Market food and more!

Well, Daniel and I have decided to move into my parent's basement apartment. We will likely move at the end of Aug, so really I have plenty of time to pack, but I have been super stressed this week about moving trucks, money, excess furniture, and more. I am also stressed about food because I need to keep canning lots so we actually have food to eat this fall/winter/spring, but that means we will have lots of glass jars to move. It also means I need money now for the cost of canning (which, all things considered, is not expensive, but the problem is that I am paying for, essentially, six months of food in advance). Anyway. I have spent so much time stressing and planning (and taking breaks to de-stress on pinterest) that I have not updated my blog. story of my life.

So, here is the wonderful variety of food I bought at the market this weekend :)

 Have you ever had purple bell peppers? They are my favorite. They have the high water content and
crunch of the green but the sweetness of the yellow. So so good. The stringy things up front are garlic something-or-others. I cannot remember the name, but i am planning on sauteeing them with my chard. The sheep cheese you see here is very, very delicious. It has a texture similiar to goat cheese, but a little rougher/less smooth. It is expensive, so we only get in once in awhile, but it really goes well with anything tomato. The fresh basil is divine.

Speaking of chard......it is so so beautiful!!!! The rainbowness of it beats starburst any day hands down. I have never had it before, but the farmer gave me some tips on how to eat it (steamed or sauteed), so I feel well prepared to try :)

And of course, I would never leave the market without oodles of tomatoes from my favorite stand :). These are amazing! 

Here is the full spread:

Things I did not already discuss: the fabulous parsley on the cutting board, the herbs in baggies (including more basil and apple mint, a mild, sweet mint), yellow squash and zucchini, cucumbers, sweet onions, lettuce, dill heads.

TOMATOES!!!

We got so many things at the market today, but I am most excited about the tomatoes. Last summer, I canned a LOT of tomatoes (I think it ended up being about 70 lbs), but I ran out of those a month ago. I have not had a fresh tomato since they went out of season last summer. So, when I saw them at the beyond organic/biodynamic farm stand (always my first stop at the farmer’s market), I was ecstatic!! Daniel and I had some with eggs, cucumber, and freshly pan-fried flatbread for breakfast. Oh.My.Goodness. Those tomatoes were even more wonderful than I remembered. So GOOD!!

BUT. Before I go on and on and on about the tomatoes (believe me, I could write a few thousand words about how I missed them and how much I love them), let me show what I got at the market this weekend.

I went to the Badseed Market on Friday night to get some organic and beyond organic veggies. The market’s is the main selling location for URBAVORE, but other vendors come and sell more vegetables as well as beautiful breads, artisan cheeses, local coffee, and more. It’s a pretty fun place; they often have live music!

Have I mentioned that I love root vegetables? I love the peppery radishes on salads or eaten raw with hummus, and turnips…well, I have no idea what to do with them so I make things up, but so far I have been quite successful with what I have tried. I have found that I can use turnips in most ways that I would use potatoes (roasted, sliced thinly onto pizza, made into french fries, grated into hash, boiled and mashed, etc.). Turnips have a much more robust flavor with a little bit of zing at the end similar to a radish but more complex.

mmm….just look at the full spread. starting from the top right corner and going clockwise I have lettuce, snap peas, radishes, turnips, parsley, arugula, salad mix “sex in a bowl” (a mix of greens, mint, dill, and cilantro), and two other bags of salad mix. I also got a bag of locally grown and ground whole wheat flour, but I forgot to put that in the picture.

What can I say; I love salad!! I sliced up all the radishes and put them in my fridge in a canning jar so that later in the week I can just add them to salads quickly. I also chopped all the lettuce and put it in jars (those two small heads filled four quart jars!!) to save prep time later this week. I chopped all the parsley and froze it in an ice cube tray so that I have some for over the winter (I’m starting early!).

This morning, I went to the City Market Farmer’s market and got MORE!! Don’t judge. I need a lot of vegetables to survive.

Here are a few of my beloved tomatoes! Daniel did not take as many pictures of them as I would have. Of course, I would have taken a MILLION pictures of tomatoes so I could frame them and hang them everywhere. Ok, maybe not, but I do love tomatoes. Just look at them, though! I love the marbled skin, the deep red mixed with the warm orange; I love the purple-y green color of the others. I love their smooth skin and their earthy, summery smell….

Anyway, let me continue. 

just LOOK at these carrots. I have never had purple carrots before today! They are so gorgeous.

ahhhh my mouth is watering just looking at this. I love everything about it and everything IN it. Warm, fuzzy, juicy peaches. Crunchy, sweet carrots. Heavenly, plump, juicy tomatoes (though I think we have already established how much I love them). Spicy and oh-so-summery cilantro. Blueberries and blackberries so sweet and juicy that I could eat an entire pint once if I were not careful.

here is everything:

starting with the cucumbers and going clockwise, we have cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots and their big, bushy, bagged greens, cherry tomatoes, herbs (spearmint, basil x2, chives, lemon thyme, dill), green beans, a BIG bushel of mint to freeze, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, cilantro bushels x2, and the biggest cauliflower head I have ever seen.

Mint is so wonderful. On a hot day, there is nothing more refreshing than a glass of cold water with mint leaves and a few paper thin slices of cucumber. You can go more basic and just have mint or you can upgrade and add slices of lemon too. The mint just seems to make the water so much more refreshing.

I hope to post some recipes this week, or at least some ideas about how to cook some of this stuff!

May you find joy in the simple act of preparing a meal today!