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Farmers Market Challenge: The Greens are Greener at the Market

August 15, 2016 By newwestfarmers Leave a Comment

Let’s talk about salads.

I eat a LOT of salads. And not because it’s the trendy thing to do, or because it’s the healthy thing to do, I genuinely like the taste of greens and raw veggies. I eat salads for lunch, I eat salads for dinner, and sometimes I even have salads for breakfast.

This isn’t new. I’ve been loving on salads for years. But what is new is the level of super tasty greatness that market greens have added.

Seriously, the salads I’m creating these days are so crazy rich with flavour, I’ve stopped adding dressing. Salads before the market always had balsamic vinegar or oil and vinegar. Market salads get a squirt of fresh lemon, or parmesan shavings, or nothing at all.

They are that good.

What’s the difference?

Before the market, my greens were either solely spinach, or a mixed container variety. I have no idea when they were picked, how they were picked, where they were picked. I have no idea how long they were in transport, how long they were in a cooler or freezer, or how long they were on the floor before I grabbed them.

At the market, my greens have either been picked that morning, or at the latest, the day prior. It is the ultimate freshness.

On top of that, I’m getting varieties I’ve never had before. I’m mixing my straight up lettuce greens, with kale, and spicy mustard greens, and red spiky lettuces, and microgreens, and purslane, and rainbow chard. On average, I’ve got four or five different greens in my salads at once – plus all the fresh veggies and herbs, and pretty much anything else I can find in my fridge too!

It’s like a Whole Foods salad at a fraction of the cost!

Market salads: so rich in flavour, they don’t need dressing!
Market salads: so rich in flavour, they don’t need dressing!

This week’s loot:
• 1 bag of ruby streaks mustard greens: $3 (Zaklan Heritage Farms)
• 1 head of green leaf lettuce: $1 (Bose & Sons Family Farm)
• 1 green pepper: $1 (Fresh Quality Produce Ltd.)
• 1 bunch rainbow chard: $3 (Ossome Acres)
• 2 cucumbers: $2.50 (Yarrow Ecovillage)
• 6 eggs: $3.25 (Rockweld Farm)
• 1 block of smoked cheddar cheese: $8 (Golden Ears Cheesecrafters)
• 1 bottle of 2014 pinot gris: $20 (Blind Tiger Vineyards)

In total we spent $41.75, but had $1 leftover from the previous week, leaving us over budget by 75 cents.

This week’s market meal was centred on the celebration of me completing a chemistry course I had dreaded/avoided for 1.5 years. It was a hard slog this summer, and pass or fail, I deserved a reward. As such, the brunt of our expenditure went to the bottle of pinot gris from Blind Tiger Vineyards, an organic-certified vintner located in the Okanagan.

To compliment the wine, my husband cooked up a peasant-style French meal of simple omelettes with basil, green onion stems, and sharp cheddar, and a side of boiled nugget potatoes drizzled in browned butter.

Market Meal: a French-inspired peasant’s meal of omelettes and boiled potatoes.
Market Meal: a French-inspired peasant’s meal of omelettes and boiled potatoes.

The only thing missing from the meal was we should have been eating it on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean in the south of France.

Ahhh, dreams…

The great thing about eggs, they’re a surefire win with the toddler age.
The great thing about eggs, they’re a surefire win with the toddler age.

The week in meals:

• 3 breakfast smoothies – with rainbow chard
• 1 breakfast portobello and egg “sandwich” – with ruby streaks, purslane, smoked cheddar
• 1 breakfast frittata – with rainbow chard, Italian onion, smoked cheddar
• 4 full-plate lunch salads – with green lettuce, rainbow chard, kale (from last week), pizzo mustard greens (from last week), purslane (from last week), cilantro (from last week), ruby streaks, cucumber, onion stems (from last week), and Italian onions (from last week).
• 1 full-plate dinner salad
• 6 half-plate dinner salads
• 2 1/4-plate dinner salads
• 2 servings grilled green pepper
• 2.5 servings shrimp quinoa – with rainbow chard stems and leaves
• 3 servings omelette – with 6 eggs, basil (from last week), green onion stems (from last week), smoked cheddar
• 2.5 servings boiled potatoes (from last week)

The lesson learned this week: get to the market early.

In week’s past, my husband and I have arrived at the market around 3:30, shortly after it opens. Parking is ample, atmosphere is relaxed, and booths are stocked full. This week, however, we arrived closer to 5. Several vendors had sold out of items we wanted.

Farmers’ markets aren’t supermarkets; they don’t have an endless supply of product in storage; they’re going to run out. If you snooze, well, you lose.

Duly noted.

Filed Under: Blog, Buying local, Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: blog series, buy local, Farmers, farmers market, Katie Bartel, meal planning, salads

Farmers Market Challenge: The Taste of Microgreens

July 18, 2016 By newwestfarmers Leave a Comment

“Daddy, why are you putting dead flowers onto mommy’s salad???”

Oh child, those aren’t dead flowers, nope, those are microgreens, and you better be liking them because they’re a new must-have staple in our market-buying groceries. (Note: Microgreens do not look like dead flowers; this was the observation of a three-year-old.)

When I walked past the Nutrigreens tent at last week’s market, I looked at my list and sure enough microgreens were there, but only on the maybe side. That meant that only after we got our necessities for the week purchased could we splurge on the maybes.

We are working with a budget after all; we’ve got to stick to the plan.

The list of definites and maybes.
The list of definites and maybes.

The maybes are things we don’t necessarily need but that may intrigue us, something we have yet to try, something that may only benefit one of us, not all three, or something that’s more a treat than a necessity.

Microgreens are like the premies of baby greens, seedlings loaded with mega nutrients. I’d seen them at the market before, but had never tried them. At $5 for a 300-gram container, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to commit; I thought I could find better value in veggies elsewhere.

But I got to chatting with the vendor, he told me if I got the plastic container instead of a bag, he could stuff more in there, and if I relocated them to a tupperware container at home with a damp cloth (I used paper towel) on both the bottom and top of the container they’d stay fresh – lasting up to 12-14 days without going bad.

He handed me a flower.

Market goers, I know you already know this, but for those of you new to market buying, this is a thing – we eat the produce before we buy.

Sampling: it’s a brilliant selling feature!
Sampling: it’s a brilliant selling feature!

The flavour that bursted in my mouth with that tiny sample, it was something I don’t think I’ve ever tasted in my greens before. So loud and prominent, like a kid jumping around in my mouth shouting “Look at me! Look at me!” Even my husband, who is a bit more reserved with his salad explorations, was wowed by the flavour kick – putting it atop our salads and into his tuna sandwiches for an added twist.

However, based on the amount we liked them, there’s no way they were going to last 12 days; by week’s end, there’s was enough for maybe two salads left.

This week’s loot:

Aged havarti cheese: $11
Half dozen eggs: $3
Microgreens: $5
Head of red spiky leafed lettuce: $3
2 yellow zucchinis: $1.50
1 red cabbage: $2.80
Bunch of green onions: $2.50
1 lb fava beans: $3.00
4 carrots: $3.50
Cluster of rainbow chard: $3.00
1 giant cookie: $2.00

The loot bag: veggies, eggs, cheese, oh my!
The loot bag: veggies, eggs, cheese, oh my!

Just like last week, we had a plan, but unfortunately a few things needed to be altered on the fly. When we’d heard Vale Farms was coming to town, we’d hoped to acquire lamb, but discovered lamb wouldn’t be available until September. A quick brainstorming session had us purchasing a half dozen eggs and the award-winning aged havarti from Golden Ears Cheese for a quiche-inspired market meal.

160712marketquiche

Market ingredients: Quiche = 4 eggs, 2-cups cheese, ~3/4 cup green onions, ~1 cup rainbow chard; Salad = red lettuce, red cabbage, ruby streaks mustard greens from 2 markets ago, microgreens, green onions, scapes from 3-4 markets ago, and broccoli from 2 markets ago.

A huge thumbs up from all three of us!

Carrots were on the necessity side this week. I wanted to compare between the bulk bags of carrots we usually get and the freshly pulled from the ground carrots offered at the market. As suspected, the market carrots did not disappoint. As soon as I took that first bite, it was a throwback to my childhood years growing up on the family farm, which after 30 years was sold last year. It’s a taste you don’t get in bulk: not just crunchy, but earthy and moist too.

Unfortunately, though, at $3.50 for a bunch of four, though bulky, the flavour was not enough to justify the expense.

Carrots are the easy, go-to vegetable for both my son and I. I, alone, eat at least two, sometimes three or more a day. Four carrots barely gets us through a day, let alone a week.

Sadly, the carrots will be more of a treat than a staple.

Tally for the week:
• 4 full-plate lunch salads
• 2 lunch side salads
• 7 dinner 1/2 plate salads
• 2 dinners with grilled zucchini and green beans
• 1 breakfast smoothie (with greens)
• 3 microgreen-infused tuna sandwiches
• 1 dinner with sautéd green beans (from last week’s loot)
• 1 dinner with quiche (plus 2 servings left over)
• 2 snacks of carrots
• 1 dessert cookie split between two happy boys

With the weather being somewhat crummy this week, we ate more dinner salads and stove-prepared meals than grilled vegetables, which meant that by Monday, we were running low on our greens, and still had quite a bit of zucchini left. I was able to off-set the greens with a small harvest of arugula and spinach from our patio pallet garden. We still have green beans left over from last week, and scapes from three markets ago that still look and taste fantastic. In fact, I think they’re getting even more garlicy with time.

Salads: I’ve always had mad salad-making skill, but these days, they’re becoming more and more Picasso-esque in both beauty and flavour!
Salads: I’ve always had mad salad-making skill, but these days, they’re becoming more and more Picasso-esque in both beauty and flavour!

This week we went 30 cents over budget. After all the necessities and a couple maybes were purchased, we had $1.70 remaining. My husband’s eyes drifted to the Artisan Bakery stand.

“Surely, we could splurge,” he suggested. “It could be a treat,” he offered.

After all, farmers’ markets aren’t just about the veggies, you know!

Filed Under: Blog, Buying local, Recipes Tagged With: blog series, budget, buy local, farmers market, Katie Bartel, meal planning, outside the box

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