Renee Baude | Mushrooms!

“Mom, Can I have sautéed mushrooms and onions as my vegetable?”

Ahh, this is music to my Polish heritage! I really like mushrooms, I grew up “hunting” them with my dad, Hundred Acre Joe, Stan, Hugh and Ed–a crew of Polish men. To me they were as big as giants and I followed them over streams, through the woods, down the lane and on trails the deer and my brothers created. We were forging for morels. If I closed my eyes right now–I could go back to the misty morning, wearing boots that are too big for my feet, the smell of cigarette smoke and laughing–lots and lots of laughing.

Naturally, I have transferred all those happy memories into eating mushrooms! I “hunt” at the store vs. the side of the lane and I still wear boots–but now they fit me. Each week I buy mushrooms and I used them in:

scrambled eggs
to top a pizza (V)
add to my amazing red sauce (V)
add to salads (V)
mushroom/polenta lunch (V)

As a vegan I use mushrooms to add a more “meaty” texture to some of my dinners because I just like them. I had no idea that they are packed with Vitamin D and the international research journal Appetite a study showed that people had more energy and lost an average of 7 pounds on a “mushroom diet”.