Recipe: Baked Portobello Mushroom Caps with Tahini

The assembled mushroom caps: toppings include sliced garlic, chopped green onions, tomatoes, and tahini.

These baked mushroom caps burst with bold flavors and are a favorite dinner item in my household. Serve with a side of quinoa or rice, as well as some fresh pineapple chunks.

Baked Portobello Mushroom Caps with Tahini

Ingredients:
Portobello Mushroom Caps (I like to keep most of the stem and the gills)
2-3 green onions (scallions), chopped
1 garlic clove per mushroom cap (thinly slice each clove)
1-2 tomatoes (a few chopped pieces per mushroom cap)
salt and pepper
Other favorite seasonings: I used Italian seasonings and onion powder
Tahini (ground sesame seeds; I find tubs/jars of tahini near the peanut butter at the store)
Organic sweet chili sauce or a vegan liquid sweetener of choice

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking dish. Take a paper towel and brush off the tops of the mushroom caps to remove any dirt. I don't recommend washing the mushrooms because they absorb water.

Place the mushroom caps on the baking dish gill-side up. Sprinkle with a pinch a salt on each cap. Add sprinkles of your favorite seasonings, such as Italian herbs or onion powder, etc.

Spoon about 1T of sweet chili sauce or other liquid sweetener on the mushroom. If you want to use organic sugar or coconut sugar, just use a generous pinch around the mushroom.

Next, layer your toppings: I lay the sliced garlic around the mushroom stem, then the tomatoes, and then the green onions.

Finally, I spoon about 1T of tahini around the mushroom stem.

Bake the mushrooms for 25 minutes. The mushrooms get slightly tender, darker, and soak up all the flavors from the toppings. The tahini adds a slightly bitter taste that compliments the savory essence of the mushroom. The seasonings, tomatoes, garlic, and green onions add punches of flavor, enticing aromas, and slight crunches here and there. As you slice the mushroom over your rice and pineapple, you get a nice mix of sweet, savory, tangy, bitter, and salty tastes.

These veggie steaks are filling and delicious.

I baked my mushrooms with some asparagus that I sprinkled with salt and a few drops of olive oil.

These cooked mushroom caps (above and below) are from other times I made this recipe. My husband and I ate the other mushrooms pictured on the baking sheet before I could take photos -- we were hungry :) 

Recipe: Vanilla White Cake with Tahini Frosting

Tahini gives an interesting texture to this frosting.

I just discovered another great use for tahini (sesame seed paste), which usually makes an appearance in hummus.

But because tahini also is an ingredient in the delicious dessert, halva, I thought it would make an excellent frosting for my Vanilla White Cake. 

Tahini Frosting

Ingredients:

• 12-15 oz container of tahini
• Organic powdered sugar *
• Unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

Blend a tub of tahini in a food processor for about a minute until it’s creamy (The texture gets light and fluffy when mixed in a food processor). Empty the contents into a bowl, and stir in 1 T of powdered sugar at a time until you get the level of sweetness you like. Thin out the frosting with 1 T of non-dairy milk at a time until you reach the desired consistency (For my cake, I had the frosting reach an icing-like consistency -- like what you'd pour over cinnamon rolls). Whatever spread is leftover you can eat ... it tastes like halva!

*You can use a liquid sweetener if you prefer.

Sweet White Cake

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 c. of unsweetened dairy-free milk (if it’s sweetened, your cake will be slightly sweeter)
• 1 T of apple cider vinegar
• 1-1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (alternatively, you can use whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 c. organic sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 c. oil or vegan mayo (I have used Just Mayo) **
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 T butter extract (it’s vegan)
• 1 T almond extract

** You might be able to swap the oil with 1/3 c. of applesauce (I haven't tried that yet)

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan.

Combine milk and vinegar and set aside (this acts like buttermilk).

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.

Whisk mayo, water, and extracts into buttermilk mixture until well combined. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until lump-free. Pour batter into the pan.

Bake for 35 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Once cool, spread on your frosting. 

As a topping, I’ve also blended frozen berries and added a little sugar. I poke holes in the cake so the fruity syrup seeps throughout.