farmers market fun!

this last weekend i had my first farmers market experience and i loved it!! if you're into food as much as i am, then you know what i mean!! so much fresh produce, meat, seafood and the smells of food being cooked and sold, the enjoyment of being outside ... great experience :) what made it even cooler was my hubby, craig, put together a cool cart for carrying our goodies around easily. Take a look at me with the cart!

farmers markets are great because you can get local food that is very often picked the same day or the day before which means least amount of nutrient loss and carbon footprint from farm to you, you're supporting your local farmers, you can talk to the farmers and find out how they grow their food so you know what you're getting is organically grown whether its certified or not, supposedly seasonal produce is a better deal, and you can usually get a good deal pricing wise.

we got lots of great goodies! i love challenging myself to get foods ive never cooked with before, the variety of foods at the farmers market makes that really easy - plus it adds variety to my diet and its fun!

here are some of the fabulous meals ive made from this farmers market picking:

local farmed mussels cooked in ghee, lemon, white wine, garlic, tomatoes, asparagus, and cilantro

grass-fed beef tri-tip seasoned with lots of garlic powder, some paprika and cayenne placed in crock pot with half an onion and a few cloves of garlic for about 6 hours

steamed artichoke with melted ghee, garlic, a bit of garlic powder and salt dip

beet salad! beets sliced and pan cooked in coconut oil and cinnamon, then tossed together with beet stem greens chopped up and mixed with walnuts, pine nuts, raisins, one blood orange, cinnamon, and balsamic vinegar 

grilled pork chops from local farmer

all these meals were enjoyed with a glass of white wine of course! and now its about time for me to move on to my next culinary creation ;)