These grilled mushroom and peach sliders are perfect for summer. They’re light bright and juicy. Yes things can be juicy and even meaty without having actual meat in them.  Don’t believe us?! Well then, you’ll just have to try these for yourself. We’re swapping out the meat and replacing them with mushrooms. Big beautiful Portabella mushrooms.  We like to call it swapability. Have you heard of this? It’s exactly what you think it might be, swapping out one thing for another. In this case its mushrooms for meat, but it can also be the process of replacing a portion of meat in a burger with finely chopped mushrooms, giving the meat lovers in your family the best of both worlds.

The Mushroom Channel is celebrating a summer of mushrooms with a “Swap It or Top It” recipe contest. Whether you blend, top or swap your burger with mushrooms, there are plenty of options to amp up the creativity. The combination of peaches and mushrooms in this dish provides a great foundation for the MyPlate category, which requires a burger to include ingredients from the five food groups.

These portabella peach sliders are a great way to start an evening dining al fresco with friends. Go ahead and fire up the grill!

Grilled Mushroom and Peach Sliders
bell’alimento

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 Portabella mushrooms – stems removed
• 1 peach – pitted, sliced
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 petite Kaiser rolls – toasted
• bean sprouts
• 4 slices fresh mozzarella
• balsamic cream – optional

Directions:

1. Heat grill pan over medium heat.
2. Place mushrooms and peaches onto grill. Drizzle with olive oil.
3. Cook peaches until grill marks appear and mushrooms until softened. Turning as necessary.
4. To assemble:  Cover bottom of Kaiser roll with bean sprouts. Top with mozzarella, mushroom and peach slices. Drizzle with balsamic cream.

Every season we strive to inspire our devoted mushroom lovers with recipes that fit the bill for any occasion. With the grills firing up and the patios opening, we’re turning the table and looking to get inspired by YOU this summer.  We want to discover how you fit mushrooms into your favorite summer meals in our featured “Swap It or Top It” recipe contest.  From now until July 31, enter your best mushroom recipe based on the categories of Swapability, Best Topped Burger or a featured MyPlate burger.  The grand prize winner will win $5,000 and two runners up will win a $500 and $1,000 gift card to Williams-Sonoma.

In honor of the summer festivities, we created two Pinterest boards to capture mushroom inspired dishes that use mushrooms in two different ways. Within our “Trend to Blend Board” you’ll find our favorite burgers, tacos and pizzas that blend finely chopped mushrooms with meat to make a meal packed with flavor and nutrition.  You’ll also find the “Mushrooms Top it Off Board,” which highlights everything from hot dogs to tostadas topped off with hearty mushrooms.  Every week new recipes will get added, but don’t miss checking out a few of these highlighted recipes below.

• Double Mushroom Pizza – With a healthy whole-wheat crust and a fine balance of creminis and portabellas, this is a perfect meal for a summer weekend.  Recipe via Cooking Light.
• Grilled Rosemary Mushroom Skewers  - Why utilize a kebab skewer when you can flavor your recipes from the inside out with a rosemary sprig in this delightful recipe from Bellalimento.
• Double Mushroom Burger – If you can’t decide whether to use mushrooms as a blend or topping, this Double Mushroom Burger form Poor Girl Eats Well provides the best of both worlds.

Be sure to stock up on plenty of mushrooms, and come back every week for new featured recipes that’ll have you hoping summer never ends.

Last weekend, I went to Austin and didn’t eat a single taco! Who am I?! This is 100% unacceptable behavior. My sister is likely moving to Austin this summer, and I plan on visiting way more than necessary. As an older sister, it’s my job to be annoying and overstay my welcome as I eat my way through the city.

Really, how does one person go to Austin and not eat any tacos? So I came home, and after a 3 hour nap, whipped up a batch of these Mushroom, Potato & Chorizo Tacos. I’m obsessed with ‘shrooms. Eat them as much as possible, and I love them in these tacos.

The potatoes, chorizo and mushroom all work perfectly together to give you a filling taco that isn’t greasy but satisfying. I had high hopes of serving these with some guacamole, but I ate it all before I went in for the photo. Typical behavior.

So instead I topped these little tacos with some crumbled cotija cheese, a few sprigs of cilantro and some salsa on the side. If you’re going to show some self-control, clearly something I lack, I’d suggest serving these up with smoky chipotle guacamole.

My hubby gave this one two thumbs up

It’s a quick and easy and PERFECT summer meal! And it’s great because I’ve been slowly reducing the amount of meat we eat, and mushrooms are a great substitute! Assuming my hubby doesn’t read this blog post, he’ll never know my secret.

Mushroom, Potato and Chorizo Tacos

Ingredients:

• 2 medium red-skin potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 6 ounces Mexican chorizo sausage, casing removed
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 10 ounces baby bella or cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 12 soft corn tortillas

Toppings:

• Lime
• Cilantro
• Cotija Cheese
• Salsa

Directions

1. In a medium pot, add potatoes and cover with water about 1 inch above the potatoes. Place the pot on a burner on high and boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside.
2. In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, combine the chorizo and onion. Sauté, stirring very frequently, until sausage is cooked through and onion is soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook for about 5-7 minutes more until the mushrooms have cooked down.
4. Add the potatoes and stir to combine. Let the entire mixture cook for about 5 minutes more until the potatoes are just golden brown.
5. Reduce the heat to low and set aside.
6. Wrap tortillas in a warm, damp kitchen towel, put them on a microwave-safe plate dish, and warm them in the microwave for 4 minutes.
7. Top each tortilla with the mushroom, potato chorizo mixture and any desired toppings and serve immediately. 

Tony and Joe D’Amico prepare for their presentation on the mushroom growing process! Image Courtesy: Dottie Foley Photography

This past weekend food bloggers descended upon Philadelphia for Eat, Write, Retreat 2013, a jam packed weekend of learning, laughing, networking and, of course, delicious food.  As a sponsor for the second year in a row, The Mushroom Council hosted a one hour educational session bringing to life the process of growing mushrooms. Alongside, Tony and Joe D’Amico, the brothers behind family-owned To-Jo Mushrooms, bloggers got a firsthand view of LIVE mushroom growing beds and took home a bit of the fun for themselves with Back to the Roots Mushroom Growing Kits.

With all of the lively food and mushroom conversations captured at Eat, Write, Retreat, we couldn’t resist sharing the wealth.  Along with a Facebook album capturing all of the mushroom growing beds and a Pinterest board filled with highlights, we wanted to share a bit of the knowledge we gained from our dedicated Mushroom Council farmers.

Mushroom Growing Fun Facts

• Unlike other forms of produce, mushrooms don’t grow from a seed, but a spore.
• The optimal temperature for storing mushrooms is 35 degrees. At home, keep them wrapped in their tills or in a loosely sealed brown paper bag until use.
• It’s a 16-18 week process to create the rich compost used in growing mushrooms, and the compost is pasturized prior to growth to ensure a safe, clean growing environment.
• Crimini and portabellas are grown from the same spore, but harvested at different times.

For a more detailed look, check out our infographic on the mushroom growing process.

The final announcement at Eat, Write, and Retreat launched an exciting opportunity for all of our fungi fans. Our official “Swap It or Top It” summer recipe contest launched with much excitement and you’re invited to participate!  Enter your recipe for a chance to win a prize up to $5,000. From reinventing the turkey burger with mushroom blendablity, to creating a MyPlate burger with the five food groups, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Start brainstorming and enter today!

Birthdays are symbolic in any household, but sometimes the birthday celebration can come from the plate itself.  On Sunday, June 2 MyPlate celebrated their 2nd birthday, and rather than sending the usual gift all wrapped up in a bow, their birthday wish is to increase healthy balanced plates across the country.

The USDA’s MyPlate icon emphasizes fruit, vegetable, grain, protein foods, and the dairy food groups to help families and individuals think about building a healthy plate when it comes time to preparing meals.  While MyPlate provides the framework for a healthy meal, they also provide the recipe inspiration to succeed.

Their Pinterest account is filled with delicious and comforting recipes that bring to life the idea of the MyPlate icon. From breakfast to dinner and protein to vegetarian, there is a recipe for every occasion. Dinners like Salami and Mushroom Pizza and Five Spice Turkey Burgers are perfect for the entire family to gather around this summer.   However, as we all know some of the best recipes are what we whip up from the ingredients in our own pantry.

MyPlate has partnered with The Mushroom Council this summer in “Swap It or Top It” a mushroom based recipe contest encouraging you to create, taste and inspire with mushrooms this summer. Categories range from a blended mushroom dish, replacing a portion of meat with finely chopped mushrooms to a MyPlate burger featuring whole grains, lean protein, fruit, vegetables and dairy.  Not only will the winning recipe receive bragging rights, but a grand prize of $5,000.

Whether you’re inspired to follow a MyPlate recipe or create your own, here’s to a savory and healthy summer ahead.

It’s that time of year – all the boots are packed away, and feet are adorned with flip-flops and sandals. The kids are looking forward to the last month of school before enjoying their new found freedom. We start to step away from preparing classic comfort foods in the kitchen, and move outside to friendly gatherings with family and friends in front of the grill. There is no doubt about it, summer has arrived.

When it comes to enjoying your favorite summertime meals – iconic foods like burgers, kebabs, and steaks – adding mushrooms to a dish as a swapper or topper can make a world of difference! Meals will be more flavorful, succulent, and healthy.

The Trend is to Blend
A big, juicy, traditional burger is part of summer’s finest, but sometimes they can be very heavy. When you swap out half the ground beef and blend in finely diced mushrooms we are not only reducing the saturated fat and calories*, but adding a serving of vegetables. It’s possible to serve healthier versions of your favorite burgers without sacrificing taste. Not even the kids will be able to tell they are enjoying a burger made with 50% less meat!

Top It High With Mushrooms
Thick steaks, tender chicken, and even grilled flatbread pizzas can all benefit from being topped with fresh mushrooms. Imagine a rich sauté of onions and mushrooms atop a medium-rare steak, or thick slices of grilled portabellas on a flatbread pizza sprinkled with melty cheese and spinach – the possibilities for using mushrooms in traditional family favorites is endless!

Want to try your hand at swapping it or topping it with mushrooms this summer? Our “Swap It or Top It” contest starts June 1^st. Enter your recipe for a chance to win $8,500 in prizes.

*reduced saturated fat by 37% and calories by 24% in traditional burgers 

There’s just something about outdoor dining. It’s the smell of the grill in the air, the soft breeze, the delicious food, and of course, the pleasure of company and sharing a meal together with family and friends.

While we certainly enjoy entertaining family and friends indoors, we really love having people over and getting to spend the evening on the back deck, relaxing and chatting the evening away. I can tell you one of the main reasons is that our very squirrely boys can run and roam throughout the dinner and burn off all the energy they desire with their friends in the backyard.

With the meat and mushrooms blended together on the skewer and soaked in balsamic vinegar, these Balsamic Beef & Mushroom Kebabs are the perfect meal for an evening of entertaining on the back deck!

Ingredients

• About 1 pound stew beef or beef roast cut into kebab chunks
• 8 oz. whole baby bella mushrooms, washed
• 2 small zucchini, cut into kebab chunks
• 1 large red onion, cut into kebab chunks
• Salt and pepper
• About ¼ cup balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Add the beef pieces, whole mushrooms, zucchini chunks and red onion chunks onto metal or wooden skewers. Season with salt and pepper, and then drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the top.
2. Let marinate in the fridge for at least an hour, rotating the kebabs about every 15 minutes so each side has time to soak up some of the balsamic vinegar.
3. Grill for 10 to 15 minutes, rotating every few minutes. Cook time may vary, depending on the size of the beef pieces. Grill until the beef is cooked through.
4. Serve Balsamic Beef & Mushroom Kebabs with a side of French bread. 

Memorial Day is the official start to summer, but it’s also the launch of the outdoor entertaining season.

Working the grill on the day of or prepping dishes ahead? We have a recipe to satisfy any summertime occasion.

Find Grilling Solutions Here

• Keep burgers light and delicious with a blend. Finely chopped mushrooms with ground turkey or ground lamb blended with finely chopped portabellas in a Mushroom Gyro Burger with homemade Tzatziki sauce.
• Grilled Romaine is becoming a big trend this year. Try out this recipe for Grilled Romaine with Greek Yogurt Dressing from Dole Foods and top it off with plenty of grilled mushrooms.
• A juicy portabella on the grill is as simple as “Clean, Marinate and Grill” for 10- 15 minutes.

Check Out These Easy Tips Prep Tips

• Prep stuffed mushrooms with filling the night before and leave wrapped in the fridge overnight. Simply pop them in the oven the day of the party for appetizers in no time at all. Try Stuffed Mushrooms with Breadcrumbs and Cheese for a simple and easy dish to pass as guests arrive.
• Frozen sautéed mushrooms can last in the freezer for up to a month. Prep a batch in advance, thaw out the day of the event and utilize as a topping for burgers, pizza, tacos and more.
• Keep things simple. Bacon Wrapped Rosemary Mushrooms will please all of your guests, with little prep and only 6 ingredients.

What are you whipping up this weekend with mushrooms?

We’re all familiar with a guide to food pairings for every meal and occasion. Whether it’s wine, chocolate, cheese or produce, there’s always a perfect pairing option. With mushrooms’ natural versatility, variety and distinct qualities, they’re suited to blend into any meal. Take a look at a few of our favorite pairings below to make the most of every fungi variety.

Mushrooms and Eggs

Every variety of mushrooms pairs well with eggs, and a hearty portabella can even serve as a replacement for bread in a classic eggs benedict.  Not only is this a delicious pairing, but a great way to start your day with Vitamin D.

Recipes:

• Sherried Mushrooms and Chorizo with Fried Egg
• Herbed Spinach Quiche Portabella Caps
• Roasted Portabella Eggs Benedict
• Mushroom Breakfast Burrito

Meaty Mushrooms

Portabellas are well-known as a meatless option for a juicy burger, however, even finely chopped white button, crimini or shitakes can make a tasty addition to a burger. Blend the finely chopped mushrooms with your favorite burger base (ground turkey, chicken or beef).

Recipes:

• Mushroom Meatball Subs
• Mushroom Burger Wrap
• Mushroom Steak Fajitas
• Chef Scott Samuel’s Roasted Mushroom Base and Mushroom Burgers via New York Times

Mushrooms and Leafy Greens

Salads are not the only way to get in your greens. From pizza to pasta and stir-fries, there are plenty of ways to add a touch of color to your day.

Recipes:

• Jamaican Jerk Mushroom Lettuce Wraps
• Beef, Shiitake, and Snow Pea Stir Fry
• Sautéed Mushroom, Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Wrap
• Grilled Mushroom Medley Pizzas ( Pictured Above)

What’s your favorite mushroom pairing?

With Memorial Day quickly approaching, and schools prepping to close out another great year, there are several moments that signify summer is officially here. Whether it’s ice cream melting down the side of a cone or the scent of a burger fresh off the grill, it’s vital to enjoy the start of a new season with all of your senses.

Luckily, mushrooms are the perfect summer ingredient. Easily blended into your favorite burger base or topped on a grilled pizza, we’re here to prevent you from ever saying, “How can I use the mushrooms in my fridge?”

Take a look at a few of our favorite recipe round-ups below to kick off your summer events:

Grilled Mushroom Quesadillas (Pictured Above) – Turn the food into part of the event, allowing kids and adults alike to fill quesadillas with their favorite ingredients. Of course, mushrooms are the perfect pairing to creamy melted cheese.

Burgers, Burgers, Burgers – May happens to be National Burger Month, and everyone from Bon Appetit to Daily Meal are sharing their best of the best.  Portabellas make a natural replacement to a burger with their hearty texture, but diced mushrooms are a perfect addition in your favorite burger recipes, such as this Mushroom Burger with Fried Egg and Truffle Oil.

Of course, we have inspiration across the board on our Pinterest account, with boards dedicated to recipes “On the Grill” and “Summer Delights.”

What are you cooking up this summer with mushrooms?