Farmers' Market Finds...

Farmers' markets in San Diego are unreal. Although I love my beloved CSA, I still make a point to go to at least one of our wonderful farmers' markets each week. There are literally dozens of them in every neighborhood on every day, so it's easy to find one that suits your fancy. My favorite is in Leucadia...it's in a hippy little town and itself seems very "hippy-ish" with live music and lots of delicious vegetarian food being cooked over hot stoves and grills. There is a good variety of vendors and I typically find what I need. I also love the Del Mar one, mainly because it's closest to my house, parking is never an issue, and my favorite farm fresh egg stand is there. There are several others I visit but those two I frequent.

There are two mac daddys of farmers' markets in San Diego: In Hillcrest and Little Italy. Both of these are major events with literally hundreds of vendors and thousands of people. You can get everything from fresh shucked oysters to organic grains and lentils to organic dog treats and handmade jewelry to the most gorgeous produce, flowers and plants you have ever lied your eyes on. I forgot to mention the roasted, organic, free range chicken (which I don't eat anymore but urge you omnivores to seek out...it's as close to French Rotisserie Chicken I have found in the US), the gorgeous vegetarian crepes, beautiful deserts, endless tables of ethnic foods, and freshly baked bread. With all of the vendors and all of the people...and all of the sights and smells......it's a feast for your senses. Not only can you eat like a queen while you attend these events, you can purchase local, sustainable, organic foods to enjoy with your family all week! I highly recommend seeking out your local farmers' markets for your grocery shopping needs. You can get SO much more there than just tomatoes and strawberries...breads, artisan cheeses, dips, chips, teas, chocolates, coffee, salads, fresh fish, etc.  Last weekend I went to the Hillcrest location and literally drove around for 30 minutes before I found a parking spot. It is intense...and a far cry from my leisurely strolls in Del Mar and Encinitas! But sometimes you want to pick up some of these gorgeous soaps that my mom and I love dearly.......

Sometimes it's just so fun to go to one of these events and stroll around...observing all there is to observe...including some lovely people watching....

I also found a lovely new organic spice stand...selling lovely teas, peppers, spice mixes, seeds, etc. I bought a French curry blend which was lovely...along with some organic pepper, caraway seeds, and harrissa spice mix. I have already used my curry spice with large zucchinis, baby potatoes, and coconut milk to make a take on Heidi Swanson's new recipe "Summer Squash Soup" from her most recent beautiful book: Super Natural Everyday
I absolutely love Heidi's Blog 101 Cookbooks and also have her earlier book Super Natural Cooking. I have also given this book to several people as gifts. I think Heidi makes healthful vegetarian food that is lovely to look at and lovely to eat as well as easy to cook. Her pictures transport you to her San Francisco Kitchen and make you want to tuck into interesting ingredients like Heirloom Beans and Black Sesame Seeds. I highly recommend her blogs and books for anyone looking to incorporate more beautiful vegetarian cooking into their lives.

Recipe:

Summer Squash Soup, Very Loosely Adapted from "Super Natural Everyday" by Heidi Swanson

Toast 1 heaping TBSP French Curry Blend over medium heat in the bottom of a dutch oven.
Chop one purple onion finely.
Add 1 TBSP Coconut oil and 1 TBSP EVOO to your pot after the spices become fragrant and toasty (my seasons were whole, not ground. You could do this with ground curry powder too).
Add the onions and saute for a few minutes until translucent.
In the meantime, cut 5 small yellow potatoes into cubes about 1/2 inch.
Add the potatoes to the pot.
Sweat the potatoes with the onions for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly so things don't stick to the pan.
Add 1 cup water, 1 cup veggie broth (I used low sodium) and 2 cups of Coconut Milk (I used So Delicious Brand from a carton, but you could also use one can of coconut milk instead).
Make sure to get all the seasonings from the bottom of the pan incorporated.
After about 10-15 minutes (depending on your potatoes cooking time) add in two large cubed zucchinis. Allow everything to soften, but not too much. You don't want mushy zucchini which happened to me.
While the soup is cooking, you can crisp up some cubed tofu in pan or roast in the oven.
Taste the soup and add more seasonings in necessary. I added more salt and some garam masala at this point.
Serve a big bowl of soup with your "tofu croutons" and enjoy!

This soup was wonderful. Heidi called for adding the zucchini before the potatoes which I did, and they became WAY too soggy. That is why I adjusted the recipe here. It was a wonderful soup and not too heavy on a warm spring night. Although a reheated bowl really hit the spot after on of my recent training swims on a chilly evening in Mission Bay.

I had some leftovers which I pureed...and that was great too!

CSA Delivery and Clean out the Fridge Day!

Every other Monday I get my CSA Package from Be Wise Ranch http://www.bewiseranch.com/. I pay $30 for a large box every other week.  Here is some of last night's shipment. It included strawberries, oranges, carrots, cherry tomatoes, bok choy, some interesting greens, radishes, turnips, sweet potatoes, limes, lemons, cabbage, and an avocado. This shipment was a little bit smaller than they usually are and I am guessing that is because of all the crazy rain we have been having... I hope their crops aren't too badly damaged. Regardless, I think it's such a great deal! This is all organic, locally grown produce that is delicious and my biweekly payment helps support a local farm....and I just think that is really cool! The shipments usually last about a week and a half (the fruit runs out quicker) but this is where the majority of my produce comes from. If you are interested in finding a CSA in your area, check out this site:   http://www.localharvest.org/ The site also lists farmer's markets. I can't stress the importance of buying local produce and goods....The CSA has been great in also trying to come up with recipes for different things than I usually buy. Like turnips...anyone have any recipe ideas for those?

Here is another shot....the strawberries were surprisingly good....very sweet for being pretty early in the year for them...

And another.....

Usually on Sunday's Aaron goes to work on his car (he is rebuilding a 53 Chevy, "Rat Rod" Style) in Lakeside which is about 40 miles from our house. His dad, Vito, lives out there and has lots of cars, property, and equipment to work on cars.  Aaron and Vito get to bond and Aaron gets to work on this cool car under the expert supervision of his dad. In the past few years Aaron and I have been together, I have learned far more about cars than I EVER wanted to or expected to. But I have to say it's been really fun to watch Aaron work and car culture is surprisingly fun. Just don't ask me to tell you the difference from a 53 to 54 to 55 Chevy.... I still can't remember! It's a really nice way for us to spend time with Vito and his wife Nathalee, whom I absolutely love. They are great fun.  We are going to Yuma, AZ, for a show called "Midnight at the Oasis" in March.  Aaron and I are always the youngest people there by about 20 years.  It's a whole weekend of cars and car culture. Check out the website... http://www.caballeros.org/ It's kind of funny that I like to go, if you knew me well you would know I like France and fine food and shopping and girly, fancy things. (In all honesty, I spend most of the time reading out by the pool!) But I really think one of the best aspects of our relationship is that we have our own hobbies to focus on.  I will have to post some pictures of the car... I think it will be pretty fun to cruise around in the rat rod once it's done....people will definitely be looking. 

While Aaron spends Sunday's on his car, I get a whole day to myself. I didn't really love it at first because Aaron and I really work a ton during the week and the weekend was our time. But now I don't mind it because I usually spend Sunday's with my friends, or by myself, doing yoga, going to the farmer's markets, taking long hikes, reading, catching up girly tv shows, etc.  

I also usually spend a few hours on Sunday cooking some basic foods to have ready for lunches and dinners for the week. I usually make a big dinner on Sunday like soup, risotto, etc, that we can have lots of leftovers from. I also like to cook one kind of dry bean or dry lentil to add to things like salads or bowls during the week. And I also cook up one kind of whole grain or rice for the week.  I find if I keep a few of these things on hand already cooked, I can just add in some veggies and have a complete meal in minutes. When you work 10-12 hours a day like me and Aaron, it's important to plan ahead, or you will just have tons of crappy, non homemade food!

Since we were in LA all weekend, I really didn't have time to do that this weekend. So last night I made it a priority and after cleaning all my produce from my CSA (another great time saver I learned from Raechel Ray) I had tons of veggie trimmings and other leftovers in the fridge to deal with. I used the veggie trimmings to make a large pot of home made vegetable stock. You can just save all the leftover bits of the veggies you use for a week, put them in a large pot with water, a dash of salt, and any fresh herbs you want. Boil for 1-2 hours until the broth tastes good and then strain it out.  Keep in the fridge for a week or freeze for? a couple months? It's such a cheap and healthier version of store bought stock...it's actually free because I normally would throw these veggie bits away. (I wish I had a compost pile, but that's another story.)

I also juiced all the grapefruits from Rosemary and a big bag of tangerines that were too seedy to eat. I bet I only got about 2 cups of juice from about 20 pieces of fruit! It sure tastes good though. 

I also made two big pots of soup. One was cooked with a variety of beans and grains. Basically, I chopped garlic, onions, carrots, and celery and sautéed them with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I used 1 cup of mixed beans and lentils and added about 8 cups of watered down stock. I also threw in two bay leaves and some dry thyme (although I think fresh thyme would have been better). After about an hour and a half of simmering when the beans were nice and soft, I added about 2 cups of tomato puree, salt, and pepper. I also had a rind of pecorino romano cheese so I threw that in. The soup was good but a little too tomato-ee. I think I will add some honey or agave when we eat it again so they taste more like baked beans than soup.  Here is our dinner with little vegan cheese and arugula sandwiches. The sandwiches are on a pretty new Japanese tray I bought this weekend in LA in Little Tokyo.  It was a good little dinner and I love my new dish. So pretty. 

The last thing I made last night was the second pot of soup...again a real mish mosh, clean out your fridge kind of soup. I had made a spoof on a tomato gratin from Barefoot Contessa last week. It was basically whole grain bread, fresh tomatoes, olive oil and dried herbs baked together. It was good but we had left overs. I have seen a couple of varieties of Italian soup cooked with bread to thicken it, so I thought, why not make the leftovers into soup? Again, I used carrots, celery, garlic and onions and sautéed them together. Then I added about 2 cups of baked fresh tomatoes and 2 cups of the bread. If you don't have the leftovers like I did, you could just chop up some tomatoes and day old bread.  Then I added in about 2 cups of mushroom broth and 8 oz of sliced crimini mushrooms. I also added the rest of the pureed tomatoes from the other soup...maybe 1 cup? I let it simmer for about 15 minutes until it thickened. We just ate it for dinner tonight after reheating it on the stove...OMG! It was so good! Aaron scarfed it up. I sprinkled some fresh parsley on top for some color and it was amazing. Really great, simple, earthy food. And now I have two portions for lunch or last minute dinner.

And I think that does it for a long post. LA update coming soon. Good nite!