7 Reasons Why I Love the Farmer's Market

Living in California's central valley means we have the vast majority of the country's best produce available to us in abundance at multiple local farmers' markets. My favorite here in Sacramento is the Sunday market under the freeway at 8th & W. I am told this is one of the biggest markets in the state, although I can't confirm that.

There are plenty of reasons to love the farmer's market....these are the 7 reasons I think it's so great:

1. Fresh, local and often organic produce, meats, dairy and more - Although this may seem obvious not everyone is so lucky to have a local farmer's market at all, let alone nearly everyday of the week. I'm sure at least some of you have spent time in areas where produce isn't so readily available, or if it is, it's certainly not as fresh. Being removed from it will make you realize how lucky we are to have it year round.

2. Inspiration - There have been many occasions as I saunter through the market on a Sunday morning when I see something I've never seen before or something that looks interesting. I may leave the market not knowing quite what I'm going to do with it until I can do a Google recipe search to find out. This works in reverse too, sometimes I come to the market with a recipe in hand and buy as many things as I can at the market to cook it.

3. Seasonal knowledge - If you shop the market often enough and year round, you will most certainly develop knowledge of what's in season. Additionally, if you're shopping at the market year round, you are eating what's in season too, which typically means the produce you're buying has more nutrients because it is fresher.

4. Sense of community - People working and shopping at the market are just friendly. The crowd forces you to get close people and often talk to them. I've often heard other shoppers ask "what's this?" and the other shoppers around them volunteer information. Also, who better ask "how do you cook this" than the farmer who grew it? At the market that farmer is usually right behind the stand.

5. Hybrids and variety - Lemon cucumbers, pluots, purple carrots, fresh herbs, yellow watermelon....these aren't things you will typically see in a grocery store. And at the market, you can pretty much taste anything you want, just ask.

6. Prices - The market is cheap. I don't know if people don't realize this or what, but by shopping at the market you're essentially cutting out the middle man. Three bunches of cilantro for $1, a bunch of mint for 50 cents, 30 eggs for $7, pluots, peaches, plums and nectarines for $1.50/lb.....these are all real prices happening right now at the Sunday market. If someone can tell me a grocery store in town that sells produce as fresh and local as this at these prices, please share.

7. Taste - Once you start eating produce from the market on a regular basis there is no going back. In my opinion, even organic produce from high end grocery chains can't compare. Market buys are better, fresher and last way longer. The only thing that might beat it is something you grow in your own garden.

I would encourage anyone to visit their local farmer's market, get in the crowd, grab your goods and don't be afraid to ask questions. My only other suggestion is to bring your own disposable grocery bags to make it easier to haul the load you are likely to purchase. Also, don't forget cash; $20 will go a long way at the market. Here is some additional scoop on the markets local to Sacramento:

Tuesday Fremont Park Market - This is another great little lunchtime market with good lunch food available too, like tamales for $2! This is also a nice shady park that is a great spot for enjoying your lunch. Location is 16th and P, hours are 10:00-1:30, open from May-September.

Tuesday Roosevelt Park Market - Another lunchtime park market. Open 10:00-1:30 from May-September.

Wednesday Market at Chavez Plaza - This is a great little lunchtime market in a good people watching venue (they have the tamales too!). They are open from May to October from 10:00-1:30.

Thursday Capitol Mall Farmer's Market - Another one I haven't been to. This is between 5th and 6th on on Capitol Mall and open May-September from 10:00-1:30.

Thursday Capitol Park Market - This market is at the East end of Capitol Park. Open May-September from 10:00-1:30. What better place to enjoy lunch and a mid-day break than Capitol Park?

Thursday Florin Farmer's Market - This market is in front of the Sears store and runs from 8:00-Noon, it is also open year round and accepts EBT.

Saturday Rancho Cordova Market - This is a great little Saturday market with some of the same vendors from the Sunday market and some different vendors as well. I visit this market if I can't make the Sunday market. Both times I have been they have a clown doing balloon animals for the kids and live music. It is open year round, accepts EBT and runs from 8:00-Noon. Location is Folsom & Sunrise near the light rail station.

Saturday Laguna Gateway Market - Open year round, accepts EBT and runs from 8:00-Noon. At Laguna Gateway Center, Laguna & Big Horn Blvd.

Saturday Natomas Farmer's Market - This is in the Target/Sports Authority Shopping center and also accepts EBT. It opened in June and the closing date is TBD, hours 8:00-Noon.

Saturday Oak Park Farmer's Market - I have not visited this market yet, but the reviews look great. They are open Saturday's from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. from May to October and accepts EBT.

Saturday Country Club Plaza Market - I haven't been to this market either but it looks like a good one. If it's close to you, check it out! It's open year round from 8:00-Noon.

Sunday Farmer's Market, 8th & W - This is my favorite market and the one I visit the most. Overall this market is easily the biggest in Sacramento and filled with all kinds of goodies including produce, meats, seafood, cheese, honey, bread & pastries, eggs, herbs, nuts and dried fruits not to mention much, much more. It is also open year round, though less busy in winter. Bring cash, although I believe some of the meat and seafood vendors accept plastic. Also, EBT accepted.



I've linked most of these to Yelp reviews so you can get an idea of what the people think, but you should also check the California Grower's Certified Farmer's Market site to confirm hours and locations as the market's change a bit each year.

***I shared this post on the following sites, click the links for more interesting posts!

The Healthy Home Economist

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My Sweet & Savory

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Delightfully Dowling

Simply Sugar & Gluten Free

All the Small Stuff

Real Food Forager

Growing Home Blog

Kelly the Kitchen Kop

The Tasty Alternative

The Kings Court IV

The Gluten Free Homemaker

This Chick Cooks

Lady Behind the Curtain

We are that Family

Farmer's Market

I ventured to the Farmer's Market on Sunday.....

....it had been a bit so I was happy to be back....

...here's a preview of what I got....

.....can you guess???

Let's see.....

...Pluot's.  They are still hanging around, which makes me happy.

They are starting to dwindle though, which makes me sad.

So I bought 8 of them.

...Green onions.  Not sure what I'll use these for.

...Hot peppers.  I've been buying these of late and having them hang around the fridge.

They're nice to throw in random stuff.  

I have a plan for these guys though.

...Buttercup pumpkins.  It is Halloween soon.  So these could be decorative, don't you think?

....Mixed greens.  For lunch salad, yum!

....Red bells.  For any roasted red pepper goodness I might decide to make.

...Fuji Apples.  They are The Cyclist's favorite.  

These were the first of the season, so I wasn't sure how good they'd be.

He gave them a thumbs up.

...Arugula.  I ♥ arugula.  So good in salad.

Nice & peppery.

....Some stuff I forget the name of.  I bought it from the herbs lady.

I was thinking we could use it as a micro-green on sandwiches.

Has anyone noticed the sprouts shortage?

The Cyclist & I love sprouts but they are never in the store anymore!

We have been using micro-greens instead.

But, I don't know what these are.  

Any guesses?

...Green beans.  Yum.  I love fresh steamed green beans.

...Yellow Onion.  Self explanatory.

...Red Onion.  See above.

...Avocado.  I got these for a recipe I'll be reviewing later this week - Chicken Tortilla Soup.

It was good!

I have been avoiding buying avo's at the market because they seemed expensive.

But, Nana says 5 for $6 is cheap, so I did good.

Now.  Please note all of my plastic bags.I really need to break this habit.
A friend and fellow blogger just wrote about a bunch of great alternatives to plastic on her blog, The Tasty Alternative.  I am embarrassed to admit how many times I've gone to the store and forgotten my re-usable grocery bags, or simply left them in the car.  I also seem to always grab the plastic bags at the grocery and the Farmer's Market, even when I don't necessarily need them.  I am determined to break these habits and cut my plastic down....please hold me accountable blogosphere.  You have my permission to flog me in the comment section if you catch me with a bunch of plastic bags.
Other than the excessive plastic, all in all, another good day at the market!
Oh, and if you're paying attention, there is a hint in here.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Everything in moderation...

I truly believe in this slogan.  (Is it a slogan?)  Whatever, it's true.  I don't think you can ever be successful in a healthy eating lifestyle if you don't divulge, at least sometimes, in sweets or other garbage food, like fried stuff.  At least this is true for me anyways. 

So, in this frame of mind, I will first share with you my Farmer's Market haul from the 10th...

(I was at Cyclebration last weekend so no Farmer's Market for me)

Like that fancy labeling?? 

• Pluots - note how pluots come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors.  My favorites are still the dinosaur egg looking ones.  Those little yellow-ish/red-ish ones are called Flavor Bursts.  They are goo-ood!  I know this is a lot of pluots, but I am eating about 2 a day at this point, so don't you worry about them going bad in my fridge.

• Figs - I bought heirloom tomatoes from the same vendor the week prior and he had me try one of these figs.  I have never eaten a fig before and it was really good!  I went back to buy more, but the line was super long.  So, this time I made sure to buy some when I got my tomatoes.  I think they would be tasty on pizza, but I'm afraid next time I return to the market the fig season will have passed.

• Heirloom Tomatoes - the best tomato variety.  Hands down.

• Purple bell peppers - those look pretty nifty, huh?  I thought they were interesting, then another customer was telling me how they're really good and especially good on fajitas.  They also apparently turn that translucent green color all over when cooked.  I like them, they're a little sweeter than regular old green or red.

• Ambrosia Melon - it was basically a cantaloupe.  Actually, I think it was a cantaloupe.  I just learned how to know if your melon is ripe (thank you Nana).  Smell the little belly button on the end, if it smells like the fruit, it's ready.  Also, Nana said she buys the watermelons that are the most sun-faded and beat up on the outside, because they are usually the juiciest (from getting the most sun).
• Herbs!  I got these for 3 for $1.  Steal of a deal.  I roasted those red potatoes, then cut up the cilantro and chives and mixed them around with the potatoes when they were done.  It was good and fresh tasting.  I cut up the mint and put it on some sliced pineapple and ambrosia melon, also tasty.  Our friends Coco & Tankupeet cook with herbs a lot and/or add them to salad.  I am inspired!  I was with Coco when I bought these herb, she was getting some, so I was less afraid.  Plus you can't beat that price.
• Red potatoes - they are red potatoes, see above.
• Cucumbers - we've been putting these on sandwiches.  Or as The Cyclist says "lunch meat sandwiches".
• Asian Pears - I ate one today.  Don't let the boring outside fool you, they are super juicy.

Let us return to Everything in Moderation.

I figure since I've been eating all this good stuff, it's probably OK that I also ate some of this:

Yes.  Those are cupcakes.

Icing on the Cupcake, in fact.

Is it true that if you cut them in half the calories fall out?

We have:

Boston Cream

Red Velvet

Coconut Macaroon

and something we were calling Pinkadot - the signature cupcake with pink frosting and chocolate cake

Banana Bread (?) (that one is in the box, not on the plate)

Oh yeah, and chocolate/chocolate (also in the box)

This is me doing quality control testing.

 I also seem to be deep in thought.

I actually ate 1/2 of 2 cupcakes = 1 cupcake.

That wouldn't have been so bad, except my birthday was Saturday....

So on Friday we had this at work...

 

From Ettore's

And then on Saturday I had not 1, not 2, but 3 cakes and cake balls.

I hear you laughing but I am not kidding.

Coco (the best & most creative dessert chef I know) made me a cake.

I'm not sure what it's called, but it tasted fruity and had sprinkles on top.

I think it had blueberries inside too.  It was good.  Thank you!

I would have photographed it, but the boys ate a bunch of it before I remembered to do so.
Then, The Cyclist got 2 cakes from Karen's for the BBQ and surprised me.
(Thank you Honey)
One of them was German Chocolate...

...and the other one was some type of yummy peach madness. 
The peach one was seasonal, so no picture there either.
(Sorry, I was eating cake!)
And, to top it off, Mrs. R made cake balls!
You can't pass a cake ball if it is put under your nose.
That's the rule.  I didn't make it up.

So, moderation went kind of haywire recently.
I'm hoping all that cake will be balanced out by all these fruits and veggies....

 

Or maybe this post should have been called,
"Everything in Moderation....and cake"

I need to go running now.

Farmer's Market

I decided I want to do periodic posts on the Farmer's Market as a way to show what's currently in season.  I knew when I started shopping at the Farmer's Market that eating local and/or organic is healthy, but buying things in season never really occurred to me.  The grocery store pretty much always has everything right?  I just never thought if there are strawberries available in December, what journey did they take to get to me?  Or, what stuff was put on them to make them grow in the middle of winter?

So, shopping at the market as often as possible has helped me to get a better idea of what's available when.  One of the best parts about the market is the smell.  On Sunday it smelled like fresh basil and fruit.  Yum.  The other best part about buying what's in season is learning to cook new stuff.  The people working the market are usually pretty helpful about giving ideas on how to cook or use their foods; don't be afraid to ask.

Here is my haul from Sunday:

...and another (better) angle...

Here's what I got for just under $40...

2 ears of corn

3-4 organic beets

7 spicy peppers

30 brown eggs

2 leeks

1 bunch of long beans

2 Comice pears

2 Asian pears

8 pluots

2 nectarines

6 peaches

5 heirloom tomatoes

1 bunch of bok choy

1lb bag of brussels sprouts

4 green bell peppers

And now, some food notes for you....

• No lettuce this time because they just re-planted, so it won't be available for 3-5 weeks. 
• Stone fruit is still in season which makes me happy.
• I ♥ pluot's, if you have not had one, you should try.  A pluot is a plum and an apricot. 
• I am excited to use the long beans, leeks and bok choy tonight.  I will probably throw in some of those hot peppers and mix up some type of noodle stir-fry with salmon.  We've got an eggplant hanging out that came from Mrs. Bestie's Dad's garden, so I want to use that too.  I originally thought I'd throw the corn in, but now I'm thinking I'll use that for something else.
• Don't hate on brussel sprouts!  I used to hate them too, until PG cooked them for us and now we can't get enough!  I will be asking his permission to share his recipe.
• We've been using a lot of the green bells on our sandwiches, which is super tasty.
• The price of the eggs went up from $6 to $7 - I asked and the girls told me it was because the price of feed went up too.  Still a great deal.
• I'll roast those beets and we'll eat them with balsamic and goat cheese.  Here is an easy recipe.
• And the heirlooms...these are the best kind of tomatoes in the world.  I used them this weekend to make a margherita pizza....I will post the photo of it here tonight (sorry!  I just accidentally deleted it, darn it!).

Enjoy your local Farmer's Market!







Mystery Garden

Finally!  I feel like I've been pimpin' this post too much and it's now going to end up being a let down.  But who cares?!  I'm determined to share our garden of mystery!!

About a year ago, The Cyclist built me these nifty compost bins...

...(I told you he was handy). 

Compost, anyone?

The initial idea was that we could use the compost in the garden boxes we intended to build in Spring... ....which we did not do. 

Planning a wedding really is a full time job apparently.

That's OK though because we're cutting down on landfill waste by throwing all of our left-over veggie pieces and yard trimmings in here.  If you don't have a compost bin you can throw all the same stuff in your county green waste bin (assuming you have one).  It really cuts down on trash.

BTW, if you have one of these:

you'll need to add that mesh netting to your compost bin or he will eat all your compost. 

Especially if yours is a Lab too.

So sadly, we didn't get our garden boxes built because we were too busy, but then....

....a miracle occurred...

...a mysterious miracle at that...

...a garden sprouted out of our compost bin!

Presto!  Just like that!

After seeing these pretty flowers....

...The Cyclist announced we were now squash farmers.

Yipee!

In visiting the Farmer's Market I also learned we were squash blossom farmers.

Did you know they sell these bad boys at the market?

Apparently people stuff them with goat cheese and other things....interesting.

So, The Cyclist was right, we are squash farmers...

BUT...in addition to being squash farmers, we are apparently also....

gourd farmers?

AND...

...Pumpkin farmers???

What the...?

Needless to say, we aren't really sure how this happened other than we probably threw our Halloween pumpkins and gourds in the compost bin and they decided to multiply.  But, because we like adventure, we are letting this crazy mystery garden flourish!

Suegee (that's your name for the blog, you know who you are), we hope you have your annual pumpkin carving party this year!  We're hoping we get an automatic win for bringing homegrown pumpkins!

In the meantime, I'll be cooking this squash tonight, so I will report back.  If anyone has guesses or thoughts on what specifically our garden is growing, please share.  Maybe these aren't pumpkins? 

Coming soon - blog post & photos of Sunday's NCNCA crit champ race....stay tuned!

**I shared this over at Centsational Girl - click the link for lot's of great gardening ideas!

Farmer's Market & Training Update

We have a great Farmer's Market here in good ol' Sac-Town.  I saw a Yelp review this week that compared it to a French market and I would have to agree.  The amount of stuff they have is endless, way beyond fruit and veggies.  There is something about going to the market on Sunday morning that makes me happy.  I love the atmosphere, the smells and just the whole vibe of the place. 

At some point I plan to do a detailed post about the market, vendors and all of the good stuff (like Pretzel Croissants!), but today I just wanted to share my haul from last weekend....check it out:

I liked this photo so much I made the new blog background (in case you didn't notice).  But seriously, all of this for $39.  I don't know if that seems like a lot, but it would have been way more if I tried to buy it in the grocery store, especially since a lot of this stuff is organic.  Plus, the farmer's market goods always last way longer since they are so fresh.  All together I got:

• 30 eggs ($6!)
• 1lb mixed zesty salad greens (organic)
• 2 heads of lettuce (organic)
• 3 red onions (organic)
• 1 bunch purple carrots (so good and organic)
• 6 plum tomatoes (organic)
• 1 bunch golden beets (organic)
• 2 leeks (organic)
• 4 peaches (organic)
• 4 nectarines (organic)
• 4 pluots (local)
• 4 plums (local)
• 3 green bell peppers (local)
• 2 cucumbers (local)

I can't wait to go back this Sunday!

Now, onto training......

So last week I mentioned that I was going to train for this:

BUT....after going to register I've changed my mind.  First off, the super sprint is $100!  That is probably not a lot considering the course area, ocean swim and popularity of the race, but I'm used to my local $65 races.  So, considering how our calendar looks that weekend, driving to Monterey at 6PM, racing for an hour the next morning and turning around to go home right after the race just doesn't seem worth it.

Instead I'm looking at doing TBF Racing's Clif Bar Team Challenge

I've been wanting to do this for a long time but we usually have a conflict.  This year we are waiting to see if it will conflict with my cousin's wedding, but hopefully it won't.  If not, I'll be racing with IronMom (my mom) and The Cyclist.  We should be able to do some damage!

Otherwise this week - I had hoped to do a run or, wishfully, a run and a ride last weekend; I did neither.  Spending time with The Cyclist, The Munchkin and lots of other good friends took prevalence over exercise, and that is fine.  This week I have managed to ride my bike everyday again (woot-woot!).  I rode an extra 15 miles on Monday.  On Tuesday I attempted to run with Otis (The Dog), but it was hard and hot....I'm going to be glad I made the attempt and leave it at that.  On Wednesday I swam again.  So overall, doing good!  It feels good to be exercising regularly and I don't feel bad about all the cookies I've been making with my new Kitchen Aid mixer (I love that thing!).  I swear, 90% of why I exercise is food.

Coming soon I will review a great fish recipe and tell you all about Pizza Night!