I'd been meaning to check out the local farmers market since it opened a couple months ago, but I had never managed to make it there. I usually don't go grocery shopping until at least 11:00 on Saturdays, and the market is only open until 11:30.
What finally motivated me to get out of bed and go? Corn. Corn is one of the five vegetables Nathan will eat, and he's very picky about the kind of corn. All my attempts at serving him good corn had failed, and locally grown corn was my last hope. I also wanted to find some tomatoes, green beans, and red potatoes.
Now that we've had our first experience, I can't believe we waited this long to go. I found everything I'd hoped to find and even threw in a beet as well. The corn was really, really good.
I boiled the red potatoes and green beans and served them over pasta, loosely following this recipe. I think my potato to pasta ratio was a little off since the potatoes I used were so big, but it was pretty tasty.
The most amazing find for me was this lovely little thing. I have always hated beets. Or so I thought. It turns out I just hate canned beets.
After 35 minutes at 400 degrees and some olive oil, it's a completely different story. I was shocked. The taste reminded me a little of sweet potato fries, which I love. That beet pretty much changed my life.
I cut the corn from our last cob and tossed it with chopped tomato and avocado. Too bad we don't have any locally grown avocados!
We will definitely be returning to the farmers market. The food might be a little pricey, but if it's 20 times better than the produce you can buy in the grocery store, not to mention chemical free, I think it's worth it.
Do you shop farmers markets?
I love the farmer's market! Sometimes in my area the prices are not as cheap as the local grocery store, which is a bummer, but the produce is definitely awesome. I need to remember to visit this Saturday!
ReplyDeleteWe don't really have a farmers market near our house, but we have our own garden, which is really nice. It's so nice to have local vegetables! The chopped corn, tomatoes, and avocado looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy! I haven't been too impressed by our farmer's markets around the area because our stores have a pretty good selection of locally grown produce too, but it is always fun to roam around anyhow. I think our best find was some flavored olive oil but it was too pricey.
ReplyDeleteYum! Your tossed salad at the end looks super tasty. :)
ReplyDeleteI have only been to the farmer's market once this summer. If I'm not out there by 8am, it just gets way too hot for this pregnant lady, so I don't go. Thankfully, our grocery store is locally owned and uses a lot of local produce.
I started going to one of our farmer's markets this year when one on campus turned up. It's small (usually about 5 or 6 vendors), but the LORD has granted us great success with it - local raw honey, corn on the cob (A is also picky with his corn - that's what happens when you grow up in corn country, I s'pose!), tomatoes, and peaches. I will be so sad when it closes, come October!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had success as well... It's amazing how great /fresh/ produce is, huh? :)