Easy cheesey mac and cheese portabello mushroom bowls recipe

Posted by

I was feeling lazy one night and was craving some mac and cheese.  I didn’t feel like anything fancy, just a down to earth homey, honest bowl of creamy, homemade mac and cheese.  I knew I shouldn’t just have mac and cheese… but was feeling too lazy to make a side of veggies.  So I made my veggies into a bowl to hold mac and cheese.  The portabello mushroom “bowl” roasted in the oven while I made the mac and cheese… I’m surprised I never thought of it before.  The resulting combination was pretty and win-win.

First step was to clean, lightly spray the mushroom with oil with my Misto oil sprayer, season, and roast.

Next, make your mac and cheese and load up the roasted mushroom with the creamy pasta.  I had some baby shell pasta so I used that instead of macaroni.

Garnish if you like with fresh herbs, or slivered green onions.  Tah Dah!  This works as a fancy looking side dish, or if you were really lazy like me, I just super loaded it up with mac and cheese and had it for dinner.

Mac and cheese portabello mushroom bowls recipe – makes 4 mushroom bowls

Ingredients

-4 portabello mushrooms

-olive oil

-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

- 4 pinches each of salt, dried basil, dried oregano, granulated garlic, pepper

-1 cup pasta: macaroni, baby shells, rotini – as long as they’re small enough to easily pile into bowl later… you can try spaghetti, but it’ll be trickier to load up the “bowl”! Use gluten free pasta if you're planning to make this dish gluten free :)

-1 cup shredded cheese: I used half mozzarella, half old cheddar, but you can use whatever you have on hand

- ½ cup milk: homogenized or 2% works best for a creamy sauce. Evaporated milk can be used too.

-1 teaspoon flour or sweet rice flour if you're planning to make this dish gluten free

-slivered green onions or fresh herbs to garnish

How to

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  Wash mushrooms, pat dry and spray or brush all over lightly with olive oil.  Season the interior (the frilly, gill-like part) of the mushrooms with a pinch each of salt, dried basil, dried oregano, granulated garlic, pepper.  Roast in a foil lined pan for 25-30min.  They will be soft when poked with a fork when done.  Set aside.

2) While the mushrooms are roasting, cook pasta according to directions on the box.  Drain and set aside.

3) In a non-stick saucepan, on medium-high heat, whisk together the milk with the flour.  once the milk starts to steam and just starts to bubble, add in cheese and mix until all the cheese is melted and you have a velvety smooth sauce. Add in the drained pasta and toss to coat

4) Scoop on the mac and cheese mixture with a spoon into the portabello mushroom bowls. Garnish if you like and enjoy!