Pecan Dirty Rice with Spicy and Lemony Mushrooms

I had 2 packages of baby portabello mushrooms in my refrigerator that absolutely NEEDED to be cooked and eaten.  I had researched stuffing them over the weekend, but did I do that?  NO!  :::grin:::  So today, when I read the Vegan Epicurean blog with recipes for Pecan Dirty Rice and Spicy and Lemony Mushrooms, I was hooked.  The recipes are in the lower half of the blog entry using the recipe link above.

Both recipes are oil free.  The rice has cinnamon, allspice, Italian herbs, ginger, crush red pepper flakes, and pecans in it.  It is a delightful combination of herbs and spices.  I used a brown rice blend that I get in the bulk section at Whole Foods.  I only fixed 1 cup of rice because I wasn't sure if I would like the spice blend.  Man, do I!  This is a wonderful rice dish.

The cooking technique for the mushrooms was just to add all of the ingredients, put it in a pan, cover, and cook over a medium flame.  There was no stirring while cooking, no oil, no water.  The only moisture was the juice from the lemon, and the moisture the mushrooms would release.  I was skeptical of this method, but followed the directions, and the mushrooms turned out lovely.

I used about a teaspoon of fresh thyme instead of 1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme.  I will say, you MUST like lemon for this mushroom dish.  If you don't like lemon, this is not the dish for you.  The tartness of the zest contrasted with the heat of the crushed red pepper flakes is delightful.  I love the dish and will definitely be making this one again.  Thanks to Vegan Epicurean for sharing these two recipes with us!