Green Goodness

My Saturday visits to the Farmer's Market have given me the opportunity to try a couple of new items. I have cooked with kale before but never Russian Kale. The picture to the left is a simple sauté of kale, mushrooms, shallots and a little fresh garlic. I made my husband eat some and to my astonishment, he liked it. Kale is one of the super foods and we should eat it more often. I like kale, but I don't like all the prep needed to get it clean and ready to cook. This kale was well worth the effort.

The other green I tried this weekend was arugula. I have had it in bags of lettuce blends but have never been able to distinguish the arugula from the rest of the greens. The arugula I got at the farmers market was big and flavorful. I now know what the cooking show chefs mean when they say it has a peppery bite. It is a big, bold flavor. I look forward to a few more weeks of arugula availability.

More Market Freshness

On my weekend visit to the Farmers Market I was excited to find Carolina Dirt Farmers. This weekend they had a variety of garlic to sell. I walked past their booth before it hit me that they were selling something no other vendor had. I turned around knowing I was going home with fresh garlic. I chose three varieties, Spanish Roja, Purple Galzor and Corz Italian. There is just no comparison between this fresh and the not so fresh supermarket garlic I usually buy. I can't imagine cooking with this quality of food all the time.

Farmers Market Freshness

I rarely get time during the summer to visit the Farmers Market. I more than make up for it in the fall. It is such a lovely time of year. We woke up to chilly weather this morning. I call it pumpkin patch weather. Off to the market I went and here is one of the spectacular display of fresh peppers I cam across. I rarely get such a variety to pick from. I picked up a few of the regulars plus a couple I hand never tried like the Chinese sweet pepper. They are the dark red peppers located midway down the table. I'm not yet sure what I will do with them, but believe me, they won't go to waste.