Portobello Caprese Burgers + Free Printables

July 3, 2017 No Comments A Well Crafted Pantry

I’m a meat eater. I love, love, love me a good beef burger. However, for a variety of reasons, my family and I do try our best to NOT eat meat one day a week at least. As much as we enjoy meat, we enjoy vegetables just as much. I really thrive on creating meatless menu options for our weekly dinners. This Portobello Caprese Burger is a great substitute if you’re wanting to cut back on the meat a bit but still want something hearty and flavorful. It is also a fantastic for a vegetarian burger option at your next cookout! (Just remember to cook BEFORE cooking your meat on the grill so that you’re not giving your vegetarian friend meat drippings on their vegetarian burger!)

Portobello Caprese Burgers

Portobello mushrooms are rich and earthy. They are also fairly affordable. I substitute portobello mushrooms for beef often because it creates that bold flavor and bit of chew that beef typically gives a dish. We chose to serve the burgers with a side of grilled zucchini spears. This made for a really tasty and fairly healthy meal!

Serves 6

Ingredients for Balsamic Marinade:

Olive Oil (approximately 3 tablespoons)
Balsamic Vinegar (approximately 3 tablespoons)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper

Ingredients for Portobello Caprese Burgers:

Hamburger Buns
6 Portobello Mushroom Caps whole with stem removed
6 slices of mozzarella cheese
6-12 slices of tomato (I did roma tomatoes so the burgers had two slices each, but if you use a bigger tomato then 1 slice would work.)
Fresh Basil leaves (you’ll want enough to top each burger)
Balsamic Marinade

For Grilled Zucchini Side:

5 medium sized zucchini cut into spears
Balsamic Marinade

How to Make Portobello Caprese Burgers with Grilled Zucchini Spears:

Directions for Balsamic Marinade:

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl

Directions for Portobello Caprese Burgers:

Brush the Balsamic Marinade onto each side of the clean, de-stemmed portobello mushrooms
Put on a grill, smooth side down over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes or until tender
While the portobello mushrooms are cooking add mozzarella to your top bun and place your buns on a toasting tray on your grill or above a cooler side of the grill to toast the buns and melt the cheese. Be careful to not burn the buns.
OPTIONAL: I chose not to use any condiments on my burger because the mushroom with the balsamic marinade was plenty moist and flavorful and I’m currently watching extra calories. However, if you’d like I’d suggest using a nice garlic aioli or a really good quality mayo on the bottom bun. Topping the burger with a balsamic glaze would also be delish!
Top your bottom bun with a few basil leaves, the portobello mushroom, slices of tomato, and a few more basil leaves. Top with the mozzarella covered bun. ENJOY!

Directions for Grilled Zucchini Spears:

Toss your raw zucchini spears in the leftover balsamic marinade. If you use all of your marinade up brushing them on the mushrooms then go ahead and make some more marinade. Also, you’re going to have some seriously tasty mushrooms! 😉
Put in a grilling basket or on top of a foil lined grill. Grill until tender, approximately 6-8 minutes. (We grilled our mushrooms and zucchini at the same time and everything was ready to go around the same time.)
Serve alongside the burger. Add an optional dipping sauce of garlic aioli for a nice flavor punch.

We served these tasty little burgers with some of the Julian Hard Cider that I shared yesterday. The portobello was especially nice with the Cherry Bomb cider!

4th of July Free Printable Food Tray

I of course had to serve up my Portobello Caprese Burgers in something fun for the holiday. I created these fun stars and striped food trays to make serving these burgers a little more festive.

Directions for Use:

Click on file and save to computer
Print on white cardstock in full color
Cut around the outside of the food tray and on the dotted lines
Fold where there are white solid lines.
Glue the tabs into the panel directly to the right of the tab you are gluing.
Once complete, line your food tray with wax paper and top with food. The heavier the weight of your card stock the more sturdy these food trays will be.

Download your Free Printable 4th of July Food Tray

Have a fantastic 4th of July holiday tomorrow! Stay safe and have fun.

A Well Crafted Party

Free Fourth of July Printables

July 1, 2017 No Comments A Well Crafted Party

I tend to like a nice laid back event for summer parties because it is typically too hot to do much. However, I still want my laid back events to look intentional and put together. Printables are the easiest and most cost effective way to do that in my opinion. Over the years I’ve created some fun “Red White and Blue” printables in honor of Independence Day. My favorite Fourth of July printables are below.

Get your favorite printables for free and prep them this weekend for a fantastic 4th of July holiday party!

4th of July Party Circles

Free Fourth of July Potluck Cards

Red, White, Blue Printables with Napkin Wraps, Food Trays, and Coasters

Free July Fourth Printables – Sparkler Party Favors

Free Printable 4th of July Cupcake Toppers

A Well Crafted Party

Modern Easter Party + Free Printables

April 12, 2017 1 Comment A Well Crafted Party

Easter is around the corner and if you haven’t started thinking about your holiday meal then hopefully these ideas will get you thinking about new fun ways to bring a little bit of a childlike glee into your Easter celebration. You can make these ideas work well for an Easter lunch or an Easter brunch. These brightly colored Easter ideas are sure to be a hit.

Modern Geometric Easter

If you never though geometry would be present in your adult life then you might want to sit down…geometric is IN in a big way. Trends come and go, but a good polygon will never go out of style.

This party featured circles, squares, triangles, pentagons… you get the idea. The different shapes helped give interest to the table. In addition to all the fun shapes we went with a little bit untraditional color scheme for Easter. I like a sweet, pastel Easter table as much as the next person. But, for this party I wanted to inject a bit of color and energy. Using some of the bright yellows from nature to inspire my pallet I featured pinks, teals, and lots of bright yellow.

Geometric Details:

Geometric bunny in our invitations and menus. I love the way all the triangles come together to make little facets. (Get your free printables below!)
Off-set your simple, round plates on the table so that the circles of the table have a bit more interest.
Use a square mat of moss or perhaps a fun patterned square piece of fabric as a placemat.
I didn’t want the drink to fall over on the moss so I used my geometric coasters as an added detail and safety measure.
Geometric terrarium planters are EVERYWHERE at the moment. Using the planter as a secondary vase allows the centerpiece to be filled with Easter elements such as Easter eggs or Easter candies.

Easter Decorating Tips:

Use Easter eggs in your decor! Seriously, they are so gorgeous and a big part of Easter tradition. If you use real eggs know that there will be some smell that is attached to those. In this vase I used real eggs because I love the hue of them. However, you could totally substitute plastic eggs or painted wooden eggs and use them year after year.
Tulips. Enough said… well, let me rephrase that to say, LOTS and LOTS of tulips. Tulips are wonderful and affordable. They are also super easy to work with and look good even when drooping a bit.
Use traditional Easter candies throughout your decor. I used bright pink Peeps in this party as well as chocolate bunnies. The chocolate bunnies I found had a red ribbon around the neck so I just slipped that off and replaced it with a ribbon that matched my party color scheme.
Use a balloon to make your beverage glass match your color scheme. This works for any color scheme!

Check back soon for my post on how to make these fun bunny fold napkins. Or, check out this great paper napkin bunny fold YouTube video!

Get your free printables below:

I’m pretty much all about the printables when it comes to parties. This party was no exception. I think that these paper invitations and menus really bring together all the fun geometric elements of the party.

Freebies