YUM!

So while I'm working on my food addiction, there is a part of it that I will never kick, and that's my addiction to watching the Food Network and The Cooking Channel as well as various public television cooking programs that I happen to catch if I'm lucky. I get a lot of my recipe ideas from watching some of my favorite chefs like my homies Giada and Emeril, and my new favorites Roger Mooking because he's not only handsome, he's an awesome cook and musician, the beautiful Nigella Lawson and my new homegirl Nadia G! And if you've ever seen her on her show Bitchin' Kitchen and know me, you'll find our personalities are very similar. She's speaks Italian, and incorporates it into her dialogue, so do I, she has a warped sense of humor, so do I, she's freakishly flamboyant... ya, me too! I think you get it. I digress.

On one particular night I happen to be watching Food(ography) and saw a chef make this awesome dish that I thought would go well with my diet. It had vegetables, protein and low carb. He called himself The 99 Cent Chef and he called his dish Portabella Crab Rockefeller. Of course, I didn't write down the recipe, why would I ever do something that makes sense? I did, however, remember most of the ingredients and bought them on my recent food shopping excursion. Now that I've found his blog and realized I don't have all the ingredients, I not only feel like a big dumbass, I decided to make the dish anyway minus a few things I forgot to buy, but it was still YUMMY! Abso-f'n-lutely delicious!!

I have to give Mr. 99 cent Chef's all the credit here, this creation is fabulous! So if you'd like to make his version that includes everything I forgot, go on, but if you prefer to make my version I'll appreciate the love, believe me!

So here's my version which I'll call Spinach, Mushroom, Crab Thingies, (yeah, that'll do.)

3 Medium Sized Portobello mushrooms
1 bag of spinach
1 6 oz. can of crabmeat (I used Bumble Bee)
1 small onion, diced
1 fat clove of garlic or two small ones, minced
3 slices of Kraft Singles 2% Milk American Cheese (It was all I had in the fridge!)
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Clean the inside of the mushroom by removing the gills (or whatever they're called) and the stem, rinse under cold water (washing is optional**), dry with paper towels, set aside.

In a saute pan add the olive oil, when hot add diced onion and minced garlic and cook until onions are almost tender, add cleaned spinach and cook down, add salt and pepper at this point if you like, remove from heat. The rest of the spinach will wilt on its own.

Open can of crab meat, place in a colander and rinse all the salt and nasties off of them, grab a couple of handfuls and give them a good squeeze to get all the water out, place in a small bowl add 1 tablespoon of mayo.

At this point, fire up the broiler.

Add spinach mixture to the mushroom caps, top with crab mixture and add cheese on top. Place in broiler, about 9 inches away from flame and broil until the cheese melts and/or browns on top.

Eat!

The 99 Cent Chef uses flour, breadcrumbs and wine which I no longer consume, he also uses cream and parmesan which I forgot to buy, hey I made this recipe from memory, cut me some slack! I will say, however, that the only drawback to this dish is that once it stops cooking, there's an awful lot of water seepage from the mushroom and the spinach, which is why he uses the flour to thicken. Maybe next time I'll try to thicken it with something I can have on my diet!

Also, I don't have a dollar store near me, so I paid about 3 dollars for the mushrooms, 3 dollars for the bag of spinach and about 4 dollars for the crabmeat, hey I'm not a Rockefeller, not even remotely related, but I live where it's cold 9 months of the year and everything is shipped from warmer climates so we pay more, I'll work on money saving for my next dish.

Eating low carb is actually pretty good. I haven't had a slice of bread or any kind of carb since Feb. 22. I do miss pizza, pasta, rice and of course white potatoes, and I know eventually I'll CRAVE one of those items, but I'm not worried. If any of them happened to present themselves to me, I won't deny myself - that's what eating in moderation is all about.

** I wash my mushrooms even though I'm told one is supposed to wipe them, but hell I don't know whose hands have been on them, where their hands have been or whether they were clean so I don't take any chances, I wash.

Thank you Mr. 99 Cent Chef!

Alla Prossima!