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…

Barbeque mushrooms: An incredible edible egg-cup We typically don’t think of including mushrooms in our everyday breakfast meals. When we see mushrooms at breakfast, its usually the “meat” of a breakfast burrito or a savory addition to an omelet. Well, its time to spruce up your mushroom breakfasts with this barbecue idea from The Home of Eggs. This barbecue mushroom egg recipe even includes a YouTube clip to show you how easy it is to grill a mushroom on your own.

Nature’s Hidden Source of Vitamin D Why is Vitamin D so important to our health? Is the sun the only source of Vitamin D? The Seattle PI answers these questions in their latest post and shares an alternative way to find Vitamin D when we’re limited on sun exposure. The post even includes a recipe for ginger shiitake rice adapted from Gourmet Magazine. Yum.

15 best (and worst) foods for immunity It’s officially cold and flu season—so how are you keeping yourself healthy? Have you thought about how  your diet may make you a germ magnet? MSNBC listed the 15 best and worst foods for your immune system based on their germ-killing abilities. Check them out and stay healthy everyone.

Seriously Meatless: Wild Mushroom Stuffing Thanksgiving is a week away! If you’re having food safety concerns or stressing over making a meal that’ll please a crowd of both vegetarians and omnivores, check out Serious Eats’ stuffing. It’s made outside of the turkey and serves up to 8 people.

Recipe ideas that use your Thanksgiving leftovers Some say that the best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. If you find yourself with plates of extra food after the holiday, check out My San Antonio’s ideas for what to do with those leftovers. It’s recipes for using up turkey, potatoes, cranberries and stuffing which sound just as delicious as the original meal itself!

Seasonal Influenza and H1N1 Today As H1N1 becomes more prevalent all around us, many people look for ways to boost their immunity to protect themselves. While basic measures can be taken to prevent the seasonal flu as well, Healthy News Digest reports on the extra steps that can be taken to strengthen the immune system. Dr. Cheri Quincy also shares a little background on how far we’ve come in fighting the flu since a pandemic in 1918 that killed 50 million people in twelve months.

‘Eat on $30 Challenge’ proves it’s possible to keep grocery costs low Kristina McLean took an interesting challenge to live on a $30 per week grocery budget while still eating well balanced meals. Using up food she already had, growing items in her garden and incorporating local ingredients was eye-opening, but more importantly, she learned to change recipes to fit her budget. Calculating everything down to cost-per-ingredient, McLean put together a low-cost Mushroom Barley Soup recipe you can totally afford to try.

Family Meals Matter: Meatless meals are healthy meals The Wichita Eagle reports on economical ways to eat and provide food for the whole family. Now it’s suggesting an economical and healthy way to stay full without the meaty ingredients we know and love.  It reports “even planning one or two meatless meals per week can help families save money without sacrificing taste or nutrition.” Best of all you can swap out meat for their recipe of cheese and spinach stuffed Portabella mushrooms.

Marvelous mushrooms Have you ever tried a “steak-like” mushroom the size of a saucer? The Portabella mushroom, a meaty variety perfect for adapting to many ways of cooking, is just that. Although its exotic looking, the Courier Journal explains that its simply a white button mushroom with “big size and flavor.” It’s large size is nothing to be afraid of however, it allows for more varied uses like stuffing. The Courier Journal includes their pick for Portabella use: KT’s Portabella Pasta. Enjoy!

Just Asking… Alicia Silverstone How many of our followers were once avid watchers of “Clueless”? Alicia Silverstone has come a long way since that time making a big change in her life in order to go vegan. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Silverstone about her new vegan cookbook which definitely includes mushrooms. She says, “one of my favorite dishes to serve at a party is the leek, pesto, mushroom crostini.” If any of you pick up her book, let us know if you test out her crostinis!

In Season: Stock up on fresh mushrooms Did you know that mushrooms have a season? Well, that season is now. Whether you’re into picking up produce at the local farmers market or the supermarket it’s always best to pick up what’s in season. The Dallas Morning News is telling us to stock up now on fresh mushrooms for upcoming occasions like Thanksgiving where they become a nice addition to side dishes and dressing.

Did you get your Vitamin D today? Exercise Physiologist Karen Nelson helps keep Tucson healthy with all kinds of news. This week she asks how much Vitamin D you’re getting. Because of the growing press around this special vitamin, its important to get the facts. Very few foods in nature contain Vitamin D and mushrooms are among them. Take a look to find out how much D is safe and what you can do to get more.

Cold and Flu? Not You! RedBook knows how to dish out some interesting ways to boost your immunity against the flu. Germ-fighting foods, laughing and dancing are among some suggestions that we can all incorporate into our lives. Specifically, we were interested in how Shiitake mushrooms, which contain Lentinan, a carbohydrate found in these tasty shrooms, may boost cells’ response to infection.

Culinary Confidence -  Mushroom Dip perfect for holiday tables Preconceptions about food kept Beth Flaherty of the StarNews from eating mushrooms for years. Then she got with it. We find her basking in her love of mushrooms suggesting a dip for the approaching holidays. Check out the various mushrooms used for this dip which calls an “economical, delicious and a real crowd-pleaser at parties.”

Celebrating Mushrooms It’s Fall! How are you celebrating the season’s produce and flavors? Mushrooms — plentiful this time of year — bring out the earthy and hearty flavors of any dish. Marilyn Campbell reassures us that most types of mushrooms are wine-friendly (yay), easy to use for meatless meals like the “steak” sandwich recipe she provides and she shares basic tips on how to clean and keep mushrooms fresh.

Eat these foods and feel better Perhaps you’re already up to your neck in tissues kind of sick. Though foods alone can’t make you feel better, they sure do help when they’re as tasty as the list created by Detroit Free Press. Strawberries, salmon and mushrooms’ “superhero”-like qualities may be just what you need to “save your life” according to author Dave Grotto. Check out the full list and a meal idea that may be the trick for feeling better.

Meat off the menu as Windsor Castle goes vegan Countless royal banquet have been held in Windsor Castle with plates of chicken, apple-stuffed pigs and more throughout its history. On November 3, that all changed when a banquet for 200 guests including leaders of nine different faiths with all types of dietary requirements met for a celebratory lunch. The feat of putting a menu together was quite tricky for Xanthe Clay who decided to use the scrumptious Portabella to “save the planet.”