Thyroid Recipe: "Cheesy" Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

About this thyroid-healthy recipe

These "Cheesy" Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms are perfect as a main course over wilted greens and roasted squash or served as hors d'oeuvres. 

Baby portobellos or creminis are stuffed with a sausage-flavored pork filling that also happens to be nightshade-free, nut-free, seed-free, and egg-free. They're also Paleo friendly, Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) compliant, and naturally gluten-free and dairy-free. 

These adorable little shroomies get their inspiration from those delicious appetizer mushrooms that you may find at your local mom 'n' pop Italian restaurant's starter menu. They have a delicious cheesy flavor even though there is no dairy in the ingredients, thanks to the cheesiness of nutritional yeast!

Nutrient-dense ingredients

One key to reversing leaky gut, a potential precursor, according to preliminary research, to autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto's thyroiditis, is to flood the cells with nutrients. When preparing healthy meals for yourself, consider keeping in mind how many different vitamins and nutrients you can add to your meal through foods.

Check out the nutrients you'll find in the ingredients in these "Cheesy" Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms:  

Green onions

Also known as scallions, green onions add a delicious and zesty bite to the sausage filling. Green onions offer different vitamins and minerals than white onions and varying the type of onions you use can provide a wide variety of nutrients.

Garlic

Garlic packs a whopping nutrient punch in such a small package. You'll find B6, manganese, selenium, vitamin C, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, and copper inside garlic cloves. As a bonus, garlic also has natural anti-bacterial properties, which can help those struggling with gut dysbiosis due to an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Tigernut flour

Tigernuts are another gut superfood because they are full of beneficial-bacteria-boosting prebiotic fiber and digestion-regulating resistant starch. Resistant starch is important because it takes longer to digest. Hence, you feel fuller, which may help you not overeat. Tigernuts are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, too! They contain high phosphorus levels, potassium, vitamins E and C, zinc, magnesium, and iron.

Note: If you cannot find tiger nut flour in your area, you can substitute the more commonly available cassava flour or even tapioca starch in this recipe. Just cut the amount in half for the meat mixture, using only two tablespoons of the flour substitute to not dry out the mixture.

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Dried herbs

While fresh herbs will give you larger amounts of nutrients, choosing dried herbs does not necessarily mean that all nutritional value is lost! Since not everyone has access to fresh herbs regularly or seasonally, using dried seasonings instead can pick up the slack.

Be sure to buy dried herbs and seasonings only in the amounts you will use up promptly. Generally, the longer you have them sitting in your spice cabinet, the more nutrients they lose. A good rule of thumb is to use up a dried seasoning within a year of purchase.

A note about nutritional yeast

When shopping for nutritional yeast, be sure to stick to brands that offer a non-fortified version. This rule is especially true if you have methylation issues. The non-methylated versions of B vitamins added to fortified brands can cause trouble in those with MTHFR gene mutations (aka methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase).

The gut-loving power of mushrooms

Mushrooms are rich in prebiotics that stimulate the growth of good gut bugs. Plus, they are so flavorful and provide a great variety of texture in your meals! You'll find vitamin D, zinc, potassium inside mushrooms. These nutrients' health benefits include boosted bone health, lowered tension in blood vessels, and reduced inflammation.

Who may need to avoid mushrooms?

Most culinary and medicinal mushrooms should be avoided if you follow a low-FODMAP diet to quash SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Though, good news—you can still enjoy a few varieties of mushrooms on a low-FODMAP diet! One cup of Oyster mushrooms or one cup of Shimeji mushrooms are still considered low-FODMAP by Monash University.

Certain medicinal mushrooms (like Reishi, Maitake, and Turkey tail) may also stimulate TH cells and act as immune modulators, so you should speak to your trusted doctor before supplementing with medicinal mushrooms to ensure it is the right choice for you, especially if you have autoimmunity.

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"Cheesy" Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

These "Cheesy" Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms are perfect as a main course over wilted greens and roasted squash or served as an appetizer. They are Paleo, AIP, and gluten-free. Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp avocado oil or olive oil

• 1/2 bunch green onions, minced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 3/4 tsp maple syrup (optional)

• 1/4 cup tigernut flour (or 2 Tbsp cassava flour)

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1 Tb dried parsley

• 1 1/4 Tb Italian seasoning

• 1 Tb ground ginger

• 1/8 tsp ground mace

• 1 3/4 tsp Himalayan salt (This will make it salty like sausage. If you prefer a less salty meat, more like burger or meatloaf, cut salt in half.)

• 1 lb ground pork

• 1 lb baby portobello or cremini mushrooms, stalks removed

Topping:

• 1 tsp tigernut flour (or cassava flour)

• 1 tsp nutritional yeast

• 1 tsp dried parsley

• 1 pinch Himalayan salt

 Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of your oven, and heat to 375 F.
2. Line a medium sheet pan with parchment, and drizzle with the oil.
3. In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix the onions, garlic, vinegar, maple syrup, tiger nut flour, nutritional yeast, parsley, Italian seasoning, ginger, mace, and salt until well combined.
4. Gently mix in the ground pork, and use the fork to "paste" the mixture inside and on top of each mushroom, letting some of the mixture drape a bit over the sides (About 1/3 of the way down the mushroom. It doesn't have to be perfect; a rustic look for these is just fine!)
5. Add a stuffed mushroom to the pan as you go along, stuffing them until all are full.
6. In a small bowl, mix the remaining tiger nut flour, yeast, parsley, and salt to make the topping.
7. Sprinkle a bit of the topping over each mushroom, bake for 30 minutes, or until meat is cooked through and mushrooms are just tender but not mushy.
8. Serve with a nice, crisp green salad if desired.

NOTES:

• These make a great appetizer or main course.

• The mushroom stalks can be added to your bone broth base, sliced and added to a stir-fry, or minced and added to future recipes like meatloaf or burgers.

• Ground turkey or chicken may also be used in this recipe. Just add one tablespoon of melted oil to the meat mixture so that the meat does not dry out.
  

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