Taco Tuesday - Taco Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Tacos are our favorite. Seriously. We could have tacos every night and not be sorry. Because let's face it...Tacos are life.

Tonight, we wanted to try something a little different. We tend to go a bit overboard with tacos, and it is a slippery slope. You budget your Smart Points for so many, and before you know it, you have eaten three times that many. Eek.

We have enjoyed using Portobello mushrooms as a base for lots of dishes lately, so I thought I'd try some taco stuffed mushrooms. And I was not sorry in the least.

I started by browning a pound of 93% lean ground beef. Now, let's just start by saying that my husband was thrilled, because normally I use 99% lean ground turkey breast (because it is a zero point food) and Bob has come around to accepting it, but not necessarily enjoying it.

Usually, when I make tacos, I use my own blend of taco seasoning, because I find even the lower sodium taco seasonings are too salty for us. So, here is my standard blend - a bit of TJ's Onion Salt, Gebhardt's chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and umami seasoning. I won't show you my mix, because I'm a firm believer in seasoning to your own taste. You can also use taco seasoning. That's the great thing about cooking...you do you.

My husband likes things hot. So I also add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the mixture. Again - you do you. The Gebhardts isn't hot, but it is super flavorful. Also, we can't buy it here. Do you hear that Gebhardt? We want your chili powder in Delaware. Call me.

I add all my spices, and then I stir in one can of diced tomatoes with chilies that I have drained of most liquid.

And then I add one of my favorite ingredients of all time...Trader Joe's Cuban Style Black Beans (also drained). These black beans are amazing and delicious and perfectly seasoned. They have diced peppers and onions in them, and they are YUMMY.

I combine all these ingredients, and then turn the heat off of my meat. Then I work on my mushrooms. If you haven't hard portobello mushrooms, you should. They are super low in calories, but are hardy, and stand up to stuffing. They tend to take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with. If you aren't a mushroom fan, again, you do you. You can easily use a tortilla, or taco shells, or even bell peppers. We love mushrooms. With portobellos, you'll want to clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel very gently. Then, I remove the step and gently scrape out the gills with a spoon. This serves two purposes - one, I find the gills to be a bit rubbery; and two, it gives you a little more room to stuff or top.

Once your mushrooms are clean, spray them gently with some olive oil spray, and then sprinkle on the seasoning of the Gods....Tajin. Chili and lime...ummmm hmmmm. Yum. Tajin is also delicious on watermelon. And eggs. And pretty much anything.

Now, normally, if it were not a bajillion degrees outside, I would pop the mushrooms into the oven at 400 for 10 minutes BUT, I don't light my oven in the summer unless we are having a cooler snap. And we definitely are not. The heat index is currently over 100. So, I popped these on my handy dandy Pampered Chef Stoneware baking tray for the toaster oven, and popped them mushrooms into the toaster oven on "Bake" for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, gill side down.

While the mushrooms are cooking, I prep my veggies. We use the standard taco toppings, so again, it's to your taste. I used chopped lettuce, tomato, green onion, and vidalia onion. I also chopped one gypsy pepper (a sweet pepper) and one Serrano pepper for my hubs. He likes it hot.

I also weighed out 1oz of Trader Joe's Soy Cheese Blend. I'm dairy free as well as gluten free. Feel free to use whatever cheese you like. To be honest, I also weighed out 1oz of shredded cheddar for my hubster.

Next, I weighed out two servings of 4.5oz of the meat mixture. I attribute 3oz to the lean beef, and 1.5oz for beans and diced tomatoes. If you are on WW and you don't have a good food scale, get one. I was amazed at h ow much I was over serving myself.

By this time, your mushrooms should be ready to go. Take them out of the oven (toaster), and flip the mushrooms over so the gill side is up. Top those bad boys with the meat mixture.

Then layer on your diced peppers.

And then top it with the cheese.

Pop the mushrooms back in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is all melty.

Then, serve them up, and top them with your taco toppings. I saved out part of my cheese to put on top when I was done. We topped them with the veggies, the rest of the cheese, and whatever other yumminess you love on your tacos...I added salsa. If I had avocado, I would have added that as well. Alas, we are out.

And then, om nom nom nom nom as appropriate. I served mine with some of the corn Good Thins (41 of these are just 3 Smart Points). My dinner was a total of 8 Smart Points. And I naturally have leftover beef mixture for taco salads for the rest of the week. Yay!

Here is the ingredient breakdown with Smart Points:

3oz lean ground beef (multiply this for the number of servings you want to make) - 3 Smart Points

1 can Trader Joe's Cuban Style Black Beans, drained - 0 Smart Points

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies - 0 Smart Points

Onion Salt, Chili Powder, Garlic Powder, Cumin, Onion Powder, Umami Seasoning and crushed red pepper to taste - 0 Smart Points

1 large portobello mushroom cap, cleaned with gills and stems removed - 0 Smart Points

Olive Oil Spray - 0 Smart Points

Tajin Seasoning - 0 Smart Points

1oz Trader Joe's Soy Cheese Blend - 2 Smart Points

Taco toppings of your choice - Smart Points may vary based on your toppings