by Mario Bartel

The New West Farmers Market is idyllic, a refuge from the bright fluorescent lights and hurly burly of the grocery store. It’s a place to meet your neighbours, chat with the vendors, linger in the sunshine. So why has it suddenly become so stressful?

Now that school is in full swing, and the end-of-summer traffic has slowed the commute, squeezing in market day has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Doing the market shopping is a race against a tuckered five-year-old who has not yet developed time management skills, hunger pangs from the long day and a lack of adequate pre-planning because of, well, life.

To swing the odds in our favour, we try to simplify on market day. In our household, more often than not that means omelettes for dinner; crack a few eggs, fold in some cheese, green onions, mushrooms and basil and you’re good to go in minutes.

At least, that’s the theory.

It never quite works out that way.

Throw in chatting-with-the-neighbours time, a game or 12 of crossing the rock “bridges” in the ponds at Tipperary Park, a languid visit to the outhouse by our five-year-old (sorry to anyone he’s kept waiting; albeit he does tend to sing or keep a running commentary while he’s doing his business), the unpacking of the market haul along with any other sundry groceries acquired that day and easy-going market day inevitably descends into a race against bedtime.

This week we decided to fight fire with fire; we made our omelettes mostly from ingredients sourced from that day’s market haul. At least we wouldn’t have to pack everything away:

For the omelettes:

• 1 dozen free range eggs from pastured hens at Out West Ranches $6

• bunch of onions $3.50 from Ripple Creek

• Russian purple potatoes and German butter potatoes $9 from Ripple Creek (these didn’t show up in an omelette until the following week, after they’d been parboiled and then grilled)

• salad greens for the salad $4 from Zaklan

• Zucchini $2.20 from Zaklan (again, they didn’t make an omelette appearance until the following week)

• radishes for the salad $2 from Zaklan

• baguette $4 from A Bread Affair

• box of pears $5 from Harvest Direct

• box of apples $5 from Harvest Direct

Along with the market ingredients, our omelette also included basil from the community garden plot maintained by the New West Farmers Market, some prosciutto left over from another meal earlier in the week, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and dehydrated tomatoes, part of last week’s market discoveries blog.

We all had our favourites.

For five straight days, the borrowed dehydrator hummed its white noise day and night. We made apple chips, peach chips, pear chips. There was zucchini, cherry tomatoes, raisins, kale chips, and even banana chips.

Everything we dehydrated, aside from the bananas, was from the bounty we got for $40 at last week’s market, or stuff we still had in the crisper from the previous market.

The purpose of this experiment was to build up a healthy snack section in the pantry for both my son and I; my husband was somewhat leery of it all… I’m working on him 😉

It was fascinating to watch. The apples shrivelling, the grapes caramelizing, the intensely sweet smell of the tomatoes seeping through the centre opening. My son loved the opportunities of tasting to see if the process was complete. Not so secretly, I did too.

When all was said and done, we had 10 glass jars of dehydrated goods, and if we’re being honest, we probably would have actually had two more jars without the continuous “completion” checks.

My favourite was the zucchini. I did two batches: one plain, and another with a little bit of salt and a lot of pepper – those were the best. They came out super crispy, like an actual chip, and had a bit of a peppery nip to them.

My son loved the peaches and bananas. Every time he saw the jars, he was opening them for another slice. These are MY favourites, he repeatedly told me. He chastised me for only doing a small batch of pears. And he kept pulling out different fruits and vegetables from the fridge, asking if they could be next.

I did three different types of apples: gala; macintosh; and sunrise. Interestingly, the macintosh, which were my least favourite fresh, were the ones that came out with the most intense flavour throughout, as well as overall crispness. The sunrise were chewier, and had the least amount of flavour, while the gala’s flavour popped more at the end with the skin, then throughout.

The grapes took the longest. They were small grapes, so I didn’t cut them in half, but i’m wondering had I cut them in half, would they have taken less than two full days to complete? When I pulled them off the tray, there was a stickiness all around. I wondered if all the sweetness was drawn out, but no, when I popped one in my mouth, it had a burst of sweet with the first cut of my teeth. I don’t think I’ve ever had that with any store-bought raisins!

The tomatoes came out looking perfectly sun-dried. I liked them as was, but still, I took the vendor at Ripple Creek’s suggestion and put them in the freezer. Once frozen, I took one out, and holy moly, the flavour! I don’t know if I would call it candy like, but I did keep sticking my hand in going back for more – so addictive!

I was leery to try kale. I’ve had kale chips before, and yes I did enjoy them, but I found they were a lot more work than they were worth. However, Courtney – a dehydrating guru – at Zaklan Heritage Farms convinced me to give them a second chance. She guided me to a recipe that included tahini and nutritional yeast, both of which I had on hand. She said once you had those, you wouldn’t be able to wait to make another batch. It was the last thing we dehydrated, and maybe that’s just because I wasn’t overly inspired. I whipped up the glaze, stuck the kale in the machine, and let her roll.

It smelled.

Like, really smelled.

I was worried.

My husband said no way was he trying those.

Even my son turned his nose up.

When they were done, I had a bite; I still wasn’t sure – it wasn’t the same as the balsamic kale chips I’d made previously. Yes, the crispness was perfect, but the flavour, I just didn’t know.

Two days later I had another bite. I wasn’t expecting much. I’d pretty much given up on these guys. But then, w’oh! They were good. No wait, they were great!

Aged! Yep, total snobby kale eater here 🙂

Market Loot

Zaklan Heritage Farm

• 1 bunch kale $3
• 1 bunch mustard greens $3
• 1 bag mixed greens $4

Ripple Creek Organic Farm

• 1 pint red cherry tomatoes $5
• 1 pint orange sunrise tomatoes $5

Greendale Herb and Vine

• 1 pint green grapes $4

Harvest Direct Farms

• 1 basket macintosh apples $5
• 1 basket gala apples $5
• 1 basket sunrise apples $5

Nature Village Farms

• 1 zucchini $1.50

Total spent $40.50

Overall, it was a lot of work. We got a good amount of snacks, but for all the work it was, I wish we had maybe had double the supply. We’re already running out.

That said, I now understand the jacked up prices on apple chips in stores!

If you were to Pinterest birthday party snacks, you will find reams of posts featuring Rice Krispie squares, cookies, chocolate-covered anything, chips, pretzels, greasy snacks galore. And I get it. Birthdays are all about debauchery.

BUT…

Do they have to be 100 per cent debauched?

Nah.

Last week we celebrated my son’s fifth birthday with a superhero theme. And you know superheroes – Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, even Flash – they all need super fuel.

Word has it, they love their fruits and veggies 😉

Our fuel-up station was 100% market fresh. The tomatoes were a mixture from both Greendale Herb and Vine and Ripple Creek Organic Farm. The super vision carrots (extra super because of the rainbowness) were from Zaklan Heritage Farm. And the energizing apple slices were from Harvest Direct Farms.

Yes, we had a super fantastic, super hero cake that a friend made, but we also had our health too. And that made this mama feel superhero fantastic!

This Week’s Loot

Greendale Herb and Vine

• 1 basket mixed cherry tomatoes $5

Ripple Creek Organic Farm

• 1 basket sunrise cherry tomatoes $5

Ossome Acres

• 1 bunch green onions $2
• 1 bunch collard greens $3
• Zaklan Heritage Farm:
• 2 mixed bags of salad greens $9
• 1 head purple lettuce $2
• 1 bunch mustard greens $3
• 1 bunch rainbow carrots $3

Harvest Direct Farms

• 1 basket apples $5

Fresh Quality Produce

• 1 bag English snap peas $3

Total spent: $40

How many parents out there were feeling frantic about back to school this week? Or was it just me?

I’ve been making my son’s snacks and lunches for four years, but suddenly now that he’s in kindergarten I felt the game has changed. He needed brain food. He needed energy food. As do I, now that I’m also back at UBC, in the dietetics program, with a super full course load, and three of my days starting at 8 a.m.!!!

Can the Farmer’s Market help?

Right now, we’ve got a lot of fruits and veggies on display. Carrots, tomatoes and snap peas are a no brainer for fresh veggies mid-afternoon. Fresh fruits are always a go-to for both the boy and I. But we’re not always going to have this abundance of freshness. In fact, with the leaves already falling in spots of New West, our days for summer fruits are fast dwindling.

One friend suggested borrowing her dehydrator for quick pick-me-up snacks well into the winter months.

Fermenting carrots, radishes, and onions might also be an option for added flavour and health snacks.

Eggs can be used in healthified baked goods that can be frozen for extended access. They can also be boiled and packed for a hearty snack or lunch.

My plan for next week is to create as many snack foods as possible with my market fare. How about you? What are you doing to amp up lunches and snacks?

Originally published on local blog Tenth to the Fraser, The Farmers Market Challenge, written by Katie Bartel (and the odd guest star) seeks to challenge the notice that you can’t get hardly anything for $40 at the farmers market. Each market, Katie explores what’s the best deal, and discovers food she’s never heard of.