Monday, July 19, 2010

Farmers Market Finds and the Weekly Menu 7/9 - 7/24/10

We missed the Farmers Market last week but we certainly made up for it with the amount we purchased this week!
Farmers Market Finds 7/18
This is getting into the best time at the market & we had to run to the car twice to drop off all our goodies.

Romaine Lettuce - For Cesear Salads

Apricots & Blueberries - I was really excited to see some sort of stone fruit at the market. Things like peaches don't really grow well in MN because they can't last the winter.
Blueberries!
The blueberries were beautiful & in quantity, I remember having a hard time finding MN blueberries to can last year. We've already 16 jars of apricot, blueberry & basil jam & the few remaining apricots will go on a pizza.

Kingfield Sourdough Bread - We've been eagerly awaiting this new bread from Sun Street. Sourdough is Matt's favorite & the bakery took suggestions from us on how this bread should be.

Beans - We couldn't resist getting this big basket of green beans for only $5!
Tons of Beans
We blanched & froze all 18 cups to use this winter as we are eating the smaller harvest from our own garden now.

Sweet Corn - This is some of the first MN sweet corn of the season.
First of the Sweet Corn
Peter at Peter's Pumpkins told me that he picked these the night before & that the crop will only continue to get sweeter & bigger over the next couple of weeks. He said the crop is really good this year so we are stocking the freezer for winter. We froze 6.5 cups of this batch. The rest is being made into Corn relish.

Zucchini & Onions - All the zucchini in our garden has been devastated by slugs this year so we had to buy some. The onions are just gorgeous white & fragrant. We are making this into Zesty Zucchini Relish

Garlic - Goes into everything right?!
Garlic
Global Garlic has started picking their garlic crop for the year. We go through so much garlic that the amount in our garden isn't enough so end up buying more here.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

It's a short week for us as Thursday we are out (going to see Squeeze & English Beat, woohoo) then off for a long weekend in Seattle.

Classic Beef Tacos

Pizza with Apricots, Roasted Red Pepper & Prosciutto

Farro with Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella & Basil

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13 comments:

  1. I missed all the farmers' markets this weekend due to family visits and work at home. 8-( However, after seeing your haul, I'm definitely motivated for next weekend, especially for the sweet corn and stone fruit!

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  2. What a ahul you picked up at the farmer's market. Have a great week and enjoy your trip.

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  3. Quite a haul! I am excited to fill our new freezer with veggies for the winter. I've never blanched to freeze before. I hope we don't screw it up! Your apricot pizza sounds delish!

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  4. Oh, gorgeous things! I'm so eager for our local corn to start arriving in the markets--which usually isn't until August.

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  5. The corn is really good- I guess it really liked all the heat this year. I need to get mine put up soon.

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  6. Okay, been going to the farmer's market now for a few weeks and never thought about freezing anything until now! Any resources on how to freeze some of the finds from the market. Also, very jealous you are going to see the Beat and Squeeze! Awesome bands!

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  7. Isn't this a great time of year for the farmers' markets? I just froze my first batch of corn this year, too, and I was so thrilled! :)

    It's so hard to resist when everything looks so fresh and wonderful!

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  8. Christeen - Typically you blanch the vegetable you are freezing & then bag it up & freeze it. I use a guide for blanching times in a book called Preserving Summer's Bounty but there are lots of guides on line too. With corn I like to remove the kernels from the cob after blanching & before freezing.

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  9. Kat, we've been grilling our corn, rather than blanching it, for the past several years now - it's great! I still cut it off the cobs and freeze, but it's got that great grilled flavor that's so welcome in the middle of the winter!

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  10. ToyLady - Never thought of grilling corn to freeze, bet it does have a great flavor.

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  11. I love how plump the blueberries are, it's one of my favorite fruits to pick up at the farmer's market over the summer.

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  12. And after you've grilled or blanced your corn, make sure to save those corn stalks to make a great, sweet alternative to chicken stock: corn stock.

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  13. I'm most drawn to those carrots! I haven't seen anything like those around here. They look like the great organic ones I used to be able to get in Brazil.

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