Italian Herb and Spinach Stuffed Mushroom

Often we find ourselves cramming for something flavorful yet simple to have for a lunch or even dinner. It is always nice to fix something up once in awhile although most of us nowadays do not have much time on our hands; between getting ourselves and our kids ready then work for 8 hours (maybe more) then back to the kids along with everything else. It gets crazy. Life it is a constant battle of time.

I saw a coffee mug that said, "You have the same amount of hours in the day as Beyonce." 
This is correct however the reason why Beyonce can accomplish so much in the same amount of time as us is because she has a team to help her get things done. The Queen B is amazing. She did not get where she is today without hard work and being amazing which is why she can have a team of people working for her. 

It would be awesome if we could all have a team of people to help us get things done...
**We apologize for this mini rant, please do not stop reading!!**

In terms of time constraints, we here at Tough Buns know the importance of eating a healthy meal. We would like to share this simple stuffed mushroom recipe you can try at home. It goes great with any steak, chicken and pork dish. 

If you do not already have these delicious vegetables in your refrigerator you can easily buy them at your local grocery store. Feel free to play around with the ingredients, this is my basic recipe but depending on what my main dish is, I will tailor the recipe to compliment the meal.

Italian herb and spinach stuffed mushrooms
Ingredients:
10 mushrooms
handful of spinach
1/4 onion
1/2 cup of Mozzarella
1/4 cup Panko 
4 pieces of bacon (pan fried)
1-2 cloves garlic
Italian Herb Seasoning (to taste)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Need:
Small Frying pan
knife
chopping board
medium bowl
Baking pan

15 minute prep time
30-40 minute cooking time
bake at: 350

serving: 5 people: 2 piece per person
or if you want to indulge: 5 pieces for 2 people ;)

Fry the pieces of bacon before you chop your vegetables. 

While the bacon cooks you can prep the rest of your cooking area and preheat your oven. This will help make cooking smoother and efficient for you. I find it very helpful to have everything prepared before I start to save time and help the cleaning process. We want to keep up with the motif of being time-saving. 

Low sodium bacon. Be sure to cook all meats thoroughly. 

You can make the bacon as crispy as you would like, I like to have my bacon slightly crispy for this recipe to add some crunch. Place the bacon on tissue paper to soak up the oil.

Be sure to wash all your produce before chopping.

Separate the mushroom stems from the cap.

Mince all of the mushroom stems, dice the onions, spinach, bacon, add the italian seasoning, panko and mozzarella and salt and pepper to taste.

You do not need to use all of the mushroom stems, you can if you would like.

 Mix everything before stuffing your mushrooms. Sometimes I will save a little bit of mozzarella to add to the top of each mushroom 

Once each mushroom is stuffed you can place them on a baking sheet, be sure to use a cooking spray. 

I love to pack my mushrooms

If you have leftover filling you can save that in a tupperware, its great to use for other recipes. Occasionally I'll have some bell peppers or zucchini and this filling pairs well with those.