Farmer's Market Finds

Hey! It's been a while hasn't it?  I'm smack dab in the middle of transition stage right now, but I'm back for a little bit.  Endings, beginnings, life is so full of changes and transitions.  Anyway, blogging just didn't seem to fit in the puzzle over the past few weeks.   I'm honestly not sure where my blogging will go from here.  The posts certainly won't be as frequent, but I don't quite want to stop all together either.

Oh, and I've been stress-baking a lot lately.  You know, when you have a million things to do and somehow end up doing none of them but just bake cookies instead.  Yeah, that kind of baking.

A few of those...occurrences, were captured on camera, but most were the non-recorded throw in some of this and that type thing.  I will have a few recipes for you in the near future, but for today we'll just go with some (rather careless) snapshots of this weekend's Farmer's Market Finds.  One of these days I'll bring my camera to the market instead of taking pictures of wilted produce that's sat in a hot car for an hour.  One of these days, but not today. 

Fresh green beans, which I prefer to eat raw.  Is that weird?  Whatever, that's just what my family does. 

Zucchini and yellow summer squash at 50 cents a piece.

I fell for this Swiss Chard at only $1 a bunch.  I wasn't really sure how I was going to use it, but the vibrant pink stalks were so pretty.

Mmmm, fresh basil smells so good.  Again, only $1 for a large bunch...much cheaper and more efficient than the $4+ plants I can only keep alive long enough to grow 6 leaves.

Crunchy cucumbers.  I made a batch of pickles yesterday, but really I just prefer to munch on the raw cucumbers.  One day I will like pickles, especially if I keep making them.  

This Russian Kale came from the garden of a generous friend.  She also shared her sweet corn and tomatoes.  Thanks!

Everything  but the green beans and cucumbers went into a super tasty quinoa dish based off of these Farmer's Market Skillet and Easy Summer Quinoa recipes from Iowa Girl Eats.  I've made this twice in the past two days and both times I inhaled it quicker than the click of a camera.  Don't skip the honey-lemon dressing.  Fresh basil is also a must.  And now that we've eaten our vegetables, I'd say it's time for some baked goods.  Cookies are coming up next.  

Food for Thought: "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With an unfailing love I have drawn you to myself." -Jeremiah 3:31 (NLT)

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Veggie Noodles with Citrusy Dill Dressing

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

I've tried on more than one occasion to convince myself I like spaghetti squash. It's okay sometimes (despite this adventure), but I'm just not that into it.  It certainly doesn't taste like spaghetti, but then again, I've never been into spaghetti either.  I wouldn't eat anything tomato-based growing up, including spaghetti, lasagna or ketchup.  Thank goodness I grew out of that phase.  However, I'm still not a huge pasta eater.   Vegetables, on the other hand, I will gobble up like there's no tomorrow (you know, to balance all the cookies, peanut butter and chocolate).

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Nutty Orange Harvest Soup

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

This orange soup has such a smattering of weird ingredients I wasn't sure if I wanted to post it.  I debated back and forth, snapped a few pictures just in case and finally decided to just go with it.  I've seen orange fall soups popping up everywhere on the blogosphere lately and decided this might not be way too wired after all.  And even if it is, that's exactly what Weird Recipe Wednesday is all about. Since it's Halloween, it seems like as good a time as any for a slightly strange bowl or orange liquid.  Annnnd now that I've hesitated and stalled a little longer I suppose we can get to the soup.

Tuesday's Twist: Spiraled Zucchini-Carrot Rolls

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

After seeing pictures of vegetable tarts like this, I knew the concept had a lot of potential.  I wanted to try it out, but didn't want to make another vegetable tart like everyone else.  I came up with several ideas to put my own spin on it and finally settled on this one.  Other ideas may surface here in the near future depending on how much zucchini appears on my counter.

Tuesday's Twist: Zucchini Carrot Mushroom Burgers

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I never intended to post this recipe and it's a bit of a stretch to post it under Tuesday's Twist. But in real life the zucchini and mushrooms in the refrigerator needed to be put to use and I had all the right ingredients without going to back to the store. The recipes I had planned for this week need a little more work and one of the ingredients melted in the car.  All this means you are temporarily being dragged into my quest for a decent homemade veggie burger.  Don't worry, I'll keep most of them to myself (unless my chocolate chips melt into single entity on a weekly basis).

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Getting in Some Green

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

This week I tried two weird but tasty ways to get in some green veggies. Okay, they're not that weird, at least not to me.  Then again I like to eat lots of raw veggies, maybe that's even weirder.  Whatever, back to the recipes.  If you want a new way to sneak in some veggies how about Brussels sprout chips or zucchini bread granola. Hey, did you know that the "Brussels" in Brussels sprout is capitalized and spelled with an S at the end? Being the terrible speller that I am, I just now realized this, and only because that squiggly red line wouldn't go away no matter how many ways I tried to spell it.  We'll get back to our Brussels sprouts in a bit. Let's start with the zucchini bread granola.