A turkey burger with sweet potato fries has pretty much become a staple when I'm planning my meals out. I'm always looking for something new to add to my repertoire, though, and I felt inspired after watching an episode of The Chew at the gym where they made a "portobello blue cheese sandwich." I thought I'd make my own version and I liked this recipe because it didn't involve exact measurements of ingredients. I also left out the bun since that's always the first thing to get cut from my budget and diet.

What You Need: 

1 Portobello Mushroom

1 Small Onion

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Goat Cheese

Sugar

Salt and Pepper

What You Do:

1. Scrape the gills out of the under side of the portobello mushroom cap. The gills are the dark brown, wispy "stuff" for lack of a better word seen below. I made sure that the stem was trimmed down but did not remove it - it cooked down just fine for me. 

2. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar in the mushroom and spread it around. I made a few shallow cuts into the mushroom to help it marinate and absorb the oil and vinegar more easily. Then, season it with salt and pepper.

3. Cook on medium heat uncovered for 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook the other side for another 1-2 minutes.

4. Add the caramelized onions and goat cheese to the underside of the mushroom and cover. Add a splash of water so that the immediate steam helps melt the cheese quickly.

5. Uncover and serve.

I didn't have any arugula when I made this but I would recommend topping with some greens and serving with a side of roasted brussels sprouts. You could also use a toasted bun to make it a real burger wannabe!

*For the caramelized onions, saute thinly sliced onions in a pan with oil over medium-high heat. As they soften and become translucent in color, add a pinch of sugar so that they caramelize nicely.

Do you have any alternatives to standard burgers? Please share!

Recipe: Chicken Fajitas & Guacamole

Whenever I can't decide what to make for dinner, my go to is always Mexican food. For me, it's simple and difficult to screw up. One of my favorites is chicken fajitas. I've made it with a few different types of seasoning so below is just the one that I remembered to take pictures of.

What you will need for the fajitas (keep in mind I'm cooking for one): 

1 tbsp of olive oil

1/2 of an onion

1/2 of an orange pepper and 1/2 of a yellow pepper (I prefer these over red and green peppers)

2 chicken breast tenderloins

1/3 of a package of Ortega fajita or taco seasoning

2 iceberg lettuce leaves

First, rinse the onion & peppers and slice into thin strips. Rinse the chicken too, and trim any fatty bits. I tend to thoroughly pick apart chicken since it's not very appealing raw.

Next, saute the onion & peppers in a skillet with a tbsp of olive oil. These will take longer to cook than the thin chicken so make sure to cook them for a few minutes before adding in the chicken. Cook the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side and pull apart once it's cooked through. The onions should be translucent & the chicken no longer pink!

Add in about 1/3 of the seasoning packet along with some warm water. Stir everything together so the veggies and chicken are coated in seasoning. Heat through.

While the chicken and veggies are cooking for the last minute, wash two lettuce leaves to use as the "shell." And since I love avocados...guacamole is an absolute must. Cut an avocado in half and scoop it into the bowl sans the pit. Add in a tbsp of sour cream and a tbsp or two of salsa and mix together.

Scoop the chicken, onions and ppers into the lettuce shells, top with guacamole and cheese and enjoy! Let me know what you think!