Recipe: Goat Cheese Portabello Mushrooms

Goat Cheese Portabello Mushrooms:

4 med-large portabello mushrooms
8 oz basalmic vinegarette
4 oz of goat cheese
3-4 tbsp pine nuts (chopped)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Place mushrooms bottom up in a baking dish. Pour basalmic vinegrette into the mushrooms, and some in the dish. Crumble and divide the goat cheese, about 1 oz on each.  Sprinkle chopped pine nut on top.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

4 servings (unless you're like me and eat 2)

This is an adaptation from the South Beach Diet recipe book, as the original recipe called for marinara sauce and a few other things, but I LOVE mushrooms sauteed in balsamic vinegarette.  

ESTIMATE serving/nutritional information, depending on the brand of dressing you use:

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		214.4
Total Fat		17.9 g
	Saturated Fat	4.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.3 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.6 g
Cholesterol		13.0 mg
Sodium		114.5 mg
Potassium		45.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		9.6 g
	Dietary Fiber	3.2 g
	Sugars	1.5 g
Protein		9.1 g

Vitamin A	5.9 %
Vitamin B-12	0.9 %
Vitamin B-6	3.8 %
Vitamin C	2.1 %
Vitamin D	100.0 %
Vitamin E	1.8 %
Calcium	8.1 %
Copper	14.6 %
Folate	1.4 %
Iron	7.0 %
Magnesium	5.2 %
Manganese	29.8 %
Niacin	2.0 %
Pantothenic Acid	2.1 %
Phosphorus	11.0 %
Riboflavin	7.2 %
Selenium	1.2 %
Thiamin	2.9 %
Zinc	4.5 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

RECIPE - Zucchini Lasagna

1 medium or larger zucchini
1 jar sauce (I used homemade)
Mozzarella Cheese (the more the better... lol... prob 3-4 cups)
Pepperoni Slices

Preheat oven (or in our case grill, because the oven is broken) to 350 degrees.

Peal and slice zucchini into this slices OR use a cool tool like the Pampered Chef Spiral and Slice to make ZOODLES!!!
(NO, I am not a Pampered Chef consultant... but I used to be and I LOVE This stuff!)

Layer slices or zoodles, pour some sauce over layer and some cheese (a handful or so) and then spread out a thin layer of pepperoni.

REPEAT this step until you used up all the zucchini and top with more sauce and cheese!

Bake in over (or grill) for 30-45 minutes, covered with foil.  The longer you let it bake, the softer zucchini will be, so make sure its done.  Let sit uncovered for about 5 minutes to thicken and let moisture escape.  SERVE and ENJOY!

YOU can add so many different things to this... sausage, ricotta cheese, peppers... ANYTHING.  Make it yours... simple... easy and YUMMY!

Oh, and grow a garden, it saves $$$!

RECIPE - Tortilla Soup

6 Corn Tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 Tomatoes
1/2 Small Onion, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 Green Pepper, chopped
2 c. Chicken Stock
1 T Cilantro, freshly chopped
1/2 c Low-Fat Monterey Jack Cheese, grated





Bake tortilla strips in the oven at 325 F for 5-7 minutes or until crisp.
Pure tomatoes, onion, garlic and pepper in a food processor or blender.
Bring stock to a boil in a 2 quart pot.  Stir i tomato puree and cilantro.
Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir half of the tortilla strips into the soup.
Garnish with remaining tortilla strips and the cheese
Yield: 6 servings, 3 cups.

So here is what I did differently:
1/2 yellow pepper because that's all I had at the time.  Tomatoes, onion and cilantro fresh from my GARDEN!  And instead of MontJack cheese, I had a Mexican blend.  ALSO... total cheat but it worked... I used Tortilla CHIPS instead of making my own.  I love salt so this was awesome for me!  Add salt and pepper and viola!  We ate it all... all "6" servings at once.  YUM!