Magical Morels

Today was a beautiful day.  

It really felt like spring.  The birds were singing and the sun was shining.  

So all of us wanted to soak it up.  I was relaxing out on our back lawn just enjoying nature, reading, and napping and just being lazy.

My husband decided to help my son plant the free tree he was given at school by our local Conservation Center.

Given that it required a 50 ft radius and would grow to 168 ft tall they went in search of just the right spot on our land to plant it.

When they were tromping around our woods my husband, Mark, found morel mushrooms!

I was oh so excited because I'm a mushroom fan anyway, but morel mushrooms are something to love.

My dad told us to soak them in salted water for a bit before cooking which gave me time to read up on them.

I wanted to be sure they weren't a poisonous look alike.  

Fortunately these were the real deal.  

One of the signs that it's an authentic morel is that it's hollow all the way through.  

The other characteristic is that the cap of the mushroom is directly attached to the stem.  

In other words there is no overhanging cap.  

There are indeed poisonous look alike's so be sure to research this on your own before you eat mushrooms you've found.  

I am certainly no mushroom expert and this is not a how to on distinguishing them.

When it comes to your safety I recommend you ask the experts.  

Then came the question of what to fix.  I only had two of them and most recipes called for 1 lb of mushrooms.

I ended up improvising using this recipe as inspiration.

I used reduced fat evaporated milk instead of whole milk and I didn't have ham on hand so I used bacon.

I also went ahead and used some other button mushrooms as well.

It was pretty decadent.

Can you say weeklies?   ;)

This was worth it though.

The best part was that it was a complete surprise, like a little gift from God.

While we were looking to plant a tree we found a great treat.  

It goes to show you that good things come to those who stop and smell the flowers.

Getting out in nature is a great way to de-stress and enjoy life.

I hope you make time today to enjoy all the brilliance of Spring.

Happy Cooking!