Do you know how good it feels to have your child sneaking tomatoes and peppers out of your shopping bags to munch before you can get home? You could and that's not the only great aspect of shopping your local farmers' market.
Oh, how we love our twice weekly trips to the Farmers' Market. Since switching to purchasing most of our food from the Durham Farmers' Market, I no longer dread shopping day. Instead of shoving Linus into a grocery cart, pleading with him to hang-on for one more minute while I grab a few more items, ignoring the frustrated looks of other shoppers who think my cart with kid is more in the way then their cart, then mentally rushing along the cashier so we can get the heck out of there, I get to go to the Farmers' Market.
Ah, the Farmers' Market... where Linus can roam free (or zoom around on his scooter), get cooed over by fellow shoppers and farmers, and sample everything from goat cheese to heirloom tomatoes. It's a place where he regularly gets handed free food (Farmer Brinkley especially loves to do this), is recognized and nicknamed Dragon Boy, and can finish a Saturday trip with a Scratch chocolate "donut-muffin".
Not only is the Farmers' Market just a better shopping atmosphere, it's also better tasting food, safer and healthier food, and a great motivation to try new things.
In no particular order, here are a few of the super delicious meals and/or treats we've been eating lately.
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| Kohlrabi with Peas and Potatoes |
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| Peach - Backyard Blackberry Pie |
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| Tomato-Goat Cheese Pie with Basil |
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| Beet and Goat Cheese Crostini with a side of Butterbeans |
Yes, Linus LOVES beets. You would too as sweet as they are.
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| Peaches and Blackberries served with melt-y Maple View Farms cinnamon ice cream |
As an added bonus, since we go twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays), I only have to make a short menu. I don't know about you, but coming up with 3 or 4 meals to eat is WAY easier than creating a menu of 7 meals.
On the current menu,
Saturday- Heirloom Tomatoes Stuffed with Grilled Corn Salad and Corn Fritters
Sunday- Tomato Panzanella w/ Ricotta
Monday- Chorizo Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers with Tomato, Corn, & Avocado Salad
Tuesday- Grilled New England Seafood Bakes w/ Coleslaw
Additional treats- Watermelon Popsicles, Peach Cobbler, and I'm going to try to pickle some watermelon rind.
Eating locally has really turned me from a have-to cook to a can't-wait-to cook. I highly encourage you to find your local market (at LocalHarvest.org) and get back to cooking for fun!
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3 comments:
I'm impressed! I love going to the KC farmers' market, but it's kind of a pain to get down there with the kids, find parking, fight the crowds etc. I should check out some of the smaller ones around town -- easier to get to and not so crowded. And I'm afraid cooking is something I am really struggling with now that Liam is here. Lily will occupy herself nicely during dinner prep time, but Liam pretty much wants to be held non-stop at that time of day. Hopefully next summer I can try some new recipes with the yummy fresh, local fare!
I saw you mention something about all the pesto you've been making. What's your recipe for that? Does yours have pine nuts? We have oodles of basil, so I was going to make some pesto, but went I went to buy pine nuts, they were 9.99 for a 4-oz bag! Yikes! I'm not sure what to do with all this basil...
I love the Farmer's Market! I've really gotten out of the habit of going and I need to start again. I like the idea of going twice a week and only planning a few meals at a time. THAT is incentive :-)
8/25...
It's been almost a month -- where ARE you?? I'm in sweetbabboo withdrawal! Is the bedtime routine any easier these days? Are you still cooking up yummy treats? I NEED UPDATES.
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