Mushroom Update

The mushroom growing kit that we got at the Mother Earth News Fair a couple of weeks ago has given us our first harvest of pearl oyster mushrooms!  It took a bit more than the expected ten days, but we  should have them in the window sill, not on the counter. (They advised you keep them out of direct light, but our spot was too well protected, I think).  Once we moved them to the window sill they began to take off!  All the mushrooms in the photos below were in the top right quadrant of the box.  That suggests that we'll get lots more mushrooms during the summer.  Here's how they looked:

Notice the small spores just starting to sprout (the little dark spots) in the photo below.  Rather than harvest all of the mushrooms at the expense of these new little ones, we are going to wait for a day or two to see how they develop before we open the flap on the back of the box and start on our second harvest.

Perhaps you can guess what we had for dinner last night.  That's right, mushroom stir fry!  We found a recipe online that we modified.  With a bowl of miso soup (we held out some tofu and mushrooms we'd prepared for the stir fry to add to the soup) and green salad to fill out the dinner, it was quite tasty. 

Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry

16 oz extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

10 oz bottle of Soy Ginger Sauce

6 oz oyster mushrooms (about 2 1/2 c), coarsely chopped

1 c peeled and shredded carrots (about 2 carrots)

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 c green beans, cut in 2-inch pieces

1/2 red, yellow or orange pepper, chopped

1 can sliced water chestnuts

7 oz Thai noodles (about half a 14 oz package)

Cut or break noodles in half.  Bring a pan of water to a boil, then turn off the heat.  Drop the noodles into the pan and let them sit for 10 minutes.

Marinate the tofu in the soy ginger sauce for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

Saute onions in olive oil or sesame oil.  Add mushrooms and saute until browned, about 10 minutes.

Add other vegetables, plus the tofu and sauce.  Stir fry till vegetables are brown and tender.

Finally, drain the noodles and add to stir fry.  Mix well and serve.