On A Chive Kick

I took my lunch break at the farmer's market today. It was such a nice treat to get outside and walk around after a busy morning. There were a bunch of vendors that I haven't seen before and I happily sampled my way through them. My favorites included non-dairy ice cream sold by an adorable mom and daughter duo (perfect on a 90 degree day) and grass fed ground beef, which was surprisingly succulent. Unfortunately they were just too expensive. That's the one problem I have with these markets. I'm all for supporting local, but I'm not made of money!

I ended up with a bunch of garlic scapes, which I'm hoping to make into pesto, a head of kohlrabi, a small container of carrot miso dressing, and some dry garlic chive pappardelle. The pasta was a splurge, but it sounded interesting. And the vendor was tying up the bunches with a beautiful ribbon. I couldn't resist :)

I thought about the pasta all afternoon and decided to have it with dinner. I cooked it up for 7 minutes, drizzled it with a little olive oil, minced chives and feta. It was so simple and so delicious. Just..yum. The feta was a little older and had a nice tang to it, which paired beautifully with the bite of the chives.

Farmer's Market Finds

I stopped by the farmer's market again this past Saturday. I was a little shy on cash, so I didn't pick up as much as I wanted, but I made sure to try things I hadn't gotten previously. I love that the winter markets are more than just produce, it's a nice way to muster through the winter. 

Chicken tortilla soup (fixings on the side)

Fresh applesauce

Pepper smoked makerel

Inspired again

I've been inspired again to get back to the blog. Would you believe that after 5 months (whoops!) it was a tamale to get me back on here? I went to a winter farmers market this morning and there was a vendor selling freshly made Mexican food. I got a chicken tinga tamale and some guacamole to go for lunch. As soon as I got home, I opened the husk and the aroma and steam hit me. I took a bite and I'm pretty sure the world stopped for a minute. The tamales I've had in the past were good, but always, always dry. Not this one. It was moist and flavorful and fresh. I inhaled the rest, along with the guacamole, every bite reaffirming my love of good food. That's when I thought about the blog again.

Please excuse the less than stellar cell-phone pic. These were my other finds from the market: vegan trail mix cookies, thick-cut maple cinnamon bacon and turmeric kombucha! Such a wide variety of vendors, it was awesome!

It's not that I haven't been cooking, just a lot has happened since my last post! Weeks were spent tending to those flowers I planted only to find that nothing but weeds would grow - just in case anyone was wondering... J and I traveled to Iceland and ate our way through the country (I suppose I should do a recap post on our foodie finds). I also moved about 30 miles closer to work. That was a big transition, to say the least. Then the holidays came and went, with lots of cookies being consumed. Seriously, lots. Even for breakfast. It was glorious. Not surprisingly, my stomach problems have flared up again. 

I'm currently embarking on a elimination diet, getting rid of common allergens and then reintroducing foods one at a time to see what the culprit is. This is certainly the cleanest I've ever eaten, which is a pretty big accomplishment I think. But my love of good food has brought out my creativity in the kitchen and I refuse to let the lack of gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts (gasp! the horror), etc, get in the way of making a delicious meal. 

To go with my tamale lunch, I decided to go with a Mexican dinner. The star of the show was a stack of quinoa tortillas, adapted from this recipe.

Yield: 3 tortillas (I scaled down to make this just enough for me)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups quinoa flour (I ground quinoa and measured out the proper amount)

1/4 cup GF flour blend (I used Namaste Foods)

1/3 tsp salt (not that I measured, I just used a little heaping pinch)

1/2 tsp olive oil 

1/2 cup hot water (plus a little extra in case the dough is dry)

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix until the dough holds together and is smooth. Divide into three dough balls.

If you happen to have a tortilla press, by all means break it out now! If you don't, flatten your dough balls slightly and place in between a piece of folded parchment paper. Grab a saucepan a press down on the dough until it's flat. Alternatively you could roll out the dough. I'm not able to get them super flat this way, but I really don't care. I like that they're a little thicker, it certainly makes them more filling.

Place tortillas in an ungreased pan on medium heat until they brown on one side. The recipe said to cook for 1 minute, but mine were a little thick, so they went about 5 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side. The charred bits are my favorite, so if you're with me on the slightly browned train, let them sit in the pan a little longer. 

Easy, right? How have I not done this sooner? They are so flavorful, too. The salt is key to this recipe, in my humble opinion. 

No this isn't all I ate, just a late night snack of the leftovers! Pardon the nibbled tortilla on the top of the stack...

Farmer's Market Finds

I went to my first farmer's market of the season this week! What could be better than getting outside and checking out all of the local goods while chatting away with the farmers, artisans and bakers themselves? Oh yeah - sampling!! I love being able to learn about and try new foods direct from the source, and being a foodie, farmer's markets are for me like a toy store is to an eager child. 

I flocked immediately to Beltane Farm's table. They had an array of goat cheeses out to sample as well as a cooler full of goat milk yogurt. I tell you, it's not easy to find goat or sheep yogurt around here, so I was pretty stoked to see the single-serving yogurts alone. But once I tasted their chevre..my goodness, I was sold. I have never tasted goat cheese that creamy and luscious. I bought the herbed chevre and immediately dug in when I got home, putting them atop Bespoke crackers. 

Quick side note about these crackers. They were bought on a whim on vacation this winter and my cheese and cracker snob of a boy (and I mean that in the best way possible) deemed them the best crackers he'd ever eaten. That's some pretty high praise coming from him. They aren't just your average cracker, mind you -- these were oat-based and flavored with lemon and rosemary. Unique and absolutely delicious. So delicious, in fact, that when we got home with an empty bag, we went online and ordered six more. Don't judge. We ordered three more rosemary-lemons and we had to get the variety pack with the other two flavors to try.

Anyway, back to the farmer's market. I truly enjoy seeing what types of foods people are crafting these days. One booth had flavored pumpkin seeds, another had homemade artisan trail mix. There were jellies and jams, pies, pestos, and salad dressings. I hope to be one of them one day!

Aside from the goat cheese, I also bought some more plants for my garden. And by garden I mean pots with soil that line the back of our house. The patch of land where I planted the flowers is so rocky I'm not sure they'll even grow well, but we'll see. The Moorefield Herb Farm had a tempting display of herbs, fruits, vegetables and flowers.

The Caribbean hot peppers initially caught my eye because of my spice-loving friends. It's supposed to be hotter than a habanero, which scares me a little, but it should make for some kickin' hot pepper jelly. Eesh. As I was perusing the rest of her table, the strawberries also caught my eye. I've never grown fruit before and I was reassured that the Alpine variety, in particular, should grow well in a potted environment because they're so tiny. After a quick trip to Home Depot, my new plants are all nestled in their pots awaiting the rains.