Grilled mushroom burger with sun-dried tomato kale-hemp pesto

This delicious recipe was taken from one of my amazing new cook books that an amazing friend got for us: "The Oh She Glows Cookbook" by Angela Liddon. A friend grows shiitake mushrooms (my favorite!) and gave us a bunch of huge caps that I needed to find something to to with! Shiitakes are my favorite because they remind me of my Ecuador trip over the summer when the chefs of the station we stayed at improvised recipes to make them vegan for me and used locally grown mushrooms for most of my meals (and I loved it!). You can use any type of large mushroom caps as the "burger" part of this recipe.. and we had several to use so I marinated and cooked them all and served many off to the side. You can get creative but use this basic recipe as a guide.

Ingredients:

For the mushroom burgers & marinade:
2 large mushroom caps (or more-- if more, double the rest of this marinade recipe)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons plus 1.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 minced clove of garlic, or a few large dashes of garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

For the pesto:
1 clove of garlic
1 cup packed chopped kale leaves
¼ cup sundried tomatoes (or cheat--- if you don't have any, keep tomato powder on hand for recipes like this.. that's what I do!)
¼ cup hemp seeds
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons water

optional topping ideas:
Carmelized onions (chop and saute onion with oil for ~20 minutes until browned completely)
Roasted/grilled peppers
Tomato slices (or even better, grill them quickly for a roasted flavor)
Avocado slices
Kale or lettuce


Directions:

Wash and remove stems from your mushrooms. If you're using portobellos, you can scrape out and discard the black gills. Mix marinade ingredients together in a bowl or dish, drench mushrooms with it, and soak caps in the marinade for a minimum of a half hour (and as long as overnight).. flipping halfway through.

While mushrooms are marinating, you can blend together all of your pesto ingredients in a food processor. Put aside.

When mushrooms are ready, sauté or grill them for about 5 minutes flipping half way through so that they brown on both sides and cook evenly.

Serve mushrooms on either a whole wheat bun, slice of sprouted bread, or bed of greens and top with toppings of your choice and the pesto sauce. I served mine with tomatoes and caramelized onions, topped with hemp seeds, and served with a side of kale, sprouts, peppers, and yellow tomatoes. Feel free to switch it up... adding plenty of colorful veggies helps keep the meal wholesome. Enjoy!