Homegrown Oyster Mushrooms Sauteéd in Butter

Hi...This is Kelly's husband, David.  One of the coolest sustainable ideas I've seen in awhile is the Back To The Roots Oyster Mushroom Kit.   Founded in 2009 by Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Aurora as a 100% sustainable urban mushroom farm, BTTR collects used coffee grinds from the coffee houses in Seattle and injects mushrooms spores into them once formed into a hard log.  The box arrives, and all you have to do is tear off the front part of the box, and mist it twice a day.  In about 10 days, you've got a ready-to-eat mushroom crop as fresh as you can get them!  Here is a link to their website so you can order your own:  http://www.bttrventures.com/

Back To The Roots is on track to collect, divert and reuse 1 million pounds of coffee grounds from Peet's Coffee & Tea and as well as help families grow over 250,000 pounds of fresh food in 2011.  Not only are they a very cool and sustainable company, they have offered to give a 10% discount to anyone who buys a kit after reading my post!  Just use the discount code:  Mushrooms4me10 when you order.  Then, not only are you saving the environment, you're saving money!

Once you harvest your first crop, tear off the back and grow another crop.  Then, when you've grown a couple crops, break up the mushroom log in your garden as a nutrient-rich organic compost.  There are lots of things you can do with your oyster mushroom crop, but here is a tasty recipe I cooked up:

Sauteed Oyster Mushrooms

This is a very simple recipe.  Just cut your oyster mushrooms into slices and heat up 1/4 stick of butter.  Throw in the sliced mushrooms and spice simply with sea salt and pepper and a few other spices such as Old Bay and Tony Cachere's.  Saute for about 5-7 minutes and eat.