Giving up meat isn’t easy, and I don’t intend on becoming a vegetarian, but eating less meat is something I’m down with. Not so down that I want to give up taste. Taste is always first in my book, and, I think, that it's a losing battle to try to convince someone to eat something that tastes inferior. Rice cakes are a good example if this. Who wants rice cakes when chips are around? So how do you cook meatless meals with lots of flavor? One simple fungus: mushrooms. Mushrooms are hearty, flavorful, and go well with most grains. I put them on pizza, pasta, and in phyllo pie. Here they are with polenta: my new favorite kitchen staple.

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