The Farmer's Market Challenge

After neglecting this blog to the point of near extinction I have decided to revive it by moving the Farm Fresh Challenge over here. Although I haven't been faithfully recording my meals I have continued with the challenge for the past few weeks (with the exception of the last week while on vacation.) 

However, I will be starting the 7th week this Sunday and will hopefully be faithfully recording everything once again. And, I'm hoping to share more recipes over on this blog as well.

If you missed the description of the challenge you can check it out here.  

Happy Eating!

What We Ate Last Week

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

These got double approval from RJ. I would love to share the instructions but I followed them exactly and I don't want to plagiarize. Another hit from the cookbook Barefoot Contessa At Home. If you want the recipe let me know and I'll figure out how to get it to you.

Mini Ravioli Pasta with Shrimp

This was seriously good. And it made enough that RJ and I ate some for lunch the next day, and it tasted even better.

1 package dried ravioli noodles (The have these at Trader Joes in the died pasta section. If you shop elsewhere I would try orzo instead).

1 lb. shrimp

Between 1/4 c. and 1/2 c. olive oil

3 lemons (about 1/2 c. juice)

1 teaspoon salt & 1 teaspoon pepper (plus more for shrimp)

2 persian cucumbers, diced

1/4 c. chopped fresh dill

1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

1/2 medium red onion, diced

1/2 c. (or more) crumbled goat cheese

Cook ravioli according to packaged directions. Drain.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place shrimp on baking sheet, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with additional salt and pepper. Bake for 5-6 minutes; until cooked.

Whisk together juice from 3 lemons, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour over the still warm pasta and stir to coat.

Add red onion. shrimp, parsley, dill and cucumbers to ravioli mixture. Allow to cool. Add feta.

Serve at room temperature.

Creamy Chard and Squash Pasta

I made this dish last week b/c we needed a quick and easy dinner, and the yellow squash and chard in the garden was ready for harvesting!

Two large handfuls of swish card; chop rips about 1 inch big, and save leaves for tomorrow's meal

2-3 yellow crookneck squash, diced about 1 inch

1-2 large zucchini, diced about 1 inch

3/4 c. - 1 c. heavy cream (I used half&half)

approx. 3/4 lb pasta noodles

1/4 c. butter

1/2 yellow onion chopped, or 2 leeks

salt and pepper

Boil a big pot of water. Blanch chard ribs for about 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. Add noodles to boiling water and cook according to package directions.

Meanwhile melt butter in large skillet. Saute onion and/or leeks about 3-4 minutes or until soft. Add chard ribs, yellow squash, and zucchini. Cook over medium heat approx. 4 minutes. Add heavy cream and cook until reduced by two-thirds.

Drain pasta and set aside.

Mix chard mixture with pasta. Apply salt and pepper to taste ( I am pretty generous - particularly with the pepper.) ENJOY!

Dill Potato Salad, Sautéed Chard Leaves, and Panko Crusted Asian Salmon

The potato salad recipe was again a Barefoot Contessa. The salmon was supposed to be but I started doing my own thing half way through the recipe and ended up with this:

Heat oven to 500 degrees.

Line 8x12 inch baking pan with foil.

Put in salmon steaks. Brush on olive oil.

Make sauce. Mine was a crazy mixture of soy sauce, hoison sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, toasted sesame oil. and minced ginger.

Coat salmon with panko crumbs (Japanese bread crumbs). Pour sauce over crumbs. Bake for 13-18 minutes depending on thickness of salmon.

It was good but next time I might try broiling instead of baking b/c the crumbs weren't very crispy.

And the sauteed chard was easy. I got the recipe here.

Happy Eating!

What We're Eating

Two of my friends asked that I start posting what I cook. I'm not a chef. I don't make up my own recipes or "cook by my nose" as one of my talented friends does. But, I do consistently put good meals on the table and I do it on a fairly tight budget. So, welcome to what we eat:

Homemade Mojito

Guacamole Salad with Tortilla Chips

Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip

Mojito

RJ actually mixed this yummy cocktail together. It features rum, mint from the garden, agave syrup, and tonic water.

Guacamole Salad

This is a Barefoot Contessa recipe that I altered just a bit.

3 persian cucumbers (or 1 basket cherry tomatoes), chopped

1 yellow bell pepper seeded and chopped

1 can black beans, rinsed

1/2 c. diced red onion

2 jalapeno peppers, minced (I used 1.5)

1 teaspoon lime zest

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil (I recommend a tad under 1/2 cup)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

2 hass avocados chopped

Mix the cucumbers (or tomatoes), black beans, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl.

Whisk together olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt & pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper. Pour over bean mixture.

Fold in avocados before serving. Serve at room temperature with tortilla chips for scooping. (Or it would be really good over a bed of greens).

Santa Maria Style Tri-Trip

Good old Trader Joes! Already marinated and in the meat section.

I really like this meals b/c it's simple and super tasty. If you prep all the ingredients for the salad earlier in the day and whisk up the dressing, then all you have to do is stick the meat on the BBQ and throw the salad together. Giving you plenty of time to hang with the family.

Pantry Failure

So Eat Out The Pantry Week failed.

The weather got gorgeous and warm; too nice to be inside cooking up lentils and red beans (the kinds of things stuff in the back of our pantry). Instead we've been eating out, inviting ourselves over to friends houses for dinner (well, we aren't that rude, we just go on evening walks and happen to be linger on their front porches around dinner time!), and putting down delicious salads such as this:

Once again the recipe is from Simply Recipes, but I jazzed it up a bit with the addition of goat cheese. And the oranges are homegrown! YUM!!

(I've plugged Simply Recipes so many times I'm curious - has anyone gone there? What did you make? And was it any good?)

Dwindling Pantry - Day 2

Sorry there is no pic today. Posts without pics aren't as fun but I just didn't feel like dealing with the camera.

We started out day yesterday with oatmeal once again. Then a friend and her baby girl came over for lunch. Landon ate leftover Pasta Primavera (a note about Landon: if I give him the veggies from the pasta first, and don't let him see the pasta noodles, he'll eat the veggies. But, if he sees the noodles than there is no way to get the vegetables in his mouth!). I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for the adults.

The lack of milk, eggs, and vegetables made dinner a challenge. I had just enough stuff to make a small salad, and tons of rice pasta but nothing to put on top of it. Except cheese.

There were remnants of three types of cheese in the fridge: parmesan, cheddar and gouda. Plus a bunch of butter and some half-and-half. Sounds like Mac n' Cheese to me. Looking up a few recipes in my cookbooks I figured out how to make it myself.

First I cooked 1 pound of brown rice pasta spirals.

Then I made the cheese sauce:

I melted a 1/4 c. butter in a sauce pan (way too much! - next time I'll use half of that)

Once the butter was melted I slowly whisked in a generous 1/4 c. of flour.

You should then have a thick mixture know as roux.

Since I needed about 4 c. of milk but only had 2 c. half-and-half I watered down the half-and-half with 2 c. water (one of the reasons I used so much butter).

Then I slowly added the "milk" to the roux. Let it boil until thick and then added salt, pepper, dry mustard, a dash of nutmeg and Worcestershire sauce. About 1/2 tsp of each except a bit more salt and I should have added more Worcestershire. Finally I added 4 c. of shredded cheese - a mixture of all three types.

I mixed the cheese sauce and noodles together. Put them in a casserole dish and baked at 350 degrees of 20 minutes. YUM!

Japanese Italian

The first day of "Eat Out the Pantry Week" is usually pretty decent. Yesterday we dined on oatmeal for breakfast, leftover party food for lunch, and an Italian/Japanese combo for dinner. Soyaki marinated London Broil and Pasta Primavera.

I pulled the London Broil out of the freezer two days ago and started marinated it yesterday morning. We're down to all the inexpensive/unusual cuts of meat from RJ's dad's supply of grass-fed beef and lamb. Hopefully we'll be getting another shipment soon.

I didn't know what to do for our sides. There was tons of pasta in the pantry and a hodge-podge of vegetables in crisper. I hit up my favorite cooking site Simply Recipes and after a thorough recipe search settled on Pasta Primavera.

The recipe calls for pasta sauce and since I didn't have any I dug around the pantry and was thrilled to come up with a jar of tomato paste. Adding some water to the paste I created a thick sauce. Since my sauce was devoid of seasoning I added 4 cloves of garlic and a shallot to my vegetable mixture (saute in the olive oil 1 minute before the adding veggies). And to increase the seasoning even further I doubled the amount of Italian Seasoning and was very generous with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. (My vegetable mixture included: broccoli, red onion, crook neck squash, carrot, celery, and zucchini.)

Finally, I added much more tomato paste sauce than called for. We like alot of flavor, and since we don't like cherry tomatoes I thought I would make up for them with extra sauce.

I'm curious to see what today will bring....

Eat Out the Cabinet Week

It is Eat Out the Cabinet week!

I'll only be going to the store/farmer's market for a few fruits and veggies and limited dairy.

Stay tuned for some interesting meals!

Junk Mail

I would be lost without my little black notebook. It's divided into four sections:

1) RJ & Ann

2) Landon

3) Household

4) Miscellaneous

There is a pocket in the front where I keep coupons, stamps, important receipts, etc. And inside each section are random lists of important information - thank you cards I need to write, date night ideas that come to me at random moments, my Costco shopping list, etc.

In the household section I keep one of my most important lists. Its a list of stuff we need/want around the house. Things that aren't pressing but we need to get it at some point. For example:

another set of sheets for our bed

new storage box for cleaning supplies

new oven mitt and pot holders

a card table

silver polish

glass punch bowl

It's convenient to keep the list on me at all times, that way if I'm out shopping and I see a good sale I can browse the list to see if anything applies. Without it, I'll forget about these random items and end up buying something I don't need/want at all.

Yesterday I was so excited because I was not only able to knock something off the list but I did it for free (well, I had to spend $1 but close enough). Since being home with Landon I regularly browse our junk mail. I used to just grab it and toss, but I've found that taking five minutes to sort through the junk is worth it. I often find unexpected coupons. For example, two days ago I found a $10 off your purchase coupon for Kohls. I almost never shop at Kohls (I just don't think of it), but $10 off of anything was enough to get me in - I'm a sucker for good marketing!

Armed with our list and a snack cup full of Pirates Booty Landon and I went in with our coupon and came out with a new Food Network oven mitt and Sesame Street sippy cup - and only $1 loss!

I love the thrift store. 

It's a newfound love, but strong none-the-less. When you have an extremely limited budget but love shopping and getting out the thrift store is the place to go. There is so much to see, the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of finding the most perfect thing for just a few dollars. Love it. But the key element to thrifting is time and patience. If you need something immediately go elsewhere, but if you aren't in any hurry I think thrifting is the way to go. Currently I am looking for a punch bowl. I see them all the time but I have something every specific in mind and until I find it I'll just keep happily scouring the crowded, cluttered second-hand selves. 

In the meantime I found this awesome vintage bag:

And I this fantastic blue chair (listed for $70 but I talked them down to $40!):

While I love how my living room was decorated I've been feeling the need for some change. And the challenge of a new project. So, with my bright-eyed sister-in-law in tow we hit up a bunch of thrift stores and salvation armies last weekend. She was the one that spotted the "english reading chair" as we call it. She also pulled the above cabinet out of our barn and convinced me that it has cute potential Particularly when topped with this random ceramic bird we found: 

Anthro style or grandma? You tell me....

And this awesome print. (That she was supposed to take home for herself but she left here for me because it does look fabulous. Thanks Jess!).

I am loving the transformation of the living room corner. We still need some new end tables, another sofa, and some fun prints or mirrors for the wall, but operation Living Room Makeover is coming together. And the beauty of the situation is I am only out $110 at this point. (Remember the couch I bough a few weeks ago for $60?). However, once I sell my old chair and couch set I will actually be in the positive! 

Green Goodness

One of my favorite seasons as arrived:

AVOCADO SEASON!

I can never get enough of these fruits of green goodness. On BLTs, guac, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, salads, alone with salt, alone with crackers, etc., etc. 

Carpinteria is just up the road brining us loads of fresh avo's and the always fun Avocado Festival - complete with avocado ice cream. 

I just LOVE them. And our generous neighbor has a huge avo tree, so this time of year he brings them to us by the basketful. The only problem is they ripen all at the same time, and even eating nearly half of one or more a day we can't get through them quick enough. (I know I should give more away, but in my defense, around here nearly everyone has a tree or a neighbor with a tree so it's okay if I hoard them.) 

At nearly a dollar each at the grocery store I can't stand watching any of them go to waste, so I've been looking up some recipes (besides guacamole) that include avocado. My search has turned up spectacular results. Plus, my friend Stacey gave me a few good tips.

Did you know you can freeze an entire avocado? You seriously can. And all you have to do is throw the entire fruit (whole!) in the freezer. Then you pull it out when ready, defrost, and use! However, it probably should only be used in guacamole or mixes rather than fresh on a salad.

Also, Stacey told me about a chocolate frosting using only dates, avocados, agave syrup and cocoa power. Trying to find the correct quantities I did an internet search and came across this. I think I'm going to go Raw Food/Vegan on you all and try it. 

Apparently vegans use avocados quite often because I also found this delectable looking dessert. It's a bit odd but I have to see if it what it tastes like. 

Last night I made Paula Dean's Avocado Dressing. There is nothing I like more than a good fatty dressing and this one delivered. Sometimes I'm not super excited about eating my salad, but a little of this stuff and I was gobbling it down. 

(Side Note: If you're like me and sometimes have a difficult time getting thrilled about rabbit food, but know you need to eat it that night, skip the cheese, croutons, and nuts on your salad and use your favorite dressing - fatty or not - eating veggies with a bit of fat is so much better for you than not eating your veg at all.)

How do you like to eat your avocados?

Or are you like Landon and all you think an avo is worth is spitting it on the floor?

When There Is Nothing To Eat

On Tuesday we had absolutely nothing to eat. Or so it seemed. 

I didn't want to go to the grocery store and breakfast-for-dinner is not RJ's favorite so I was stuck. Staring despondently into the pantry I wondered if plain old grilled cheese would suffice for my flavor-loving husband. And then I spotted a can of GARBANZO BEANS.

That may not seem like much but I remembered seeing an Indian dish in my Tastes of Home magazine that was centered around garbanzo beans - the under appreciated bean hiding in its can collecting dust. Sure enough I had nearly all the ingredients (thanks to Pantry Staples) to make Minted Rice with Garbanzo Curry. 

Honestly it could have used a bit more flavor (up the curry) but I think my fatal mistake was serving the curry on top of the rice rather than side-by-side. The two dishes each had their own unique flavor that would have been better appreciated eaten alone. 

Here's the recipe; complete with substitutions: 

Minted Rice

1 cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

1/8 tsp. cumin seeds (I used cumin powder)

2 tsp. canola oil

2 c. water

1 c. uncooked long grain rice

1/2 c. minced fresh mint (from our garden)

Garbanzo Curry

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp. canola oil

1 tsp. curry powder

1 garlic clove, minced (I just used the jarred stuff for ease sometimes)

1/4 tsp. minced fresh ginger root (again, I used the jarred stuff)

1 can garbanzo beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce (I didn't have any so I blended up a cups worth of canned tomatoes) 

2 tbsp. lemon juice (There were no ripe lemons on the tree so I used a green one!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. fresh minced cilantro (I had none so I had to skipped it. Would have been nice but doesn't break the recipe) 

Rice

Saute cinnamon  stick, cloves, cumin and oil over medium heat in a saucepan; about 1-2 minutes. Add rice and stir until lightly browned. Add water and mint. Boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Curry

Saute onion and cinnamon in oil until onion is tender. Add curry, garlic, and ginger. Cook 1 minute. Add garbanzo beans, tomato sauce, lemon juice and salt. Boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 4-6 minutes. Remove from heat. Discard cinnamon and add cilantro. 

Serve it up! 

There are a few different topics I would discussed based on this experience. But, I think I'll concentrate on The Need To Have a Spicy Rack (heehee) which I'll touch on next post.

In the meantime stock up on Curry Power and Cumin - two of my favorite panty staples! 

Random Bits

If you read my other blog you'll know that it's Spring Fashion week. Landon's going to be showcasing his spring fashions over here since most of his stuff is thrifty yet stylish. Check out how cute he looked today:

Shirt: Old Navy, hand-me-down

Pants: Arizona, h-m-d

Shoes: Ralph Lauren, sale at Ross for  $3

He had just discovered that his hard-soled shoes made noise when he stomped his feet. What fun!

************

Also, I wanted to start talking about Pantry Staples. Each family's "must-have" items will vary, but I'll start highlighting the things we almost always have on-hand. It might help you discover your own Pantry Staples. Once you figure them out it makes grocery shopping easier and often less expensive (you buy stuff you actually use). 

Pantry Staple: Frozen Strawberries

Landon and I have started drinking smoothies almost daily. He loves them and they're healthy! I want to start hiding veggies in them to increase the nutritional value even more. 

If you have frozen strawberries you can almost always make a smoothie. Since we had no juice I used yogurt and milk which not only made a creamy treat but helped both of us get our calcium in. Today's smoothie included the following:

frozen strawberries

half a banana

milk

whole milk plain yogurt

1/3 can of pineapple

a sprinkling of brown sugar (I would use honey but the baby can't have it)

That's quite a few ingredients. You could easily make one with less. I love smoothies because they're like salads - you can throw together just about anything.

Frozen strawberries from the grocery store are inexpensive, but it's also easy to freeze your own. During strawberry season I often buy a big flat at farmers market. If we don't eat them up fast enough, or some of them start looking mushy, I just cut the tops off and pop them in the freezer in a bag.

Inspiration Friday

I am in LOVE with this. 

And I really want to do it to our family desk. But, since I can't paint flowers like that I wonder if I could adhere wallpaper print instead?

What do you think?

Frozen Waffles and 20 Bucks

I love morning carbs - waffles, pancakes, french toast, donuts, coffee cake, etc. If its sweet and full of flour I probably want to eat it in the morning. RJ on the other hand prefers toast, eggs, granola or yogurt for his first meal. (I know he sounds so much healthier than me, but in my defense I don't make rounds through the office after lunch every day collecting mini candy bars.) So I make my own frozen waffles in individual serving sizes. That way I can cook him up some eggs and still have my morning "cake." (Because let's face it - most of those items are just cake.)

Frozen waffles from the grocery story are full of nasty ingredients that I can't pronounce and are much more expensive than the homemade version. About once a month I make a double batch of whole grain waffles. I eat a good sized serving and then let the rest of the waffles cool. I package them up in pairs, throw them in a zip-loc and toss them in the freezer. Whenever I want morning waffle all I have to do is grab one baggie and throw them in the freezer. 

And they're a quick and easy breakfast for Landon sometimes too. He has just one spread with sugar-free or low-sugar apricot preserves. Yummy! 

*********

Also, I am so excited to share with you my big score at Old Navy. I felt like toddling around the mall the other day and looking at the new spring stuff. (side-note: I was too excited to discover that little old Ventura mall is getting an H&M in the fall!) Now I know myself and I can't go window shopping without wanting to purchase something. Therefore, I gave myself a $30 limit. I had the cash in my pocket and I wasn't allowed to spend any more than that no matter what I found. I first wandered around f21 and found a cute hat but I wasn't in love with anything so I moved on. 

I'm so glad I did. Old Navy was having a 50% off of clearance items sale and it was the first day. I scored. I got all of the below (2 tanks, 1 short sleeve, 1 long sleeve, 1 button up cardigan, and a pair of shorts) for $22! I'm sure you'll be seeing some of this during Spring Fashion Week! 

My attempt at stylizing. 

My "helper"

What We're Eating

Spaghetti With Sweet Potatoes and Ricotta Recipe | Real Simple Recipes

Photo by Josh Picayo

Why this recipe? At first glance it's probably not something I would have chosen, but it turned out fabulous and I will be making it again.  

I have a process when choosing our meals. It's been evolving over time, but here's what I tend to do when the cupboards are looking bare but it's not time to go to the grocery store (one of the ways we save money is sticking to our weekly grocery trips and trying to avoid spontaneous trips and purchases.)

First, I almost always know what's in our cupboards at any time. If you don't know what you have then you have too much stuff. It's time to starting Eating Out The Pantry/Freeze until you have a more manageable stock. 

Next, I chose one or two ingredients to start with. Maybe I have ground beef and leeks or barley and mushrooms; in this situation I knew I had a near full container of ricotta cheese that I had no idea what to do with. 

Then I hit up one of my favorite websites and use the Search box. Here's a list of my favorite online "cookbooks" (thanks to Jessica for suppling many of them.) 

Simply Recipes

Real Simple

Cooking Light

Smitten Kitchen

Rachel Ray

Google

Finally, I browse through the generated recipes that contain ricotta cheese until I find something that looks a) appealing and b) doable with my limited ingredients. Often this calls for a little experimentation - swapping out an ingredient or two but you always end up with something much more satisfying than pasta with jarred sauce. Sorry jarred sauce but you just aren't good enough for us. 

Last night I got lucky and had all the necessary ingredients on-hand. If we like the finished product I scribble notes all over the printed recipe (use more sweet potatoes) and store it in plastic sleeve in a binder.

What do you do when the cupboards looking slim?

Broke and Barefoot

There is a time to spend and a time to thrift. 

As learn how to budget our tight monthly allowance I am discovering that there are certain things that deserve/require the "splurge." Today I splurged on a pair of Riley Roos shoes from my son. (How far we've come from the double income days when a $30 purchase now qualifies as a splurge!) 

Nearly all of Landon's clothes are thrifted. Or they are hand-me-downs. I rarely, if ever, buy him anything new. Particularly now that I am used to thrift store prices. I just can't image spending $40 on a pair of Baby Gap jeans when I just bought the exact same pair for $3. And kids grow so fast it's easy to find quality clothes at the Salvation Army, thrift store, or a consignment shop. I think the last new outfit I bought Landon was his Christmas pajamas; and before that it was a $5 pair of pants from Target.  Oh, and I need to mention, we never sacrifice style for expense. My boy is always looking stylish. Particularly since I heard from a friend once: "If your baby is looking good than you don't have to!"

However, shoes are very difficult to find second-hand. The ones I have found are in terrible shape or they aren't the correct size. We have some great hand-me-down pairs but b/c Landon isn't walking yet its best if he doesn't wear hard soled shoes, and the one lovely pair of soft leather soled shoes he owns cuts into his fat little ankles. So my son has been barefoot for more than a month. His socks are destroyed from playing outside unprotected. I finally bucked up and realized it was time to spend some money on the poor boy. 

I was hoping the local children's consignment shop would have some used pairs but they didn't have anything with soft soles. So I bought the boy his new blue and orange kicks and he looks adorable in them. Not to mention how much more comfortable he must be toddling behind his push cart. But, I couldn't completely help myself, and I bought them a good size too large. 

Since time is money it's important to realize then its worth your time to bargain shop and when you should just head out and get what you need. In the case of children's shoes (and adult shoes for that matter) you need to just bite the bullet and spend full price. 

Visually Distressed

After watching Food, Inc. RJ and I made a commitment to choose locally grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible (we also have big plans for locally raised, range-free meat -but more on that later). It's been about 6 weeks since our family pledge and I am happy to report not only have been been extremely successful but I feel as though we're eating better than ever. 

I would say that we're probably getting 85% of our fruits/veggies from either the Farmer's Market or our backyard garden. The remaining 15% include the blueberries and bananas I buy for Landon at Trader Joes, and a few miscellaneous items needed for last minute recipes. 

However, while the payoffs are huge, there are a few costs. We've had to learn how to eat seasonally. No peaches or goat cheese and heirloom tomato sandwiches for now. And, until a few weeks ago, we were also sacrificing one of our favorite fruits: apples.

Apples are currently in season, but at $3 a pound at the Farmer's Market more than one or two was out of our budget. Every week I would take my apple slice sample and then hurry on to pick-up some more cost friendly grapefruits. Until the other week - when I noticed a big box tucked behind the apple stand. A small sign read: Visually Distressed Apples/$1 a pound.

At $1 a pound I was able to pick up 4 pounds of organically grown apples in a wide array of varieties. And "visually distressed" translates to a maybe a bruise or two or a tiny worm hole. How spoiled are we in this country that we won't cut a bruise off of an apple before eating it? I can guarantee that 100 years ago people we not eating shiny Granny Smiths the size of baseballs.

Not only have we been eating the least damaged of the "visually distressed" fruits, but the reject apples are fantastic for baking. I've been making homemade applesauce (applesauce is terrible unless it's homemade), apple pie and apple crisp. Since we entertain quite often apple crisp has been a fantastic dessert. It's quick and easy to make, inexpensive if you choose visually distressed fruit, and everyone likes it. 

Do you have any great Farmer's Market tips?