Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms
Mushrooms have always been a staple in our kitchen, but we know a lot of people who either dislike them, or are unwilling to give them a try. For those of you who fall in the former rather than the latter category, we are including several recipes featuring mushrooms as appetizers, side dishes, and entrees. Years ago, finding fresh mushrooms in the grocery store presented a major challenge - your choices were limited to canned or bottled. Fortunately, things have changed dramatically, and many stores offer a large variety including the standard button mushrooms, cremini, shiitake, oyster, portabella, enoki and even more exotic types.
Mushrooms are best if stored in a paper bag in the veggie drawer of your refrigerator. Since the water content of mushrooms is high, plastic bags are not a good storage option. We generally think of mushrooms as a way to highlight or complement other foods, but from a nutritional point of view, they offer an interesting range of tastes without fat or cholesterol, and they provide a reasonable amount of protein and fiber.
