Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Portobellos

Because I'm on vacation!

Yeah yeah yeah, so it's been a couple of weeks since my last post.  There's just been so much going on!  I sadly said good-bye to the bread store job *sniff* while simultaneously welcoming [albeit begrudgingly] my new job.  The two positions overlapped for the week before Christmas, resulting in a 50+ hour work week for me.  But, now I'm back to a somewhat normal schedule, Christmas is over, and I'm getting pretty excited to ring in the new year tomorrow!

So I have some catching up to do.  This post is about what I served for Christmas dinner for my sister and myself.  I will also write a follow-up post soon-ish with the spread I made for my now-former bread store co-workers at our belated Christmas party this past Saturday.  On top of that, I'm planning to serve a pretty slam-bang New Year's Day brunch for two, and I want to blog about that as well!  Hey- I have the next two days off!  It could happen.

I wanted to keep my Christmas dinner entree simple.  I had to work late on Christmas Eve, then drove straight from there an hour and a half  to stay with my sister.  When I had asked her earlier in the week what she wanted for our holiday dinner, her response was- and I quote- "I have no clue.  I would like gravy though."  So that got me thinking, what kind of an entree could I come up with to smother with gravy?  Portobellos seemed like the obvious choice.  They have such a "meaty" texture and so much room for filling with delicious stuffing!  This recipe was a little time consuming, but that's sort of to be expected with holiday dishes.  We served this with potatoes (also smothered in gravy), peas, rolls from the bread store, and a kale dish my sister made.  All in all, this was a fantastic holiday meal, shared with my favorite people: My beautiful family.   :)

                                       Merry Christmas from the McDonald Clan!!!


Now, on to the food!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup wild rice
2 cups water
3/4 cup lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
Small onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp oregano
6 large portobello mushroom caps, cleaned, stems and inner gills removed
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a couple of baking dishes with cooking spray.  (Size of dish required will vary according to the size of your 'shrooms.)
In a medium sized sauce pan, bring wild rice and water to a boil.  Turn heat down to a simmer, and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.  When the 20 min are up, add the lentils and veg broth.  Increase heat to bring to a boil again, then decrease heat once again, cover, and simmer for another 20 min.
Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic, and cook for 2 min.  Add carrots and celery and cook for another   10 minutes, or until veggies are soft.  Stir in poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, and oregano.  Remove from heat and add to the pan with the rice and lentils.  Stir to combine well, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange mushrooms in baking dishes and divide filling among them.  (I had stuffing left over, but my sis and I enjoyed snacking on it while waiting for all of the food to cook!)  Bake for 20 min, or until mushrooms and filling are heated through.
Serve hot- with gravy*.  Lots and lots of gravy.

*I used the gravy from this tasty little number.  And it was just fabulous.