Portabella Parmesan

I recently read about the Meatless Monday Campaign. (Apparently I am way behind the game, because this was started in 2003 in affliation with Johns Hopkins.) Anyway..I was amazed at the impact there would be if every family in America simply ate vegetarian one day of the week. Of course there are the obvious health benefits:

• People who eat plant based diets typically weigh 15% less than those who eat meat
• Replacing meat with oils, nuts and seeds can reduce the risk of heart disease by 19% 

It was the financial and enviromental ones that shocked me:

• A family of four will save $1,000 a year!
• If the whole US population went meat free for a day it would save 12 BILLION gallons of gas. Wow!

This recipe, Portabella Parmesan, was inspired by the Meatless Monday Campaign. It's perfect even for the meat and potato naysayers. My Stepdad actually thought the mushrooms were beef. Nice! 

Here's What You Need:3-4 portabella mushrooms (clean and trim stems)
2 cups all natural marinara sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup mixed Italian cheeses
1/4 parmesan
Olive Oil
Pepper

Here's What You Do:Preheat oven to 400. Heat non-stick grill pan over medium high heat. (Or you can use the real grill) Drizzle about 2 TBS of olive oil over the mushrooms and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Add them to the grill pan and cook for 10 minutes, turning once. Spead 1 cup of the marinara into a glass baking dish. Add the cooked mushrooms facing bottom up. Spoon parmesan cheese into mushrooms and cover with remaining marinara. Top with the Italian cheese mixture. Sprinkle with Italian seasonings. Bake 15 minutes. Turn oven to broil and broil one minute. Turn and broil another minute. *This dish is perfect with the Roasted Asparagus because they cook the same amount of time at the same temperature.

 Kid Tip:Cook 8oz of penne pasta according to package directions. Drain and pour into a big pasta bowl. Chop the mushrooms into big pieces and add to the pasta. Pour the cheesy marinara combination from the baking dish into the pasta dish. Cut  the roasted asparagus into tiny pieces using kitchen shears. Toss together and serve with parmesan to pass. Note: This pasta turned out so good that when I made it for guests every  person (including the kids) cleared their plates! (Serves 4-5)

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