Even though I grew up close to a big city, my mom and dad got us all out of town frequently and it never took very long before we were, after a few minutes of driving, out in the country with cows and barns. I guess this is because way back then (yes, way back then) there wasn’t as much suburban sprawl and much of the land that is currently developed was once in use by smaller farmers.

Sometimes, I’ll be driving past an intersection, and I’ll remember what used to be there. Then I will have to call my mom and double check to see if I was right. This just happened with a little while ago, when I was driving along and all of a sudden, I thought to myself: this is where the mushroom farm was!

Mushroom farm, you ask? Well, yes, my mom used to take me to a mushroom farm when I was little and she’d buy us paper bags filled with pristine white button mushrooms to take home and eat. The mushrooms would grow indoors in these dark buildings inside shelves filled with peat moss that lined the walls like bunk beds, one on top of the other. It was dark and cool and humid inside, and when your eyes adjusted to the darkness, the mushrooms could be seen growing, white polka dots on the peat. The farmer would take a knife and snip the mushrooms off at the stem, filling our sacks.

We kept them in the paper bags (still the best way to store mushrooms, by the way!) until we were ready to cook them up and make dinner. This flatbread sandwich is one of my favorite way to enjoy mushrooms, sautéed in olive oil with garlic and thyme, then covered with a ripe melted cheese…the ultimate way to enjoy mushrooms. Flatout Foldits make it slightly less of an indulgence (thank goodness for flatbread!) so plug in that panini press and slice up some mushrooms!

Amy at Flatout