turkey sausage and spinach stuffed mushrooms

as of late, husband and i have began experimenting with the paleo way of eating. we are cutting out processed foods, dairy, gluten, and most sugar. the reason is two fold for me... i am looking to clear up my skin (a constant battle for me) and get more energy to make it through the school year. husband is just along for the ride...he eats what i we cook. thankfully, he has been extra excited about what has been coming out of the kitchen these days... well, aside from the whole chicken drummy situation. drummies are apparently not his cup of tea. 

we are by no means going hardcore with this way of eating. i hesitate to even call it a diet for us. we are just trying to be more conscious about what we are putting in our bodies. we are not going full blown paleo on this one. we love coffee, beer, and a sporadic homerun inn frozen pizza far too much for that nonsense.

here is a recent recipe we tried from michelle over at nomnompaleo.com. if you haven't been to her site, you must change that. go visit michelle, she knows a thing or two about whole food eatin'.

>> spinach and sausage stuffed mushrooms <<

ingredients

6 portabella mushroom caps

1 small onion, finely chopped

4 ounces of fresh spinach, roughly chopped

1- 1 1/2 pounds of spicy italian turkey sausage (uncooked), removed from casings
        (or any other type of sausage you fancy)

2 teaspoons herbs de provence

sprinkling of garlic powder

1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp coconut flour (breadcrumbs or another type of flour will do)
2-3 Tbsp melted coconut oil (or another oil of your choice)
salt and pepper
1-2 cups of spaghetti sauce (we really enjoyed newman's own)


instructions

preheat oven to 400 degrees and begin prepping the mushrooms. wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp cloth and trim stems down to the cap. remove the mushroom gills with a spoon and slice an x on the outside of the mushroom cap with a paring knife. brush the mushrooms with coconut oil (or the oil of your choice) on both sides and place gill side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. sprinkle with salt and pepper.

roast mushrooms in the middle rack of your oven for seven minutes. flip the mushrooms and bake for an additional 5 minutes with the gill side down.  remove mushrooms from oven and allow to come to room temperature.

meanwhile, prep the filling. add a couple of tablespoons of oil to a large saute pan on medium-high heat and saute the onions with a sprinkling of salt and pepper until translucent, about seven minutes. add the spices and sausage to the pan. saute for about another three minutes. take the onion and meat off of the heat once the meat starts to turn color.  (do not cook the meat all the way through...it will finish in the oven) 

once the meat has begun to cool, add it to a bowl with the flour, egg, spinach, and a dash of salt and pepper. get down and dirty and mix with your hands...meatloaf style. transfer the roasted mushrooms onto another baking sheet lined with foil (the original baking sheet still had lots of mushroom liquid on it) and pile the stuffing onto each cap — pressing down to make the stuffing more compact.  

return the stuffed mushrooms to the oven and bake for another 7-9 minutes at 400 degrees. at that point, get your broiler fired up and broil for about 3 minutes. remove the stuffed mushrooms when they have begun to evenly brown. top your stuffed shrooms off with a tomato sauce of your choice and serve immediately.

this is definitely one for the recipe rolodex.

happy eating.