Loving The Fresh Vegetables

Look what made an appearance on Saturday! There were only 3 flats and they were gone in seconds. I ate one and it was heaven.


My new favorite breakfast is a bagel with cream cheese, cucumber and some freshly ground black pepper.


We grilled fennel with new potatoes and fresh garlic.


Here is Tom Denison, the farmer I work for, putting some ice on the vegetables. We have had beautiful weather and the ice helps keep them from wilting.


These are salad turnips. They are delicious raw or sautéed with butter. They make a short appearance, so you should snatch them up if you see them!


And this was our market dinner Saturday evening. Grilled salmon, new potatoes, red onion, fennel, carrots and fresh garlic. We like to use our old cookie trays for grilling fish and vegetables, then you don't loose anything down the grates. The potatoes, carrots and garlic were tossed lightly with olive oil, fresh thyme, salt and pepper and placed on the grill first. The onions and fennel were added after the potatoes started to soften.

We covered the salmon with sliced red onions, salt and pepper and placed it on the grill for 10-15 minutes. The broccoli salad was the only thing not from the market, but I was craving it and found this great recipe that I had to try.

I'm away from the market this weekend because we are heading out for a school camping trip. Should be lots of fun. I'm in charge of Sunday brunch (for 200)! I'm using Diane's delicious strata recipe that was in her Christmas zine. Wish me luck!

Market Day 1

Oh so delicious.


Carrots and sweet onions.


Leeks, new potatoes, green garlic, and fennel.


Lovely radishes.


Cabbage raab, oh yeah.


New potatoes.

I'm so glad that Farmer's Market Season is here!

Making Some Sauce

I brought home about 35 lbs of tomatoes from the market. Suffice it to say, we spent a few days roasting tomatoes.


For the most part, we quartered the tomatoes, placed them on the pan skin down and roasted them for about 3 hours at 250 degrees. Then we skinned them, weighed them out to 28 oz (large can size) and threw them in the freezer.


After hearing from some friends that they roast tomatoes with onions and garlic and then blend it all up in to a nice sauce base, I had to try some. The sauce was bursting with roasted garlic flavor and had a lovely sweetness to it. Hopefully I can make some more of this before tomato season is over.

I also tried my hand at crock pot tomato sauce and came up with a pretty good one.

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce

8 cups chopped tomatoes, I skinned mine, but it isn't necessary
3 carrots, grated
1 large onion, diced
1 red or green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 T olive oil
3/4 t dried oregano
1/2 t dried marjoram
1 t dried basil
3/4 t fennel seeds
3/4 t salt

Heat oil in a sauté pan. Sweat onions, bell pepper, garlic and grated carrots until soft, being careful not to brown. Place everything into crock pot and cook on low for 7 hours or until done. You can blend this sauce or use it chunky.

Half Way Through Market Season

Melons made their debut this week from Denison Farms. This golden one is called Tangerine Dream. We were all amazed by the lovely scroll designs and the depth of flavor of this melon.


Yellow Doll and the Super Bowl were the other two there. More varieties are on their way.


Denison grows lovely lettuce, and at $1.50 a head, it can't be beat.


The cherry and pear tomatoes are like candy, so sweet and delicious, it is hard to pick a favorite.

I love my Saturdays at the Market. Working with Tom Denison and the crew, and all the great organic produce really makes my day.

Market Offerings and A Mountain Climb

While I was working at the Market, Denny was off hiking Mt St Helens.


What I brought home: french white zucchini, yellow and green pole beans, purple viking potatoes, red bell peppers, sungold cherry tomatoes, persimmon tomatoes (orange), black copia tomato (green and red), zypher summer squash, zucchini. Oh how I love summer squash!

I'm going to make a green bean, potato, zucchini salad for a picnic in the park. Our neighborhood park is having a celebration for National Night Out on Tuesday August 5th (tomorrow!).

Denny put together a slide show of his climb for your viewing pleasure.


Hobbled on St. Helens from Denny McEntire on Vimeo.

Hope you are all having a great Monday!

Summer Food!

The peppers have started to arrive! That means that it has been hot and sunny enough for them to ripen. Still a bit behind schedule, but so appreciated now that they are here.


These are actually sweet peppers. They have a very strong red pepper flavor and would be delicious roasted.


Eat ugly food! These ugly tomatoes are delicious. They are called German Stripe and have variegated red and yellow flesh when sliced.


I had to get this guy! Just look at that face, it was calling out to me.


Green beans made their appearance as well. These are Romano Italian Pole Beans. I love these things, my kids ate them last year, I hope that is the case again this year.


These burst in your mouth, seriously delicious black berries! I'm definitely enjoying the fruits of summer.

Putting Food By

I came home with a lot of berries from the market yesterday, which means it's time to start putting some away for the winter. We already made raspberry jam, now it is on to strawberries.

Basically all the preserving I do involves the freezer. I don't have the time for canning, some day I'd like to though.


First wash them. I've found that the easiest way to do this is in a big bowl of water. This does the least amount of damage to the berries and is pretty fast, which is essential when working with a lot of fruit.


I have a little system. The berries are in a bowl in the sink, the knife in my right hand with the discarded tops on the right. The berries are held in my left hand and then put in a bowl on the left. Denny calls me the efficiency police, can you see why? But seriously, this makes the job go fast and smooth.


This is for the chickens. The girls are eating good today!


We just throw them into plastic baggies portioned out to around 2 cups because that is what most of my recipes call for. If you want individually frozen berries that will pour or scoop out of a larger container, wash them, lay them out on a tray and place it in the freezer. Once frozen, you can dump them into a large bag or container.

Now we can freeze the bags like this or make some jam.


Next up, these beauties.

Quick Market Pics

It was hot and sunny today. There were a lot of shoppers at the market, which means a busy day!


We still have fava beans, and they are gorgeous!


Clockwise from top left: French White zucchini, Romanesco zucchini, Zypher squash, basil, garlic and green zucchini.


These black raspberries were being sold at a booth near us and we had to try them. I thought the taste was similar to mulberries but with a lot of seeds.


A close up of these striking berries.

I've got family coming for the week, so we will be off and running. Back to the beach tomorrow, then the zoo, lots of grilling and maybe we'll get to go pick blueberries!

Head On Over To The Farmer's Market

A lot of care is put into the displays at the market, it needs to be visually appealing, to draw the customer in by their senses. It must also be 'shopable' so that the customer can easily grab what they need.


This is a beautiful display of salad turnips, (One of my favorite things right now. They are similar to a radish, a bit sweeter with a faint bite, crisp but also smooth.) broccoli, radishes and fennel on top. You can see a picture of me restocking this display and more great photos here!


Here is a picture of 2 of the many kinds of summer squash we had at our stand this week. The yellow with the green bottoms are called Zephyr and the dark green round squash is called Patti Pan.


These red raspberries, gold raspberries and mulberries were a fitting display for the 4th of July weekend.


Mulberries close up.


Denison Farms grows a variety of cherry and pear tomatoes. This one is called a Black Cherry.

They also grow a large variety of heirloom tomatoes. I love bringing home different ones each week to try. They are all so beautiful and each have their own unique flavor and texture. Some being more meaty, others juicy. Some best for making sauce, others for eating like an apple.


This one is called Copia. I brought one home this week and was told it is a good one for salads or with salt, pepper and fresh mozzarella.


The Black Copia has red and green stripes and is very striking.


These are also Copia tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes often have ridges or grow in odd shapes. When shopping for heirlooms, don't shy away from a tomato that looks like the one in the top left corner, it is a sure sign that it is delicious!


The Couore di Bue, Ox heart in Italian, has very distinctive ridges that can go from top to bottom of the tomato and a rich red color.


This little beauty is called the Black Prince. I'm always intrigued by the brown and green colored tomatoes, they look so rich and regal to me.


The Brandywine tomato has a lovely pinkish hue and is one of my favorite all around tomatoes. I am drawn to its color and flavor which is sweet and in between meaty and juicy.

I hope you all get a chance to try some of this summers wonderful tomatoes and locally grown vegetables! It is worth the trip to the farmer's market, you just might discover there is something you have never tried that you end up loving.

One Fine Looking Tomato!

Just look at this beauty! It is a 2+ pound Heirloom Italian Beefsteak tomato sitting in front of baskets of Sungold cherry tomatoes. Those lovely ridges on the shoulders are common on many heirloom varieties.


Heirloom Zebra and more Italian Beefsteak.


These wild, curly things are garlic tops. They are sweet with a subtle garlic flavor and can be prepared in a variety of ways. Sauté them quickly with olive oil, salt and pepper and use them like you would asparagus or green beans. Or blend them up in a pesto and have them with pasta or on pizza.


We turned some of our lovely tomatoes into bruschetta for dinner. The temperatures soared to 99 degrees today, so we used the gas grill to toast our bread. We also grilled some Romanesco zucchini that was brushed with olive oil and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the bruschetta, rub cloves of garlic onto toasted bread. Mix diced tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, salt and pepper and spoon on top when ready to eat. The juices will soak into the bread blending all the flavors. Simple, refreshing and delicious. This brought me right back to when I traveled in Italy.

This Week's Market Peek

The season is really kicking in now. There was a lot more variety from the farm this week.


These are an early variety of cherry that are similar in flavor to Bing.


This ribbed zucchini is a distinctive Italian variety called Romanesco. It is nutty and crisp, delicious raw or cooked.


Heirloom tomatoes nestled in with basil.


Look at that lovely color!


Raspberries season is really picking up. I just love the contrast of the red and golden raspberries. There is a slight difference in flavor between the two, golden tend to be more aromatic.


I just can't help myself with these strawberries. They are just so beautiful and glisten in the sun. Denison grows seascapes that are an ever bearing variety, so we should have them through to the fall.