Fantastic Farmers Market Friday (lots of pics)

I love going to my local Friday night farmers market.  I love my farmer friends.  I love seeing cows and chickens up close.  I love knowing WHO grew my food and WHERE it came from.

My mom and I were talking today on the way and we realized we have been going to this market for 6 years.  6 years!!!  Some of these people have known my daughter since I was carrying her in a sling.   I have been making the best effort my schedule, budget, and sanity will allow to feed my daughter (and myself) the freshest, healthiest foods possible for 6 years.  Somehow it just doesn’t seem so long.

Here’s just a glimpse into what the market looks like on the outside:

OH.EMM.GEE.

There were baby cows today.  Yes, technically I know they are CALVES.  But there are BABY COWS. *squee*

Perhaps next time I go, I’ll take some pics of me WITH my farmer friends.  When I feel a little more human and less like someone who needs hip replacement surgery.

Happy Friday everyone!

Happy Race Day!

(Edited to add:  I started this post on race day.  Then I *think* I may have drank my beer too fast with my neighbors and finally got time to finish it today.  SUNDAY was race day. Apologies for my tardiness and lack of ability to resist PBR and a good game of cornhole.)

Alright, I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I live in the “racing capitol of the world”.   Today is race day.  The 4 trillion-th running of the Indianapolis 500, or something.  Anyway, I am stuck at my house today, which suits me just fine considering we still don’t know what’s wrong with my hip (so I can’t walk very far without wishing for death) and it’s my day off and I don’t really feel like leaving the house on my day off anyway.   I am  actually making money just sitting on my porch blogging-by parking cars in my front yard. Prime real estate, apparently.

This morning’s cooking adventure, crustless quiche.

This recipe is INCREDIBLY versatile, so you can substitute just about anything.  I have used chicken, sausage, and bacon as meat fillers and a wide array of roasted assorted veggies as well.

This time I used roasted asparagus, onions, and zucchini and bacon as filler:

So…

2 cups assorted veggie/meat filler

4 eggs

2 cups half and half

2 cups cheese

salt and peper to taste

Combine milk, eggs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and whisk together until all yolks are broken.  Add filler ingredients and cheese and stir well.  Turn into 1 quart baking dish (I use stoneware for mine).  Bake in oven at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 and bake until top is golden brown (or until you can remove a knife from the center without residue).  Remove and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Farmers Market Fabulousness! (Real Food Wednesday)

Yay! This is my first Real Food Wednesday post since my blog went live (and I wrote enough to make it worth visiting)!!

Here’s the link back to Cheeseslave’s Real Food Wednesday page http://ow.ly/1dDiy

I thought that since I write about all the wonderful food that I cook with, it would only be fair to share with you WHERE I get all this goodness from, right?

In the winter, I hit up two farmers markets: Traders Point Farmers Market (http://www.traderspointcreamery.com/) and the Indy Winter Market (http://indywinterfarmersmarket.blogspot.com/). 

Both of these markets are just awesome.  I usually go to both, especially since some of my farmer friends alternate weeks so that they can participate in both.

I must say, every time I go I always come home feeling so much better about my food situation and our city’s food situation in general.  To be surrounded by people who CARE about their food choices and rights, people that want to support people who are making the effort to make sure we eat well is just so uplifting.  It gives me hope. 

I do need to make more of an effort to reach out to some of the organizers so that I can start making friends (like REAL friends) with people who share my real food visions.  There are so many great people that I feel I could really connect with, I’m just not awake yet.  Note to self: shower and try harder to be a sociable human being.

The soup recipe I promised (like two weeks ago)

This is my new favorite soup; my mom and dad love it as well.  I kind of enjoy being the one to test new recipes in the family and then pass them along so that everyone else can enjoy them.  Call it my contribution to the family.

Chicken Soup With Butternut Squash and Shiitakes

I’d say prep time on this one is about 45 minutes if you’re like me and you like to get all of your ingredients ready to go ahead of time instead of chopping/peeling and such as you go.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced (mom used crimini mushrooms and had great results as well)

I use shiitakes from Homestead Growers (http://www.homestead-growers.com/index.html).  Of course, I usually buy a pound instead of a half pound because I just love putting their mushrooms in everything.

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

2 onions, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 skinless chicken thighs

Skillington Farms (http://www.skillingtonfarms.com/) has excellent thighs.  They leave the skin on and I never think to remove it before cooking.  I prefer the flavor from the fat from the skin anyhow.

5 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, or 1 teaspoon dried

1 3/4 pound piece butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup heavy cream

In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderately high heat.  Add the sliced mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown, about 5 minutes.  Remove.

Reduce the heat to moderately low.  Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pot.  Add the onions and celery.  Cook, covered, for 4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.

Add the chicken, stock, dried tarragon, if using, and the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the squash and simmer until the chicken and squash are done, about 15 to 20 minutes more.  Remove the chicken from the soup.  Cut meat off the bones into 1 inch pieces.  Return chicken to the soup.  Add the mushrooms, parsley, fresh tarragon, if using, and cream, and heat through.

This soup has a nice mild flavor and so sometimes I double the dried tarragon.   I also usually add about a teaspoon or two of fish sauce to give it a little bit more flavor.

I like this recipe because it also keeps inthe fridge for almost 2 weeks before the mushrooms start getting rubbery.

YUM!