April Staff Selection: River Valley Kitchens Mushroom Growing Kits

River Valley Kitchens Mushroom Growing Kits: 10% off All Month Long

From Staffer Melissa Yen:

I hate to say it, but I am not much of a gardener. I just get so aggravated when I spend hours pulling weeds. Then, they come back the next week, but for some reason the peppers didn't survive. My only house plants are jades, because they are the only thing I seem to be able to keep alive, besides weeds!

When we got the River Valley Kitchens Mushroom Kits in the store, I was very intrigued. It seemed like a pretty easy, no risk way to grow some veggies, in the house, without the weeds, year 'round. OK, $19.99, I'll give it a shot. The fantasies of mushroom risotto were already playing in my mind.

The instructions are very easy. It warned us to cover the box as our cats might like to dig in the soil. Bad cats! The instructions also said that it may take up to 20 days for mushrooms to appear. That didn't seem like such a long time to wait for my mushroom risotto fantasy to come true.

I was like a little kid, taking the protective rubber maid cover we used to keep the cats away off every other day to see "if it was soup yet"! Then, lo & behold, about 3 weeks later, tiny little mushroom pinheads appeared. Yay! How exciting. The instructions were right. Once the mushrooms form, they can double in size each day. I went away for 4 days & when I checked them when I got home...Whoa!!!! They were full-fledged mushrooms. The next day...Whoaaaa!!!! They could take over the universe, or at least, my sauté pan. The kits will produce for 60-90 days, with "flushes" occurring every 7-14 days.

Here are some recipes (risotto, of course!) to enjoy with your homegrown mushrooms

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wild-Mushroom-Risotto-102654

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wild-Mushroom-Crostini-243395

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/08/creamy-mushroom-pate-recipe.html