Fighting the Food Demons

What do you crave most when you are short on time, energy and motivation?

Tonight, we successfully battled our #1 craving, the "let's order pizza" demon, because we had thought ahead about our meals for the week and did food shopping on Sunday. We have (so far) been able to avoid temptations for breakfasts (I don't do well without my Crispix and milk), lunches (who wants to spend $9 on a sandwich anyways?) and dinners (said pizza demon). Sure, it's two days into the work week, but it has been a long. two. days. The man is back in Master's night classes and I have been working hard at work. That pizza devil rises up when we are on our way home and absolutely hitting the wall.

You have been there. What's your vice? Chinese? Drive-through? Skipping a meal altogether?

Well, I don't well with no food, either, so thankfully, tonight's meal ingredients were already ready to go when we both walked in the door. Portobello mushrooms stuffed with Italian ground turkey, peppers and onions, topped with sauce and broiled under a mozzarella cheese topping. Even better, we both haven't seen much of each other in the last few days, so cooking together tonight was almost like a date night -- we planned ahead to take an hour and hang out in the kitchen together, sit down to eat together, and now, we are relaxing after dinner on the couch together, too. Sure, he might be studying and I might be blogging, but we are together. And not in a pizza coma, either :) Mini date night + healthy cooking = weeknight success!

This made-up recipe was really good! It makes a lot of filling, which I am saving to add to a baked pasta dish later this week. I have amended it here to include a bit fattier meat, but you can do like we did (a la WW style) and use ground turkey breast, too. If you do, just be sure to add a fair amount of Italian seasonings and a little butter or cheese to the mix to give it some richness.

Stuffed Italian Portobellos
Serves 2, or 4 as an appetizer

4 large portobello mushroom caps, washed and shaken dry
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb. ground Italian sausage
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Prep mushroom caps and drizzle with 1 Tbsp. oil. Bake in 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until slightly wilted. Meanwhile, cook peppers, onions and garlic in remaining oil over Low-Medium heat until soft, about 15 minutes. Add sausage and mix in well. Cook until sausage is done. Fill mushroom caps with 1/2 cup of filling, and top with sauce and shredded cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes until filling is hot, and finish under broiler for 2-4 minutes to brown cheese.