Recipe: Portobello Mushroom & Walnut Loaf Muffins

After a long day with a less than pleasant small human, I needed to whip something up quickly for dinner. So I took to the refrigerator and started throwing things into my tiny (almost broken, on its last legs) food processor and this is what I came up with.  Luckily, I had a sense that this dish would be a keeper so I kept track of the measurements and amounts along the way in the hopes that one day I may be able to recreate these delicious muffins.  They are packed with veggies, and oh so good, while being good for you.  That’s a win-win in my book!

Ingredients:

4 portobello mushroom caps

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

3 celery stalks

1 onion

1 large garlic clove

7 sun dried tomatoes (the kind found in oil)

1/3 cup fresh basil – finely chopped

1 tsp tarragon

1 tsp sage

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

1 pinch of cumin powder

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (with extra on hand)

French fried onions – optional

Directions:

Chop the portobello mushrooms and then mince them in a food processor until they reach a finely chopped, almost paste like consistency.  Move the mushroom paste to a large mixing bowl.  Place the walnuts and nutritional yeast in the food processor and once they are finely chopped add them to the mushroom paste.

Finely chop the onion, celery, garlic and sun dried tomatoes in a food processor.  Saute this mixture with some olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the tarragon, sage, oregano, cumin, cayenne and salt.  Once the vegetables are tender add them to the bowl containing the mushroom and walnut mixture and mix together well.  Add the bread crumbs and continue to mix until well combined.  The mixture should be sticking together and becoming quite thick and mold-able, if you find that it’s still too wet add more bread crumbs until you reach the desired consistency.  Stir in crumbled french fried onions if you wish.

Scoop the mixture into well greased muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Note:  These would be particularly nice with a vegetable gravy.

Enjoy!

*Note: These make great left overs.  You can reheat them or even put them in a sandwich.  I definitely think I’ll be adding these to my Thanksgiving line up.  So good!*