Groceries Go Pink! Everyday Mama has THE list of groceries that celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She encourages everyone to feel good about their purchases this week by branching out and picking up some pink products. Find some ideas for food and household items including mushrooms!

Easy Chicken Mushroom Quesadillas For someone who doesn’t care for mushrooms very much, Mary Ann from Meet Me in the Kitchen sure has a delicious way to eat them. This is a great recipe for those like Mary Ann who prefer mushrooms thrown together with a little something. But if that’s not enough to convince you, the word “easy” in the title should!

Mushrooms for Autumn: Cremini, porcini and portobello add pizzazz to menu Rita Simonetta knows mushrooms are just one of those staple items that shows up in dishes everywhere. In honor of autumn, she’s brought us a news way to add a little pizzazz to dishes with three very yummy types of mushrooms. You’ll also find tips on washing and using them in a variety of combinations.

Poison Mushroom Alert issued after Newton Incident At the Mushroom Channel we stand behind commercially grown mushrooms. We hope our readers enjoy them as much as we do, especially the pink tilled mushrooms in stores this month. However, sometimes it takes the Boston Herald to say “Mushrooms should be harvested in the supermarket” for everyone to stay safe while eating mushrooms.

Mushrooms, Water-Repellants More Similar Than You Think Sometimes we read some unfriendly comments about our favorite fungi and how it’s grown. While the ways in which a mushroom is grown may not interest you, this new discovery about mushrooms may. Mushrooms now have a new claim to fame aside from being a super-food packing Vitamin D-water droplets “jump” from the surface of mushrooms. Don’t believe us? Watch the video from Duke University.

Mushroom Festival Brings Crowds to the City A few weeks back we tweeted (@mushroomchannel) about a mushroom festival happening in Madisonville, the “mushroom capital” of Texas. For those of you who were able to make it out, we’re jealous. The Madisonville Meteor reports on the success of the festival at which crowds grow every year with a video recap.

Chef Bruno, son of a mushroom farmer, has carried his familial fungi love alongside his passion for pizza for all his years in the food business.  He walks us through his favorite uses in the segment below, courtesy of Pizza Today Magazine!

Chef Tom Douglas is Seattle’s culinary star. He runs several restaurants, including Etta’s, the Palace Kitchen, the Dahlia Lounge, and Lola. He’s been nominated for the James Beard Award, competed on Iron Chef America and has a line of spice mixes called Rub with Love. Chef Douglas has also written several cook books including Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen, Tom’s Big Dinners and I Love Crab Cakes. Mushrooms have a special place in Chef Douglas’ heart. Here’s what he had to say about the fungus:

1. What do you think makes the cuisine of the Pacific Northwest unique? What are some quintessential ingredients from the region that you like to cook with?

The Northwest has a plethora of regional ingredients. Chefs here tend to have great respect for the region’s bounty so it’s reflected on their menus.  Whether it’s foraged or farmed there’s a tight connection between the chef and the farmer. The Pacific Northwest is known for its mushrooms such as chanterelles and hedgehogs, plus Dungeness crab, Olympia oysters, Yakima peaches and cherries, Washington wine and the great cheeses that are being made all over the state.

2. What role do mushrooms play in your cooking?

Mushrooms play the bread to my butter…we use them in every aspect of our menu.

3. Do you remember when you first started to like mushrooms?

I grew up in the Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Area which is the domesticated mushroom capital of America. This means we always had mushrooms.  My dad would always pick up a box of “number twos,” which are the mushrooms with imperfections– perfectly delicious, just not pretty enough for the market– so mushrooms were always in my house.  My wife Jackie brought wild mushroom foraging to the relationship, having gone with her father around the woods of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

4. Is your Salmon with Shiitake Relish a popular item at Etta’s?

The Salmon with Shiitake Relish is Etta’s number one seller!

5. What made you decide to use shiitake mushrooms in the relish over other mushroom varieties?

I like shiitakes because they have a real woodsy flavor, and I especially like them when they are tossed in oil and roasted in a 400 degree oven.  They also make a great salad garnish.

We’ve posted the full recipe for Salmon with Shiitake Relish here for easy printing.

As I believe has already been made abundantly clear, we felt great coming out of our weekend in San Francisco for BlogHer Food. The BlogHer organizers did a great job getting food writers in the door who clearly have a passion for cooking with fresh ingredients and we were thrilled that mushrooms are so high on their list of favorites!

With that in mind, we wanted to send some link love to some new friends (some BlogHer-related, others not) with some of THEIR mushroom recipes. I started this list for National Mushroom Day yesterday but was overwhelmed by the possibilities.  So please consider this post as though you would a belated birthday present- a simple extension of the holiday.

The photo at the top is from a perennial favorite, Blue Kitchen, who kept me absolutely captivated by is Roasted Mushroom “Casserole.”

Let the games begin in no particular order (all links are to specific posts):

CityMama- Stefania posted a warm bowl of comfort right after BlogHer Food along with a pretty kicking post. Reminds me yet again how nice it is to meet online folks offline.

Queen of Quirky- Sam took a cue from former recipe of the week winner Foodie Reflections when she took her chances with homemade risotto.  Sounds like it paid off!

One Scoop at a Time-  Kale, Tofu, Mushroom and Ginger Soup. Linda is a woman close to our heart because there are days when I suspect she loves mushrooms as much as we do. Which is to say, a lot. It was great to finally meet her in person!

In Erika’s Kitchen- Mushroom Bread Pudding.  Erika was using a mix of cultivated and wild mushrooms and my guess is that with this seasoning blend and good bread, you could easily mix in white buttons for half to cut costs while retaining that gorgeous flavoring.

The W.H.O.L.E. Gang- Diane turned Julia’s classic Beef Bourguignon into a burger. Is anyone else trying to imagine how good her kitchen must have smelled for this?

More Than Burnt Toast- We hear (and write) a lot about stuffed mushrooms. And frankly it doesn’t get old because they are just the most poppable little treats. That said, these bell peppers stuffed with mushrooms look like a lovely change pace.

Elana’s Pantry- Raw Kale Shiitake Salad. I watched Elana eat the raw caps right off a few member of our mushroom display with undiluted glee. Beautiful inside and out and that goes for her book as well.

Blog Appetit- Tomato Mushroom Baked Polenta. The fact that she pulled this together completely on the fly impresses us. My guess is that this was one of the stars of the potluck.  What?  You know there’s always one dish that everyone flocks to first.

What’s For Dinner Mom?- Curried Hot Salad.  Laura’s become a Twitter buddy of ours since our weekend in San Francisco. This salad sounds like a great way to enjoy a warm, easy weekday lunch.

Kitchen Parade- Easy Grilled Mushroom Appetizer. Two ingredients, low calorie and utterly fuss-free? A recipe for a perfect party bite. Alana is someone I’ve been reading on my own for a couple years now and so I was enthused (to say the least) when she came to dinner at RN74.

Beach Eats- Chicken Cacciatore. An easy take on an Italian classic from a self-described diva who we find to be a little closer to divine, particularly when it comes to the kitchen.

Kitchenbelle- Chicken Lo Mein. Mary Kate was such a sweetheart.  We saw her at RN74 and she brought her friends by for soup on Saturday. Someone we’d love to hear more from.

Cashews and Hummus- Chickpea Shiitake Soup. With all the raving about Clean Food, I may need to make a bookstore trip this weekend.  This recipe sounded rich but healthy- right up our alley.

Cafe Veg News- Shiitake Sake Scallopini.  No recipe here but we didn’t want to leave out some serious mushroom lovers and supporters.  Thanks to Veg News for providing mealtime inspiration in pixels and on paper.

If missed anyone or if you have a mushroom recipe you like even better, I’m more than happy to do a mega-post again next week. Just send the link to mushroomchannel AT gmail DOT com or pass it our way on Twitter. If you’d like the Recipe of the Week Award badge, I can give you that code via email as well.

Sweeten Your Smile Do you ever get that feeling that you have food in your teeth? Well now its okay-if you have mushrooms on your teeth.  Health News lists some natural teeth whitening tips that just happen to include Shiitakes. Now this isn’t an excuse to skip brushing and flossing, but its one really good excuse to keep chewing on mushrooms!

Simple Swaps for a Healthier Life No one says losing weight is easy, but Nutritionist Cheryl Forberg RD from The Biggest Loser says “integrating a few small changes, s-l-o-w-l-y, can be simple.”  Because changing your eating habits overnight won’t happen, one of your best bets is to make simple veggie swaps for a healthier lifestyle. Swapping pizza crust with for mushroom caps is just one example since the average portabella only has 27 calories!

Time to Start Consuming Flu-Buster Foods Open your ears. Do you hear a lot of people coughing around you? It’s time to start preparing yourself for flu season. One line of defense are the food choices you’re making. The Del Mar Times says foods packed with vitamins C, D and E will give you the boost you need. Luckily, mushrooms aka “the new super-fungus” can help especially Shiitakes.

Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms Two Ways – Beginner and Expert Sometimes recipes can be a little tricky for beginners and a little dull for the experts who’ve been around the cheese block. These cheese-stuffed mushroom recipes not only solve that problem, but they’re an ideal start to any meal and many versions are vegetarian. If that’s not enough to convince you, YumSugar found these from Giada de Laurentiis and Gourmet. Can’t beat their expertise.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Are you hosting Thanksgiving at your place this year? Thanksgiving meals can be tricky when you’re cooking dishes that need to please people with a variety of tastes. If you’re stumped on making a vegetarian dish or vegetarian meal altogether, Cooking Light has a hearty spread of  Mushroom and Caramelized-Shallot Strudel, mashed potatoes, cranberries and a whole lot more. Who knows, you may make a turkey really happy somewhere.

Portobello Mushroom “Fries” The Vegan Mouse has brought us fried goodness. Following a recipe from Rachel Ray that she “veganized” by making a few substitutions, KMouse shares how a little green leaf lettuce helped her turn Portabella caps in delicious fries. The picture says it all, so check these out!