Baby Bellas Stuffed with Ricotta and Broccoli

I LOVE STUFFED MUSHROOMS.

Really, I love any type of mushroom and I'm always looking for clever ways to incorporate them into sauces, soups. apps...just about anywhere.  Add some cheese?  Even better.

My friend Annie invited a bunch of us over for a cookout...and of course, the weather decided not to cooperate at the last minute.  As luck would have it, we decided to have a fondue night.  Cheese might be my favorite food, so I was pretty excited about mother nature's decision to rain all over our fun night.  She asked me to bring a side dish...so, naturally, stuffed mushrooms go with fondue, right?  Well, I figured I should at least attempt something healthy since the rest of the night would feature everyone stuffing their faces with melted cheese.  Not that I can think of any better way to spend a night...

I've made greek stuffed mushrooms (feta, spinach, ground turkey) a million times, so this was my attempt to change up the standard recipe.

Ingredients (this will make WAY more stuffing than you actually need for the quantity of mushrooms.  I make extra on purpose because it is delicious with pasta either by itself or stirred together with an equal part of fresh marinara sauce):
- 24 stuffing mushrooms (I used baby portabellas but you can use stuffing button mushrooms, whole portabellas, or just about any mushroom you can stuff)
- 1 large container of lowfat or part-skim ricotta
- 1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 broccoli crowns, finely chopped
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup ricotta
- 1/2 cup part skim mozzarella cheese
- Chopped mushroom stems from the stuffing mushrooms (just add them all)
Freshly cracked salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
- Combine ricotta, both cheeses and egg until well mixed; set aside
- Saute onion and garlic on medium-low heat until translucent and cooked through; add broccoli
- Cook for a few minutes until broccoli is about halfway cooked
- Add broccoli mixture to ricotta mixture; stir until everything is evenly coated

- Wash dirt off of mushrooms
- Remove stems; chop and add to ricotta mixture

- Generously stuff mushrooms with ricotta/broccoli mixture...and by "stuff", I mean "overload".

- Cook mushrooms in a 425F preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until desired level of cooking

These were a different and healthy spin on traditional stuffed mushrooms and disappeared pretty quickly!

Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

So, I usually plan what I'm making for dinner by walking around in the supermarket, looking for inspiration.  And by inspiration, I mean good deals on ripe produce (when is the farmer's market coming back again so I can get real produce??).  I know that's a little backwards from how most people plan their weekly meals, but that's just how I've always done it.  This week, mushrooms were on special and I had plenty of chicken breasts taking up space in my crowded freezer...thus, this recipe was born.

Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

For the Chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp poultry seasoning
Freshly cracked pepper, garlic salt and poultry seasoning

For the Sauce:
1 tsp oil (only add this if the pan looks too dry)
1/3 cup chopped vidalia onion (you could also use shallot)
1 package mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 cup white wine (use what you like and always pour a glass for the chef for ‘quality control’ purposes! - I used pinot grigio)
1 cup chicken broth (homemade is the best but if you don't have time, low-sodium, fat free stock in a carton will do just fine)
1 tsp all-purpose flour (I used 2 and the sauced thickened too quickly, so next time, I will only use half the amount)
1 tbsp parsley, chopped very fine (I only had dried lying around, so I used that and it worked well)
Freshly cracked sea salt and pepper to taste
*Garlic would have been a great idea in this recipe but I didn't have any in the house...note for next time!


Cooking the Chicken:
- Season pounded chicken with poultry seasoning, garlic salt and pepper on both sides

- Add canola oil to a large nonstick pan and heat over high heat
- Sautee chicken for about 1.5-2 minutes on each side or until brown on the outside and cooked through (it happens fast; do not overcook!)

- Wrap cooked chicken with foil so that the juices can redistribute and it stays warm


Now for the Sauce:
*In a measuring cup, stir together chicken broth and flour until flour is dissolved; set aside
- Use the same pan that you used to cook the chicken and do not rinse! Leave heat on medium-high
- Add onion and mushrooms to pan, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until brown

- Add wine and parsley; boil until almost completely dissolved
- Add chicken broth slurry and cook until the mixture thickens

- Pour sauce over chicken and serve! It got two thumbs up and the seal of deliciousness to go up on the blog!

I served this recipe with roasted carrots to add move vegetable goodness without resorting to a starch.