Mediterranean Stuffed Mushrooms

Whenever I go to a party that I’m not hosting, I make sure to bring something on the healthier side with me. This doubles as a 1) a nice gesture, and 2) a backup option for when there aren’t a lot of foods being served that I want to eat. Successful moderation and healthy eating is all about being prepared, and I find that being ready with a healthy dish in social situations helps me balance out the not so great for me snacks and indulgences that I know I’ll have too.

So while everyone else is posting recipes for nachos and chicken wings this week, I want to post a different kind of recipe for you. These Mediterranean stuffed mushrooms are the perfect healthier appetizer to make for whatever Super Bowl party you are going to this weekend. I think stuffed mushrooms are a crowd pleaser too. Don’t people always seem to get weirdly excited about them? Just make sure to call them Mediterranean stuffed mushrooms instead of quinoa stuffed mushrooms, and you’ll be all set. Nobody will judge you for not bringing along a ranch dip or 4 bags of Doritos.

Mediterranean Stuffed Mushrooms

Makes a dozen stuffed mushrooms

Ingredients

• 12 large cremini mushrooms, wiped clean with a damp paper towel and with stems removed
• 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked per package directions
• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup walnuts, cut or crushed into small pieces
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tbsp dill
• 2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 extra virgin olive oil
• Zest of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cooking spray of choice

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, then arrange the mushrooms with the holes facing down. Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil over the mushrooms, and season with salt and paper. Bake for 15 minutes.
• While the mushrooms are baking, mix the cooked quinoa, the diced red onion, walnuts, white wine, parsley, dill, sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled feta, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
• When the mushrooms finish cooking and have cooled, stuff them by scooping a spoonful of the quinoa mixture into each cap. Top with extra feta if desired.
• Bake again in an oven preheated to 350 for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.

Although stuffed mushrooms are made with a veggie base, a lot of the time they use a creamy filling to bind the stuffing ingredients together. I like that this recipe is light and doesn’t need that. The lemon zest brings out a nice flavor among all the other Mediterranean based ingredients, and the quinoa is a healthier protein-packed substitution for bread crumbs. Plus, you can never go wrong with feta! I made these for Friendsgiving at Slesh and Will’s apartment last year, and everyone gobbled them right up.

This recipe yields 12 stuffed mushrooms, but just a warning, it definitely makes more stuffing than necessary. I ate the leftover stuffing up for lunch the next day as a Mediterranean quinoa salad, and it was delicious! You could also double the amount of mushroom caps if you want to use up the rest of the stuffing and bring a larger quantity of stuffed shrooms along.

Enjoy!

Readers, let’s chat! What are you doing for the Super Bowl this weekend? What’s a must have Super Bowl food or snack in your home?

If you’re looking for more Super Bowl food ideas, check out our Super Bowl party menu from when we hosted two years ago.

Recipe Redo: Cranberry Avocado Salsa

Hello! I just wanted to pop in today to share a fun and festive appetizer with you. If you’re gearing up for entertaining this week or you need an easy and delicious idea for something to bring with you to a holiday party, consider making this cranberry avocado salsa!

Cranberry Avocado Salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 2 ripe avocados, cut into quarter-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup cranberries, halved
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a bowl, whisk together the lime juice, honey, red onion, and jalapeño. Season with ground pepper.
2. Add in the remaining ingredients (avocados, cranberries, and cilantro), and mix well. Add a pinch of salt and more ground pepper if needed.
3. Enjoy!

If this recipe looks familiar to you, it’s because I’ve posted it before. However, since Tim and I recently perfected the original recipe by making a few tweaks, I wanted you guys to have the updated version. The previous one did not call for the jalapeño, although if you are sensitive to heat you could still leave it out or you could de-seed the jalapeno. De-seeding it lessens how spicy the dish is while still adding depth of flavor, if that makes sense. We also increased the amount of cilantro used and added an extra seasoning step. Just consider it part of my recipe redo efforts. Plus, the former pictures were just terrible.

The red from the cranberries and the green from the avocados makes this salsa the perfect starter at your Christmas party. The flavors pair nicely together, and it’s a dish that never lets us down. It always gets a lot of attention wherever we bring it. The last time we made this was for our friends’ housewarming party, and they actually used some of the leftovers to top chicken lunches the next week. I thought that was a great idea and can’t wait to try that next.

If you are serving a crowd, I recommend doubling or tripling the ingredient quantities provided and bringing along some type of pita bread or chip to dip with it. My favorite brand of tortilla and pita chips to serve for a healthier option is Way Better Snacks because of the better for you ingredients they use. Even Tim, the world’s biggest regular potato chip lover, enjoys Way Better Snacks. I consider it a win that I tricked him into actually enjoying a snack made of sprouted grains.

Hope some of you will give this one a go this week and love it as much as we do.

–Let’s chat–
What are your favorite festive foods?

For more food inspiration for this week, check out the recipe round-up I posted last year with festive holiday eats!

Catching Up On Eats

Since I haven’t been posting many Weekly Eats posts in the past month, I thought I would just do one giant post of the food I’ve been hoarding pictures of on my phone eating lately, holiday celebrations excluded. These are in no particular order, and this post is CERTAINLY not all-encompassing. It’s just the highlights. I may take this mass update approach to my food posts from now on instead of doing weekly recaps, but I know some of you prefer the weekly recaps to help you with meal planning.What do you guys think?

Catching Up On Eats

Winter butternut squash and barley salad

Cranberry and pecan quinoa (recipe via Fannetastic Food)

Colorful farro and edamame salad

Roasted red pepper chili (recipe via Peanut Butter Fingers)

Colorful roasted vegetables

Turkey meatloaf with tomatoes

Slow cooker turkey tacos with mole sauce

Homemade tzatziki dip

Plain Greek yogurt with pomegranates

Greens topped with butternut squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, pine nuts, zucchini, and pomegranates

Chicken stuffed with roasted red pepper, onion, and goat cheese… with farro on the side

Grilled chicken and pear salad with cranberries, almonds, and goat cheese

Zucchini, goat cheese, arugula, and hummus flatbread on a pita

Salmon apple burgers on a pita with a side of roasted sunchokes

Sesame chicken salad with kale, butternut squash, apple, and cucumber

Homemade chicken burrito pizza

Homemade shrimp pesto pizza

Mom’s birthday dinner out at Seasons 52

Date night at Park

Hibachi and sushi night at Saga in Patriots Place

And finally, my fav new winter beer

That brings me up to speed, and now I can go on a deleting spree too.

As always, I base what recipes I share on F&F off of what you guys ask for, so if you see something you want the recipe for… request away. 🙂

–Let’s chat–
What have been some go to meals and snacks for you lately? Do you prefer larger food recaps like this or seeing food shared in a Weekly Eats post style? Which dish above would you most want to try?

Have a great day!