Summer Bounty

Baby's first Farmers Market! Gotta start her out right. 

This summer we got to participate in the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program. "The FMNP was established by Congress in 1992, to provide fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables to WIC participants, and to expand the awareness, use of, and sales at farmers’ markets." As if we really needed any more motivation to get to the market, but how great is it that one of our nation's public health programs are supporting local and organic foods?!?!

Our loot from the Saint Paul Farmers' Market: 

Green bell peppers

Zucchinis

Onions

Tomatoes

Yukon gold potatoes

Early Season Apples! 

All for under $20! I love August for thus very reason. 

My summer favorite, a Caprese salad.

That's the only one I managed to take pictures of... most of the time I'm just lucky if I get to eat in one sitting. But here's some links to meals we've made recently using the bounty of the summer: 

garden pesto pasta 

easy quiche 

Though we used different ingredients this time: onions, zucchini, bell peppers, bacon and mozzarella! This meal is a great "garbage" dish because you can toss in whatever veggies you have leftover or whatever you have on hand. Mix up the cheeses, go sans meat, whatever you desire. 

potato/zucchini pancakes

zucchini bread muffins

Next week Jenna is going to teach us how to can tomatoes!!! Linnea and I can't wait! 

Farmer's Market Saturday

Fall is so colorful! 

I suppose that is what makes the gray, rainy days tolerable in the fall. And I get to wear my awesome Bogs. 

We headed to the Farmer's Market this morning to see what we would find! And we brought home 5 of these beautiful peppers! 

And one of these gigantic sweet onions! 

Ross thought it was too big and we wouldn't use it all. Please, I used onions nearly everyday! 

And look at this vegetable! Romanesco broccoli - it's it the coolest looking vegetable ever! 

We sampled some cheeses from Samish Bay Cheese - one of my favorite things to do at the market. 

I loved seeing all the pumpkins around! 

I wanted to bring some of these funky gourds home, but the warts give Ross the creeps, so we went with a couple mini-pumpkins instead. 

Then we spent the day napping (me), watching college football (mostly Ross), getting lessons on offensive formations in football (me), and snacking (both). Tomorrow is back to the grind - after church I'll be working on my masters project all day again! 

Hope you had a wonderful Saturday! 

Spiral Garden Pesto Pasta

It was such a perfectly sunny day at the market! 

We've been traveling on weekends a lot lately - Squamish, the North Cascades, Seattle, Leavenworth - which means that I haven't been to the Saturday Farmer's Market in a very long time! I was amazed by the wealth of produce that was fresh and available - the colors of all the veggies were beautiful. I picked up some tomatoes and basil for dinner and more raspberries - I've never loved raspberries like I do now. 

For lunch I was craving a Gourmet Egg Roll.

This time I had the Caprese - sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil and garlic with a creamy balsamic reduction dipping sauce. So good! 

And as the gloriously sunny day wore on we were ready for dinner, so I got out the food processor to make pesto. 

Basil Pesto 

2 cups basil leaves

2 Tbsp pine nuts or walnuts 

1/2 cup olive oil

3-4 cloves garlic 

Pinch of salt & pepper 

Parmesan cheese (optional) 

Combine all the ingredients (save half the oil) in the food processor and process. Add in the rest of the oil after it has processed a bit, and then adjust flavor as desired by possibly adding more garlic. I added a lot more garlic - I LOVE garlic. Add more oil if you prefer a thinner pesto. Use it all immediately or save it in the refrigerator for a couple weeks. 

Basil is probably my favorite herb, with cilantro coming in at a close second. How could you not love that beautiful shade of green? 

We used the pesto to make beautiful summer garden pasta dish. 

Spiral Garden Pesto Pasta 

Serves 2 

12 oz spiral vegetable pasta

2 Tbsp Olive oil 

1/2 jar Trader Joe's marinated artichokes

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 onion, chopped 

2 Trader Joe's apple chicken sausage, cubed  (optional)

1/2 cup Pesto 

Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional) 

Cook and drain the noodles, rinse in cold water and place back into the sauce pan. 

Add the Olive Oil to a frying pan and cook the onions until soft. Then add the artichoke and sausage. 

Then add the contents of the frying pan to the noodles in the sauce pan and pour in the pesto; stir to coat. 

You can heat the pasta if you want to serve it hot or cool for a refreshingly cool summer pasta. I added the tomatoes and cheese on top when I served the pasta because I preferred the tomatoes raw and the cheese is  too tough to clean out of the sauce pan. 

I always know my meal is a success when I see Ross craning his neck to check the stove to see if there is any more. There was, but not for long.  

Farewell

This morning at 6am we said goodbye to my grandparents. I can't believe how the week flew by! 

A few other highlights from the week: 

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds from the Wednesday Farmer's Market

A sunny drive along Chuckanut Drive

And a visit to Pike Place Market and the Waterfront in Seattle

We had lunch at the original Ivar's. 

Halibut & Chips > Cod & Chips 

And a classic bowl of clam chowder. 

While at Pike Place Market I couldn't help myself - I have always wanted to try some pasta from Pappardelle's, and after sampling about 10 (including a dark chocolate pasta) I decided on garlic chive shells. Will be amazing in my homemade macaroni and cheese recipe! 

I also picked up some roasted hazelnuts from Holmquist Hazelnuts. They are closer to me in Bellingham than here in Seattle, but I figured I would pick some up while I was there! I attempted to make some homemade Nutella a few weeks ago, but I failed miserably because I burnt the hazelnuts while roasting... so I am excited to try again with pre-roasted hazelnuts! 

And then we picked up a lovely bouquet of flowers for our kitchen table! 

Farewell to my grandparents and safe travels home! Love you! 

__________________________________________________

Another farewell is to my CAMERA! 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

On Thursday night my camera started making terrible noises as if it were dying robotic rodent... and now it won't focus on anything! The pictures are all blurry - except Ross discovered that it works if it is zoomed to 3x. I am so upset! I really don't know how to function without a camera... my phone takes pictures, but I just can't do it and be a food blogger.... 

I wonder what would cost more... fixing it or getting a new one? We were looking at the Olympus Tough series since we are so active and outdoorsy, but I  want something with a good macro setting as well. I'm not ready to commit the finances to a DSLR, so for now we'll need to stick to a point and shoot - which is what I've been using all along (a Canon Powershot SD1000). 

Any affordable camera recommendations? 

Favorites

What a GORGEOUS day in Bellingham! One of my most favorite Saturday morning activities is heading out to the Bellingham Farmers Market. 

The market was packed as temperatures reached near 60! This weather is almost my favorite -  blue sky without a cloud in sight and sun - but 10 more degrees and I could have been wearing a sun dress! 

I got to wear my Chacos today! These are definitely my favorite pair of shoes ever. (Sorry about the blindingly white feet.)

We started off with a light breakfast at the farmers market with a gourmet breakfast roll - eggs, potatoes, onions and cheese served with a breakfast gravy. 

This is perhaps our new favorite market food! They are super crispy and have a great flavor. 

New at the market this week were radishes... 

Kale flowers (which taste like broccoli) and spinach, which I did not manage to take a picture of, though they were both wonderful in the lasagna I made for dinner tonight! 

We also picked up some wheat berries. I have seem these all over the food blogging world - so when I found local and organic wheat berries for $4 - I had to go for it. The farmer, Jay, says that he uses them in lieu of rice in his dishes, but I have also heard that people use them in a wide variety of ways, like in oatmeal! 

One of Ross' favorite things to do at the market is to check out the pottery. (My favorite market activity is to sample cheese.) Ross found a beautiful plate that was half off - and when the artist told him that his plates were microwave and dishwasher safe - he caved. It is going to be a pastry plate - for when I make muffins or donuts. Apparently I need to learn how to make donuts.  

Then we headed over to Western's campus for their 40th Earth Day Celebration. Isn't this just the best message for a piece of chocolate to tell you? 

I got to sample some organic and fair trade chocolate from Terra Organica. Dark chocolate is my favorite treat - but Ross usually goes for milk chocolate because dark chocolate makes him sneeze! 

Then Ross and I signed a a few petitions, one in particular was to ban plastic bags in the city. Bag it Bellingham is what the initiative is called. 

Then I participated in a contest to see if I could fill a bag with groceries in 30 seconds flat - and it was a challenge! I made it in just over 30 seconds, so I still won the prize -this bag! (Interesting fact: I won a free bag at an Earth Day fair a few years ago by correctly answering "fecal coliform bacteria" to a trivia question.)  

This was a big hit with the little ones, though I don't think they got it. "Support Dinosaurs - Don't use Fossil Fuels" 

While we were at the market we got coupons for a dollar off a pint at Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen. Yeah, we know it was a marketing ploy to get us to go to the brewery and eat food and spend $30 to save $2 - but we LOVE that place! Not mention their beers have won numerous awards. 

We were ecstatic to see that they had their Vienna Lager back in the rotation - it is our favorite of their brews. 

For lunch Ross had the Reuben - lean corned beef, house-made kraut & Swiss on local Rye with Russian Dressing and yam fries. Ross got the yam fries more for me than for him - they are my absolute favorite side dishes!

And I had the AMAZING Yamburrito - 

Yams, roasted garlic, cabbage, carmalized onions, Jack cheese and 

corn in an oversized flour tortilla topped with house made tomatillo 

salsa. Served with rice and black beans. 

Ah glory - local beer, sun, and local food! After lunch we went for a walk around town, did a little shopping for climbing gear (one of our new favorite ways to spend time together - climbing!), and then came home for a nap (napping is perhaps my favorite afternoon activity). We're trying not to get too down about the impending week of rain in the forecast... 

Overall, on of my favorite kinds of days!