One of my favorite summer activities is visiting the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. At my first apartment here in Chicago I would take the bus down to the market, fill up my tote bag & come home with all sorts of goodies for the week – when the gladiolas were in abundance I would frequently be toting 2 large bunches of them back on the bus in addition to the produce.
This week’s bouquet – two summer favorites: sunflowers & gladiolas.
When I received my preview copy of Comfort Food this spring, the package included a tote bag with the book cover on it. When I saw it I knew it would be perfect for my farmer’s market bag for this summer. It is “just the right size” – anything more than what fits in the bag is too much for me to handle in a week. My Saturday morning routine now is to pick up an iced coffee & then head up to the farmer’s market to pick up produce for the coming week. It is fun to see what make it into my bag & then decide what to make. My tote bag was filled with many delicious items this weekend & I had a great time in the kitchen.
In addition to weekly treats, I have enjoyed making of several batches of treats that are now in the freezer. Once the summer days have faded away & the middle of winter returns it will be nice to pull some of these goodies out of the freezer & bring a bit of summer back into the house. So far the freezer is housing: Strawberry Freezer Jam made from the last of the Michigan strawberries; Pesto that will be incorporated into all sorts of recipes.
This week’s fruits: peaches, blueberries, golden plums.
Farmer’s Market produce seems to be made for simple dishes. Sometimes I follow a recipe and sometimes the dishes are “on the fly” creations. Some favorites of this summer: Zucchini Basil Muffins (with basil from the pot on my deck, these have frozen & been thawed wonderfully); Mom’s Marinated Carrots; Grill Veggie/Pesto Pizza; Grilled Fruit Sauce over Gelato. And I never tire of putting an assortment of veggies in my grill wok.
This week’s veggies: carrots, beets, onions, potatoes, baby portabellas, yellow & green globe zucchinis.
Kate’s publisher sent me several of the Comfort Food tote bags – so, it’s time for another contest. Between now and August 5th, leave a comment with one of your favorite simple summer produce recipes. I’ll draw 5 winners from all the entries.
July 28, 2008 at 5:31 am
You make the summer bounty look very good!
We have been getting food from the garden sporadically (last night, the first batch of green beans, yum), and we should have sunflowers soon. A guy down the road has a huge garden, and all along the front is a row of glads, about 100′ long. So pretty.
July 28, 2008 at 10:08 am
Would you share your marenated carrot recipe. We eat tons of carrots here but I’m always on the look out for a new veggie recipe. I’ve hit our farmers market a few times but ours is not very big all the way out in Oswego.
July 29, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I found your blog from Kate Jacob’s Blog/Site. I just started reading Comfort Food this evening!
We recently tried out a zucchini bread recipe that I found online on All Recipes.com My family thought that it was super yummy! It’s by far our new summer favorite.
Here’s the link:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Bread-V/Detail.aspx
July 30, 2008 at 7:33 pm
You make eating healthily and shopping locally look good. Very good.
July 31, 2008 at 3:14 pm
That’s a great idea, taking a tote to the Farmer’s Market once a week. You’re right, perfect tote for it!
Your sunflower and gladiolus bouquet is gorgeous.
July 31, 2008 at 3:42 pm
we love the farmers market too and we love to get the fresh veggies (especially zucchini and asparagus). we are trying out a garden in the back this year so we might even eat our OWN food this year (as our oldest says) we like to drizzle some olive oil on veggies and shake a little garlic salt and pepper on them and grill them. not a new recipe really but so good and so fresh! we love it!