Portobello Spinach Pizza

Good morning world! I’m off to a bit of a late start this morning. I ended up lying in bed for an extra hour reading various things on my phone. Oh technology, you’re trying to ruin my life. But hey, it’s Sunday on a three day weekend and I learned some interesting things that was on the news, so I guess I didn’t end up wasting as much time as I thought I did.

Anyways, for this sunny long weekend, I have a portobello pizza for you. Some may argue that it isn’t really a pizza, but I’m going to stop you all right there. Pizza has tomato sauce. This has tomato sauce. Pizza has cheese. This has cheese. It has met the pizza criteria, and so it is pizza! (It’s kind of more like a stuffed mushroom, but saying that it’s a pizza makes it sound a bit more appealing, don’t you think?)

The recipe below serves 4 people and is loaded with healthy nutrients: calcium, healthy fats, vitamin K, vitamin C, Folate, etc. It’s also loaded with fiber!

Ingredients:

Note: You can omit the first 7 ingredients if you plan on using jarred tomato sauce for the pizza. You can also add any other toppings that you’d like.

• 3 roma tomatoes (cubed/diced)
• 1/2 onion (diced)
• 1 minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp olive oil plus more for coating the mushrooms
• garlic salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp dried basil (or fresh basil if you have it)
• 4 Portobello mushrooms (cut off the stems)
• about 1 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

1. In a small pot, heat the olive oil and sautee the garlic until fragrant. Add the onion and cook covered on low-medium heat until translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook covered on low-medium heat until soft and juicy.
2. Turn off the heat and use an immersion/hand blender to blend the onion and tomatoes into a smooth sauce. (If you don’t have a hand blender, dump the mixture into your blender and blend) There may be small tiny chunks that you can’t chop any further, but that’s okay. Mix in the balsamic vinegar, basil, and salt and pepper. Taste and then add as much salt, pepper, or vinegar as you’d like.
3. Meanwhile, coat the portobello mushrooms in olive oil, lay them on a baking sheet, and bake for 5-6 minutes. Remove them from the oven after the 5-6 minutes and spread the tomato sauce over them, about 3-4 Tbsp per mushroom. (You’ll probably have some sauce left over)
4. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over each mushroom (split evenly). Add the spinach over the parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the spinach. Add more cheese if you’d like or don’t as much cheese (your choice).
5. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, then raise the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, serve, and enjoy!

They come out of the oven with their juices running all over the pan, which is a good indicator that they aren’t dry mushrooms. Juicy mushrooms are the best!

Be careful if you try eating them right away. They’re really hot! And unlike an actual pizza, you can’t just pick these up with your hands. You’re going to need a fork and knife, but it doesn’t mean that the portobello pizzas taste any ‘lesser’ than a pizza. It’s cheesy, savory, and the tomato sauce adds an explosion of flavors.

Have a safe and wonderful rest of your weekend everyone! Be active and healthy, with some minor indulgences of course.