Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Mushrooms

While I am neither vegetarian nor vegan I do try to cook vegetarian meals at least once a week, but they are rarely most likely never vegan.  After being asked to bring a vegetarian or vegan appetizer to a party recently I decided to challenge myself to making the appetizer completely vegan and made an appetizer sized version of these mushrooms.  They were good, but the stuffing made the small button mushrooms get soggy pretty fast.  I liked the filling though so made the full sized version for dinner one night.  The sturdier portabella mushrooms stood up well to the filling and we didn't miss that they were lacking cheese.  I served them with a simple green salad with oil and vinegar to make a completely vegan meal.   

The part that I almost forgot about when getting ready to make the mushrooms was the breadcrumbs.  I usually make fresh breadcrumbs from whatever sandwich bread I have on hand.  But a lot of sandwich breads aren't vegan.  I was afraid to trust myself with just ingredient reading after I pulled a loaf of buttermilk bread out of my pantry and started to read the label to see if it was vegan.  I was able to find some vegan multigrain bread that was labelled as such at Trader Joe's.  I used about half my 12 ounce loaf of bread in the food processor to get 1 1/4 cups of bread crumbs.

Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Mushrooms
Adapted from MyRecipes.com

4 portabella mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes 
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives 
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers 
2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomatoes (the kind in oil, not dried) 
1 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs made from vegan bread 
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place mushrooms on baking sheet with gill sides up and drizzle evenly with olive oil and vinegar.  Season with salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.  Bake for 10 minutes.  
While mushrooms are in the oven, prepare the the filling in a large bowl by stirring together chopped tomatoes, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, bread crumbs, chives, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Stuff prepared mushroom caps with filling, approximately 1/2 cup per mushroom.  Bake stuffed mushrooms in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until filling is browned.  Mine took the full 15 minutes.