As it turns out, these mushrooms are the meat in the vegan society. There is also nothing I hate more than mushrooms. They are a fungus. People spend their entire lives avoiding fungus and they want me to EAT it? No thanks. But let's be sensible, being a vegan requires a bit of fearlessness when it comes to eating. You have to eat new things especially when your diet only consisted of Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers and Sterzings chips (ooooooooooh Sterzings, how I love thee). We decided to try 3 different ways of preparing portabellas. Okay really more like 2 different ways, but we'll say 3.
1. Portabella mushroom steaks:
Season prepared mushroom with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Grill for about 10 minutes. We served this with baked beans (definitely not vegan friendly with Miss Queen Bean ruling her can-kingdom) and a baked potato with Stewed Tomatoes (a Forks Over Knives recipe) on top.
-Result-
The mushroom tasted REALLY good but the texture kind of did it in for me. I figured out that if you season it like you would a piece of meat you'll get it to taste EXACTLY like your favorite kind of meat. You just won't get it to feel like one. Maybe I cooked it too long? Who knows. I probably won't be making it again for the texture reason. The potato was good, as usual and the beans were satisfying the desire for fake sugar, salty meat, and FAKE SUGAR. Bad Abby.
2. Portabella burgers:
Season prepared mushroom as you do the steak version; with olive oil (on both sides), salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Grill for a few minutes (I tried a little less time to see if it might not be so squishy). Served with sweet potato baked fries - bake slices at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.
-Result-
SO AMAZING. Honestly one of the best burgers I've ever had. So tasty and satisfying. I would definitely make this again and am looking forward to making these somewhere in the mountains this summer! The texture was again, not very mea-like, but it wasn't distracting either. It worked with with the bread texture of the bun and was overall quite wonderful for all of my senses.
3. Portabella sloppy joes:
We bought small presliced portabella mushrooms (we were going to make the burgers again but they only had these little prepackaged, presliced deals so we tried it out) threw those in a pan with a little oil (oil wasn't necessary but we did it because our pan makes everything stick to it) and added 1/4 cup of Heintz Ketchup (no high fructose corn syrup or nasty preservatives) along with lots of onion powder, lots of garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, and Montreal Steak Seasoning... I think that was it. Served with baked sweet potato fries.
-Result-
I would make this again in a heartbeat. Who needs meat when you can get the same taste and half the price?? I don't.
