We discovered a Farmer's Market in Brea (Tuesdays, 4-8pm) and boy are we going to enjoy it this summer! Last Tuesday was our first excursion. There was a good variety of produce as well as other items like cage free eggs, handmade tamales, and homemade Italian pasta (sold by a real Italian who spoke his own language to the boys - how fun is that???) We bought pasta from him (expensive, but too much fun to pass up), and also baby red potatoes, yams, lettuce, beets, radishes, corn, nectarines, apricots, a whole bag of grapefruits, yellow peppers, avocados, green beans, and tomatoes. A feast!! We've had really healthy meals this week and as an added benefit, I've been so excited about cooking again!
Wednesday: chicken (one breast among all of us), creamed peas and new potatoes, a lovely salad, and nectarines
Thursday: Crock pot "roasted" chicken, beets, grean beans, and yams (colorful!!)
Friday: Caesar salad (with leftover chicken), corn on the cob, homemade bread
Saturday: Chicken cheesebake (again, with leftover chicken!), green beans, nectarines
Sunday: Leftover cheesebake, carrots
Monday: Burritos (whole wheat tortillas, crock pot beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes)
As you can see, I started running out of veggies toward the end of the week. I'll have a better idea of what we'll actually eat when I go again tomorrow. It was so nice to have really good, appealing, healthy snacks available all week! I find it MUCH easier to eat properly if the "good for you" food is more appealing than other things!
I highly recommend trying a farmer's market this summer if there is one available near you. Fun for the whole family, supportive of real farmers, and organic, healthy food at prices that are remarkably affordable. If you're near Brea, maybe we'll see you there tomorrow!
8 comments:
A beautiful, bountiful harvest. One great thing about CA!
Look at all that lovely goodness. And a learning experience too!
I've been going to the Farmer's Market up here ever since it started on the first weekend of May and it is really worth it. (I do feel guilty for not working on the house, but oh well) I used to go every week in the Bay Area and in the Santa Cruz mountains and I missed doing it up here. Of course our market here isn't nearly as rich and diverse as the ones I used to frequent, but there's certainly enough to eat and I love how fresh everything is! That's great that you've discovered one. It is so worthwhile to go and it is a lot of fun to go all summer long and watch the produce change - and to look forward to the favorites coming in!
I find that eating the produce that I find at the market makes cooking much more interesting because I am challenged to find (or remember from last year) recipes to use the wonderful food that I find there. I've recently been experimenting with fava beans, for example. They really are quite tasty! Otherwise at the regular grocery store I tend to just buy the same veggies each time I go, which makes me just want to make the same dishes.
Amber, I have the fondest memories of the farmer's market up where you are! There was this one lady who grew the most AMAZING green beans.
About buying produce at the store - I'm exactly the same way. I bought the same things each time and it got so boring! I'm making it a point to buy something each week that I wouldn't normally get. Last week it was the beets. And while they may not be my very favorite thing to eat, they were better than I was expecting. :)
I really love the farmer's markets in our area, but they're barely in our area - one is about a half hour away, and the other, almost an hour! But the stuff you can get there makes the drive *very* worthwhile!
I NEED to go to one of the farmer's markets near us. Seems like more and more of them are popping up around here (Denver) which is great. Thanks for the inspiration!
Our farmers' market starts next weekend. I can't wait! I love buying, browsing, and just being there.
Beets are one of Emma's favorite foods - go figure! I like them too, but not quite with the ardor that Emma has towards them. I like to cook them in the crock pot, let them cool, then put them on salads.
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