Mini Portabella Pizzas

One of my coworkers at work was talking about how much they love stuffed mushrooms and an idea popped in my head:  mushroom  pizzas!  I used big meaty portabella mushroom caps as the base and topped them with a quick italian suasage and tomato saute.  A sprinkle of parmesan on top and, viola!, another paleo pizza is born.  This one would be great as an appetizer for parties or eat a few of them as a main course.  A quick tip on portabella mushrooms:  the longer you cook them, the meatier and firmer the mushroom gets.  Enjoy!

Portabella mushrooms make a great bread substitute in this meaty little pizza

Ingredients (makes 8 mini pizzas):
8 portabella mushroom caps, washed and dried
1tbs extra virgin olive oil (first cold press is best)
4 spicy italian sausage links (preservative, nitrate, and refined sugar free) I used some spicy Italian chicken sausage from Whole foods
3 campari tomatoes, diced (about 3/4c)
1/2c marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe's Pomodoro Sauce)
1/2c freshly and finely shredded parmesan cheese (raw milk cheese or organic preferred)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400F.  In a large grill pan with a heavy lid, heat a little olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the mushrooms, top with the lid to flatten, and cook until tender (about 5 minutes).  Then flip them over, top with the heavy lid again, and cook a few minutes longer.  They should be flat and fully cooked through.  Remember, you want to cook them quite a bit so they firm up.  Place them on a foil lined baking sheet.
2. If you are using pre-cooked sausage, cut or tear it up into little pieces, removing as much of the casing as you can.  If you are using raw sausage, remove the casing and crumble the ground meat.  Heat the rest of your olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add your sausage and cook until browning a bit and completely cooked through.  Add your diced tomatoes and  a splash of marinara sauce.  Stir and cook until the liquid has reduced and is very thick.
3. Spread about 2-3tsp marinara sauce on the top of each mushroom cap.  Top with about 1/3c sausage mixture (or until all caps have an even amount of meat on them).  Sprinkle each with 1tbs parmesan.  Bake in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until everything is heated through and the mushrooms have released a bit more moisture.  Then turn on  your broiler and cook for 1-2 minutes more, or until the cheese fully melts and begins to brown.  Let set a few minutes and serve.

Nutritional  Information:
1 serving = 1 mini portabella pizza
Calories: 143
Protein: 12.5g
Fat: 6g
Carbs: 6g
Sodium ~ 375mg