Believe it or not, Mama’s not a snobby-pants when it comes to food. I’m usually just looking for something that’s easy, but delicious, nutritious… and something everyone will eat.

This week’s winner? Shroomschetta Mushroom Bruschetta by River Valley Kitchens.

I found it at the Farmer’s Market last week. Mama loves her mushrooms, so when I spied this I knew I had to try it. You know what bruschetta is, don’t you? It is a traditional Italian warm appetizer of toasted bread seasoned with garlic and olive oil. There are hundreds of variations, including one that is particularly popular in the United States made up of chopped tomato and basil (and sometimes cheese).

The Shroomschetta is a play on that popular bruschetta, but that’s where the similarity ends. This tangy spread is packed with brown Italian or crimini mushrooms and white mushrooms grown on the Rose Family farm in the Fox River Valley in Burlington, Wisconsin. Tomatoes, green and black olives, hot green chile peppers, garlic, basil and few other wonderful things are also in there.

I like going to the Farmer’s Market and meeting real farmers and growers who are passionate about what they do. The Rose family has been raising mushrooms since 1976 and opened their commercial kitchen in 1997. Right beside the jarred artisan-quality sauces, dips and salsas are all kinds of gorgeous mushrooms, depending on the season… earthy cone-shaped morels, golden chanterelles and huge puffball mushrooms.

I made a super simple appetizer with the Schroomschetta: slices of toasted baguette, a teaspoon of the spread, topped with a piece of mozzarella cheese. I popped these under the broiler until the cheese melted. I was barely able to pull them out of the oven before they disappeared.

I can see other uses for Shroomschetta, too: In an omelet, on top of pasta or a homemade pizza,  as a sandwich spread to goose your usually boring turkey or cheese sandwich… there are so many possibilities. It has a bite, but is not spicy hot. And the mushroom flavor really comes through.

It sells for about $8.00 for a 16 oz. jar, so that’s about $1 a for 8 2 oz. servings. A little pricey… but really worth it. I’m going to check out some of their other offerings as soon as this jar is gone. Which, around my house, is likely to be in a couple hours!