You could blame Olympic fever or the pursuit of mushroom excellence but the Mushroom Council is having a lot of fun with contests these days and our latest from the Big 10 is no exception.

This contest pitted executive chefs and foodservice directors from the 11-school conference against each other in a friendly competition to create mushroom recipes for three categories of university-favored cuisine: Pizza, Sandwich, and Entrée. Most entries were vegetarian, with mushrooms at the heart of the dish, which reflects the increased interest in vegetarianism among college students – a 2006 Aramark survey found that 30% of college students want vegetarian options when dining out.

“Based on the caliber of recipes we’ve seen through this contest, universities are redefining the concept of what students will eat, taking them in a very positive and healthful direction” said Bart Minor, president of the Mushroom Council. “More and more students who have embraced a vegetarian or flexitarian diet have found mushrooms add a satiating “meaty” mouth-feel to their favorite dishes. Now, universities across the nation are catering to their preferences. ”

In the final round of judging, students at Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts in Chicago prepared tasting portions of five top-scoring recipes in each category for a judging panel that included Minor, along with Liz Grossman of Plate magazine and Frank Chlumsky from Kendall. Recipes were judged based on creativity, flavor and visual appeal.

Purdue earned Big Ten bragging rights by winning two of the three recipe categories, including best overall recipe, landing them the grand prize package that includes a trip for four to the NCAA men’s national basketball championship in Indianapolis this April. The University of Iowa’s recipe for Chorizo Breakfast Sandwich with Mushroom Gravy scored best in the sandwich category. As category winners, both schools will receive scholarships to attend the 2010 National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) annual conference in July.

The top entries from the Big Ten “Best Mushroom Recipe Goes to Indianapolis” contest are featured on MushroomInfo.com.

Check out Purdue’s Grand Prize Winning recipe for Vegetarian Mushroom Stir Fry below. Never did I think I would wistfully daydream on returning to my dorm days for the food but here we are, that day is upon us.

Vegetarian Mushroom Stir Fry

Serves 24

Sauce

• 1 ½ cups vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¾ cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 4 ½ quarts water
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¾ cup vegetarian soup base

Stir fry

• 5 pounds firm tofu, drained, cut into triangles (½ x 1 ½ inches)
• 3 pounds dry rice stick noodles
• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
• ¼ cup minced garlic
• ½ cup minced peeled ginger
• 6 pounds cleaned, sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1 ½ pounds sliced carrots, blanched and drained
• 5 pounds Chinese broccoli, cleaned and cut into 4-inch pieces, blanched and drained

To make the sauce: Whisk together the oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Bring to a simmer. Whisk together the water, cornstarch, and soup base. Combine with the oyster sauce mixture and heat until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. Makes about 6 ½ quarts.

Heat a deep fryer until 375 to 400°F. Deep-fry the tofu triangles in batches until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.

For each serving, to order: In a deep fryer, cook 1 ½ ounces rice stick noodles until puffed but not browned. Drain on paper towels. In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons oil over high heat. Stir-fry ½ teaspoon garlic and 1 teaspoon ginger until fragrant. Add 4 ounces mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 ounce carrots, 2 ½ ounces broccoli, and about 2 ounces fried tofu. Stir-fry to heat through, 1 minute. Add about 1 cup sauce mixture and simmer until heated through. Put the rice sticks in a bowl and ladle the vegetables and sauce on top. Serve immediately.

Well as an unintended by-product of a very fun contest, I missed Mushroom Recipes of the Week last week.  No seriously…I missed it a lot. So to make up for lost time, I present to you twice the recipes we usually highlight!

I love fancy food as much as the next hungry person but this? This is what a cozy craving is made of.  Perfect for these transitional days between winter and Spring when I start to crave that sweet crisp pea but am still in hibernation casserole mode. Elly Says Opa! nailed this Chicken, Mushroom, Pea and Stuffing Casserole right on the head.

Soup is another meal category that seems especially perfect for transitions. This selection also speaks to the joy in my heart when bloggers who don’t typically talk about food give us a peek into their palates. Anonymous Midwest also happens to capture the process behind this Mushroom, Leek and Potato Soup beautifully.

To carry through that last point, check out this Spanish Stew recipe from the Reluctant Entertainer’s Napa trip last week!  I included a prep pick so you could see all the fabulous fungi in the mix but click through for the whole shebang and a recipe.

Oh Smitten Kitchen…you never fail to impress.  As I announced to Twitter last night, the combination of mushrooms and hazelnuts is not something I would have ever thought of on my own. Now I can’t get it out of my head.  I’m hosting a brunch tomorrow and this Warm Mushroom Salad with Hazelnuts has just the flavor balance I never knew I was looking for.

Not only is Smitten still coming up with her own inventive mushroom combinations but she’s inspiring other food bloggers to try them out.  Amanda from Cakes and Ale was very happy with how Smitten Kitchen’s Mushroom Bourguignon recipe turned out when she made it at home.

Just another deliciously easy weeknight recipe from a friend to fungi, Rachel from A Southern Fairytale.  And by “just another,” I clearly mean isn’t it nice to have talented friends? With veggies making up more than half of the ingredients, this one is on the light side as well!

Speaking of easy, family-friendly dinners, Stacie from Chowmama threw this together when she was sick. That’s how low-maintenance a health meal can be if you’re just stuffing good things into a portabella cap. Good things like chiles, rice, spinach and onion.

Last but not least, something you could even make for brunch this weekend! Tina from Carrots ‘N’ Cake combined some breakfast classics with an Italian staple to create a delicious take on Breakfast Pizza. As a longtime fan of pizza for breakfast, I think this is a healthier and likely a tastier version of the leftovers I ate cold in college…

While the recipe in real time certainly takes a bit longer than a minute, I love the concept for the Beef Wellington demo and think the cook did a nice job capturing the basic stages of the recipe.  Plus there’s a shot right around the 1:12 mark where I think I can smell that pan de-glazing in all of its glory after being used to saute almost a pound of mushrooms and four lovely pieces of beef.  The ingredient list is hosted here.

One-Minute Beef Wellington from Billy Ray Stephens on Vimeo.

It would seem that many of you have taken on January with a walk on the lighter side and I have to say that we’re finding it very inspirational.  With that in mind, this week we’re focusing on family meals with taste toward healthy living.

Red Quinoa and Almond Pilaf with Mixed Mushrooms. That’s one pretty plate and my guess is that leftovers make for happy next-day lunching.  Check out the recipe at The Wright Recipes.

If you follow us on Twitter, you may have noticed this call-out this morning. The combination sounded so good that it’s worth a second look.  Balsamic Roasted Mushroom Risotto.  Just let that sink in a moment with the thought that few things soak up flavor like a mushroom does.  So then you have that rich meaty texture soaked through with the sweet bite of vinegar and finished with fresh, herb-y rosemary.  I can’t wait to take this goodLife {eats} recipe back to my own kitchen!

A big pile of delicious…that’s what this is. Jenna from Food with Kid Appeal is big on including mushrooms in her family meal plan (more about that here).  “Mushrooms are one optimal life food I want my family eating.” We’re glad to hear it!

Just in case you have the rest of dinner sorted out but need a stellar side dish, look no further than Recipe Girl‘s easy peezy Green Beans with Mushrooms and Shallots.  Three items that add a lot of flavor without a lot of fat…you can find the recipe and the nutrition information here.

Hey y’all, it’s Rachel visiting from A Southern Fairytale! It’s the New Year and like so many others, I’m working towards a better, healthier me.  One of the ways that I’m doing this is by trying to incorporate some of my favorite healthy power packed foods into my meal plan, more frequently.  I’m doing this by trying to use veggies more and meat less, as a bonus, it’s also less expensive!

I love to play with foods and textures and flavors and while I’m actually fairly easy to please in the kitchen, my husband is another story.  He loves savory, full flavors and he wants to feel like he’s eaten a meal.  He is a Texas guy after all.

So I decided to make something easy, yet delicious and tempting and something that would leave me happy and feeling sated, but not full and heavy, while at the same time, would leave him feeling like he’d eaten a real meal, one that would get him from lunch to dinner while working.

I turned to a few of my favorite ingredients:  Mushrooms, Garlic, Spinach, Cucumber, Red Onion and Whole Grain Pitas to create a delicious and soon to be frequently repeated Sauteed Garlic Mushroom Stuffed Pita, I made my husband’s a little fuller than mine and with the first bite his eyebrows raised, his dark eyes lit up and he gave me that look, the one that said that he was willing to admit it; I’d done it again.  I’d taken him by surprise and he was not just liking, but loving something he wasn’t too sure about to begin with.

Sauteed Garlic Mushroom Stuffed Pitas

6 oz sliced mushrooms (I use the 100% Vitamin D enriched Mushrooms)
1/4 medium red onion, sliced or chopped
1/4 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 whole grain pita pockets
Handful of fresh spinach leaves
1 Tbsp olive oil

Drizzle your olive oil in a cold skillet and heat it to medium, saute the garlic for about a minute, then toss in the mushrooms.  Saute them until soft and brown, about 8 minutes

The smell will be unbelievable.*

Take your whole grain pita and open it up gently, stuff in some of your spinach leaves (*you can gently wilt the spinach with the mushrooms and garlic if you’d like… I chose not too because I love raw spinach)
layer in some of your cucumber slices and then spoon in  your mushrooms and garlic, top with chopped red onions

** some other delicious options, drizzle with your favorite vinaigrette or top with chipotle mayo (like i did with my husband’s)

There’s something that feels right about posting great mushroom videos on The Mushroom Channel.  I came across this demonstration earlier in the week and think  Food Wishes does a beautiful job on this recipe for a delicious mushroom soup.  I get warm just watching those little buttons caramalizing and this recipe is perfect for those of us in the midst of a snowball fight with Mother Nature!  You can find the ingredients at the bottom of his post here.

Great how-to video from Wegmans‘ Executive Chef Mark Makovev showing off the ease and elegance of mushroom risotto- perfect for holiday entertaining.  If you’re really observant, check out the gorgeous mushroom display at the 00:43 second mark!

Get healthy Tri-State: Keep the comfort, lose the calories The Herald-Dispatch knows that cold winter has many of us reaching for warm comfort foods like chili, pasta and beef dishes. While that sounds like the right food to trigger a warm feeling, consuming so much saturated fat isn’t your healthiest option. If you swap out mushrooms instead of meat in your comfort dishes you’ll find yourself with a source of ergothioneine—a compound that helps prevent plaque from forming in arteries. Now that’s comforting way to warm up this season!

Where to trim fat and calories at the Thanksgiving feast During and after your Thanksgiving feast, cutting the fat and extra calories from your holiday meals doesn’t mean cutting the taste. Many of us try to feel less guilty by eating vegetable or fruit side dishes, but forget that adding a stick of butter for flavor doesn’t help our waists much. The Dallas Morning News shares ways to enjoy your holiday and weekend indulgence, like delicious stuffing, while still being conscious of where its going.

Morels are very special mushrooms With such a wide variety of mushrooms to choose from—porcinis, trompettes, chanterelles, maitake and morels—it can be hard to pick a favorite. It can be even more daunting to find some of the more rare varieties that come with a higher price tag. If you do happen to use these special varieties while cooking or enjoy them while dining out, Olive Nation’s blog can help you choose the right pairing for each type. They offer suggestions for using the right sauce, vegetable or wine. The blog also includes tips for handling and preparation.

Tuna and Mushroom Potato Pot Pie Does your family have a favorite pie recipe that’s become a tradition around the dinner table? Bits of Taste was introduced to traditional pies by her mother-in-law and took a chance on making a modern version that not only added fiber to her family’s diet, but was also suitable for a picky eater. For fans of the traditional shepherd’s pie, this recipe is similar except that she has swapped minced mutton or beef for a healthier tuna.

Preventing The Swine Flu: A Comprehensive Approach There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to keeping everyone healthy and immune to influenza according to Mark Hyman, MD, at the The Huffington Post. Not everyone will find the same results from vaccines and treatments, thus the best approach is one that involves keeping healthy through a variety of means.  Hyman provides an overview of things to consider when getting a vaccine and offers alternative ways that support your immune system naturally, such as immune-enhancing mushrooms.

Second time around: What to do with those Thanksgiving leftovers If you find yourself in abundance of turkey leftovers don’t think that the most exciting use for a turkey is over. Silive.com has plenty of ideas for re-using leftovers that will still be as good as the original holiday meal. Whether you want to bake, throw together a quick pasta or warm up with soup, Silive.com has you covered through the weekend of leftovers.

The countless ways to use sautéed mushrooms boggles the mind. Mushroom pizza toppings, mushroom ravioli fillings, mushroom sauces, mushroom sandwiches… I could go on like this for days like Bubba telling Forrest Gump about the myriad uses of shrimp.

Bill Franklin is corporate executive chef for Nestlé Professional and talked to Chef Educator Today magazine about how to perfectly sauté mushrooms in seven steps. Chef Franklin used to be a culinary school educator so he certainly knows his stuff.