Friday, February 15, 2008

Mushroom Fest

Last week Andy and I must have chosen a good time to walk up to the grocery store, because there were some pretty good finds.

Wait, is that...?

Nacho loves to play inside of every empty bag or box that she can find.*

Seriously though, we made out like bandits. Most significant were these mushrooms.

We ended up buying a whole kilo of sliced mushrooms for $3, plus 200 grams of organic whole mushies for $0.50. However, reduced to clear means they will go off soon, so we had to use them quickly.

First, one whole package of sliced mushrooms was turned into a mushroom and garlic cream sauce, which was poured over gnocchi (our dinner the night we went to see Les Mis).

Thursday, the first day of the Chinese New Year, we made mushroom wraps. To add a bit of chinese flavah, the mushrooms were baked (since I had the oven on for a cake) with five spice powder and soy sauce. After they came out of the oven, I drained the juicy stuff and stirred through a few scoops of plum sauce. Then I sautéed some onion and capsicum in the juice drained from the mushies, and we wrapped it all up with some cucumber and tomato.

After a late night on Friday, mushrooms were a welcome addition to a big cook-up brekky.

[I seem to have left this photo at home, so expect it in a future post.]

Finally, the organic buttons were stuffed with some roasted red capsicum and asian spinach (as an entrée to soy hot dogs… gourmet meets bogan, I guess).

* Yes, those are plastic bags—we almost always use green bags, but need plastics to line the rubbish bin so we get a few every now and then.

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Two more things... Blogger's current #1 blog of note is Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. If you are unfamiliar with them, be sure to check them out. I totally dig their low-key sound, and, I went to uni with Gracie before she left to pursue her musical career.

Also, I saw a cool feature in Sunday's paper, so in honour of V-day (a day late), here it is...
Love in new places
  • Count the stars instead of the number of carats in a diamond ring.
  • Join an animal rights organisation such as PETA instead of buying a fur coat.
  • Stretch out on the grass instead of lying on the latest leather sofa in a designer showroom.
  • Walk barefoot through the morning dew instead of buying the latest stilettos.
  • Smell flowers from your garden instead of the latest perfume.
  • Love yourself instead of changing to fit in with the crowd. Then settle for nothing less than someone who feels the same...

9 comments:

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

what a wonderful thing to find in the newspaper! walking barefoot through morning dew sounds SO good right now. can't quite pull it off over in this climate, but as soon as I can!

and what a mushroom fest! the mushies plus plum sauce and wrap fixings sounds so incredibly good.


(I used to ADORE rainbow brite like nobody's business. :D !)

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

i seriously laugh out loud when i see a Nacho picture. so freakin cute!
good deal on the mushrooms. it would be like getting 25 cent avocados for me ; )

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Silly Nacho :o)

I envy the warm weather you have... and all those mushrooms! I used to hate mushrooms-- can you believe it?! Luckily I have mended my ways.

bazu said...

Yay for mushrooms and good grocery finds! I think you guys used them up very well.

We too sometimes bring home plastic grocery bags to use as trash liners- which at least means we don't buy trash bags, so I think it's a good exchange.

Oh, I took your advice! As our v-day present to the ducks this year, Daiku and I joined a fois gras protest downtown. Better than buying stuff, forced sentimentality, or stuffing our faces!

the little one said...

That Nacho she's always popping up in the most unexpected places! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow that is a LOT of mushrooms! They're so easy to get rid of though, because they're so yummy and they cook down. Enjoy your mushroom feasting!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

such lovely mushroom-dishes you've created!! I always get inspired by the dishes you make, featuring a specific ingredient - love it!

great photo of Nacho - he's too precious!! :0D

Anonymous said...

Mushrooms are good! Vegetables are rarely, if ever, reduced to clear here, I don't know why, it seems stupid. Meat is all the time though, according to my mum she often phones me to say she bought this or that for ridiculous prices.. I don't want to know!

Ashasarala said...

Wow... That's a ton of mushrooms. And everything you put them in looks and sounds delicious! Oddly enough, I used to think mushrooms were disgusting until becoming vegan. Now I'll throw them in just about anything. I had some sauteed mushrooms for lunch today, in fact.

I love the advice in the morning paper. That would have brightened my whole morning to see that in the Boston Herald!