2 Boise Entrepreneurs Team Up on Plant-Based Cookbook

Photos Courtesy of Jeff Mensch

Love Mushrooms? These Recipes were Made For you.

Story by Lex Nelson

For Michelle Russell, founder of the plant-based foods company The Kula Connection, mushrooms aren’t just tasty pizza toppings — they’re miracles. 

“I had a traumatic brain injury, and I learned that by eating Lion’s Mane — a mushroom that’s delicious — I could help to heal my brain, and maybe regain a little balance and bring back some of the neurological pathways that had been damaged and were affecting my memories,” she said. “How could I not become crazy passionate about a food that could do that for me?” 

Russell credits other mushrooms for healing her son’s ulcer and boosting her daily energy. She also points to their environmental impact. Mushrooms have been found to increase virus immunity in bees, build soil health, and even eat plastic. This winter, Russell partnered with Boise designer Camille DeGabrielle of Quanta Studio to turn her mushroom obsession into a plant-based cookbook called “Just Mushrooms.”

The 91-page cookbook contains 23 vegan recipes that put mushrooms center stage. They’re split into categories like, “breakfast,” “entrees,” “sides and snacks,” and “desserts,” proving that you really can sneak vegetables into every course of a meal. The recipes range from “Uramaki Comb Tooth Sushi” to “Lion’s Mane Infused Sugar Cookies,” and the book also has a “wellness” section diving into fungi’s medicinal benefits. 

Russell and DeGabrielle put the cookbook together in just eight months with the help of local mushroom growers. Russell sourced fungi from Groves Country Mushrooms in Parma and tapped a forager/chef named Chris from Idaho Wildcraft for additional supplies and advice. 

“I would call him up and ask, ‘If I want to bake, which mushroom do you recommend?’” Russell remembers.

While Russell masterminded the recipes, DeGabrielle designed the book and styled the photos. She holds a BFA in industrial design with a focus on sustainability, and is excited about the eco-friendly aspect of mushrooms.

“They require so little resources, they’re a viable protein source in matter of a week from inoculation to fruiting, and they can reduce our carbon footprint in general,” she said. “One of my goals with this cookbook was creating a springboard to get people more comfortable with mushrooms, and to be able to approach the subject matter in a friendly way.”

Copies of “Just Mushrooms” are available at Roots Zero Waste Market in Garden City; Ginger Sweet, Nourishme, Ketchum Kitchens and Atkinsons’ Market in Ketchum; through the Ketchum and Boise public library systems; and online at Amazon.com.