I love the farmer's market!

I used to visit the local farmer's market back home in a big city every so often, more like every blue moon and usually to just try some new desserts and get out.

But now I go every weekend to our miniscule tiny farmer's market, like 10 tents total. I go with $20 cash and stock up and it usually lasts me the week. It totally beats buying the same old stuff from Walmart, I get to try new veggies and fruit I've never seen before, and they don't go bad so quickly since they are so fresh.

Here is last weeks purchase for $19.50. I can't say I'm not proud of my purchase.

Here's what I ended up making. I ate the blueberries for breakfast. I used this huge cucumber for the two recipes found below: Honey Vinegar Cucumber Salad and Cucumber Salmon Crackers. I sliced and peeled the purple haze carrots and drizzled them in olive oil, they were so good as is. I chopped the tomatoes and onions in halves, roasted for about 30 minutes, and ground then up into roasted tomato salsa! SO GOOD! I also roasted two of the garlics. I steamed the rattlesnake green beans with some garlic. I made grilled onions with the last onion and sliced the chocolate cherry tomatoes and made a sandwich for lunch. I also made bruschetta with french bread, olive oil, the cherry tomatoes, the roasted garlic, and fresh basil.

And finally, I am now making white bean garlic soup. Recipe to follow.... I also plan on boiling the corn tomorrow or later and making a roasted garlic butter sauce for it with the leftover garlic. Yum! Can't wait for tomorrow's visit :D

Zucchini Pie Oh My

I’ve made the Pillsbury version of zucchini pie with crescent rolls three times over the holidays. It’s pretty fabulous but it did bring up some pet peeves of mine. It isn’t really quiche and it really isn’t pie. It’s buttery goodness but it was lacking creaminess or quichiness. After getting annoyed with the pooling of butter up top, I figured this recipe needed some remodeling. A lightbulb hit when I was visiting a friend’s family for Easter dinner and her mother made Tomato Pie. It included mayonnaise (which would have first issued an ick moment in me) but then I ate it and it was amazing. My friend and I made it again the following week.

So now that I have a huge- I mean foot long and bigger than my thigh sized zucchini, I needed to brainstorm what to do with it. While walking the dog today, I came up with this idea of putting the two recipes together. This recipe only used half my zucchini and I plan on grilling the other half for our Memorial Day BBQ. Did I mention I got this zucchini free at the Farmer’s Market because it was ugly? It was originally priced 50 cents and when I asked why, the man handed it to me and said he would have some better looking ones next week. He then inquired about what I was going to do with it… and I quickly rambled off about sautéing it or putting it on pizza. Nope, not quite this time.

Ingredients:

4 cups zucchini cut in matchsticks ($1 or free in my case)
2 eggs ($.50)
1 tablespoon butter ($.5)
½ cup mayo ($.50) [side note: I always use Light Mayo - I swear I can't taste the difference but I know how weird people get about their mayo, so use what you prefer]
1 tablespoon dried shallots
1 clove garlic
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese ($.50)
1 pie crust ($1.25)
1 tsp Dijon
10 crunks of pepper
10 crunks of garlic salt
2 tsps of parsley
1 tsp basil
Total $3.80-$4

Recipe:

1. While oven is preheating at 375 degrees, start chopping your zucchini into match stick sizes. This can be done by cutting it into 4 inch chunks, then cutting the chunks in half, and again slicing up those halves. Did that make any sense?
2. Spread Dijon mustard on pie and allow it to defrost a bit while oven is preheating. When ready, bake for 10 minutes.
3. In a tablespoon of butter, lightly sautee the zucchini for about 10 minutes. Chop the garlic and add that towards the end as well as the dried shallots. If any liquid collects, drain the zucchini at the end.
4. Transfer zucchini to a bowl and add eggs, mayo, and spices. Stir gently to not crush the zucchini.
5. Add zucchini mixture to pie crust. Top with shredded cheese.
6. Bake 35 minutes and enjoy!