Stuffed Mushrooms

Mushrooms, as most of you know, is a low-calorie food and a great source of vitamin B. It has a meaty texture and comes in several varieties with the most commonly used ones being white (button), portobello, oyster, shiitake and enoki (thin and long white) mushrooms. It is widely used in asian cooking but equally gaining significance in italian and american cuisine as well. Generally, I cook with mushrooms as an ingredient in my soup or gravies but wanted to try making stuffed mushrooms for a change. These stuffed mushrooms work great as a bite size appetizer but you can transform it to a nice dish by serving the stuffed mushrooms with 
béchamel sauce (using vegan butter and soy/almond milk) and some fresh salad.

Ingredients:

12 oz Crimini mushrooms  
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed
Mushroom stems, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 - 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (adjust to taste)
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 tsp nutritional yeast
1/2 - 1 tsp dried parsley (adjust to taste)
1 tbsp fresh parsley
Salt, to taste

Method:

Clean the mushrooms by rinsing them and patting them dry. Remove the mushroom stems and chop them finely.

In a pan, heat oil, add the minced garlic and onions and fry until onions are slightly golden brown. Now, add the spinach and mushroom stems. Cook until slightly done.

Add the crushed red pepper flakes, dried parsley, bread crumbs, nutritional yeast and salt. Cook for few minutes. 

Fill each mushroom cap with the prepared stuffing. Preheat oven to 375° F.  In a baking pan, spray some oil and place the mushrooms. Bake for 30-40 mins until the mushrooms are done. The mushrooms tend to get too brown if left for longer, so make sure you take them off appropriately.

Makes 16-18 mushrooms (depending on the package)