Best Beef-free Burger

Some days I crave nothing but meat. Beef, lamb, chicken, I could eat them all. But today was different. We have had four consecutive nights that included ground beef. Two nights of beef enchiladas and two nights of my spin-on-a-friends'-grandmothers spaghetti and meaty goodness sauce. So it was time for some foliage and extra veggies! I knew I wanted burgers but couldn't bring myself to pull the ground beef out of the freezer. I decided that mushrooms were a must, and some excuse to finish my avocado (not that I ever need one). So portabello mushroom sliders were the dinner special chez nous!

You need:
4 small portabello caps
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large clove garlic thinly sliced
4 slider buns
About 1/2 small log of goat cheese
Tomato slices
1/2 a small avocado sliced
Roasted red pepper strips ( I make my own instead of buying them in a can or bottle)
Lettuce leaves
Dijon
Mayo


Step 1: Make the marinade for the mushroom caps by mixing the balsamic vinegar, dried herbs and sliced garlic. Place the mushroom caps in the marinade and spoon over the mushrooms. I let mine marinate for about 2 hours flipping and spooning again half way through.

Step 2: Once the mushrooms have marinated, grill them if you have a small electric grill (like a George Foreman or Cuisinart grill) or sear in a non stick pan.

Step 3: ASSEMBLE! It's that easy! Just make sure you put the goat cheese right on top of the hot mushroom so it melts and the flavours meld into a mouth watering combination!

Step 4: Devour! I ate mine so fast that I wish I had another! My friend thought the sliders were so good, she thought they had meat in them!! PSYCH! lol

We had ours with oven roasted potato wedges and our first corn on the cob of the year! BTW, I owe a big shout out to my friend for picking, without a doubt, the BEST corn I've had in forever!

* If you want to make your own roasted red peppers here's some tips
I usually use red, orange or yellow peppers for this, green peppers are sometimes too bitter.
Wash the peppers and pat them dry. Lightly rub them with some olive oil. If you have a gas stove, you can place the pepper right over the flame. If you don't have gas then put the oven on high broil. It takes longer in the oven, but it's still worth it. Leave it over the flame or under the broiler until the skin turns black. Flip the peppers around until the whole pepper is black. Let the peppers cool for a few minutes, then wrap them in paper towel and rub off the black skin. The pepper should be cooked, but not burnt under the skin. Voila! roasted red peppers at home, and they definitely don't taste like they have been sitting in a can.

You can also make a sweet vinegar pickling liquid to give the peppers even more flavour. I use a combination of white vinegar and cider vinegar, about 1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/4 cup cider vinegar ( don't be afraid to play around and find out what your flavour preference is), 3 Tbsp of sugar, 2 cloves of garlic lightly chopped, rosemary (fresh or dried) maybe 1 stem fresh or 2 tsp dried, and a pinch of thyme (again fresh or dried). Place everything in a small pot and heat just until all the sugar is dissolved. While the peppers are still warm, place them in a jar or container and pour the warm pickling liquid over them. Place in the fridge and by the time everything is cold, the peppers can be eaten, enjoyed and loved!!