April Farmers Market Hauls

I haven't been posting as many recipes lately because I've been cooking super simple meals. Things like roasted vegetables mixed with beans; sauteed spinach and roast potatoes as a side to grilled pork chops; eggs scrambled with ramps and other spring vegetables. Simple is often the best way to prepare high quality farm fresh ingredients, and it certainly makes my life easier to prepare tried and true recipes. Rather than bore you with the same meals over and over again, I'm going to try to share my weekly farmers market hauls as a record of the seasonal produce we're enjoying. I also think this will help me be more accountable when it comes to buying enough produce and actually eating fruit and/or vegetables every day (something I need to work on).

Here's what I took home in April. What's in season at the markets where you live? Can you suggest any dishes involving these ingredients? Maybe some new recipes would help kick me out of my cooking rut.

April 17, 2010:
spinach, asparagus, radishes (first of the season for these veg!), carrots, Wilklow Orchards ramps, Milk Thistle milk, Phillips Farm ketchup. Also, lavender sachets as a gift for my boyfriend's mom - from a new market purveyor, Lavender By the Bay grown on Long Island with such a wonderful smell. They also make baking lavender which I hope to try soon.



April 24, 2010:
spinach, asparagus, leek, blue potatoes, eggs, Milk Thistle milk, Cayuga Pure Organics black and navy beans, Phillips Farm zinnias and marigolds, Evolutionary Organics impatiens, Wilklow Orchards pork chops*. Not pictured: Cayuga Organics wheat berries, Evolutionary Organics bee balm plant.


* I heart Wilklow Orchards. The couple that runs the stand are so sweet and friendly, and their pork chops are the bomb. Plus, you can follow them on twitter and get a preview of what they'll have on sale (great use of social media). Wilklow sells meat and various fruits, vegetables, and baked goods depending on the stand at the Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Fort Greene, and the Staten Island Ferry/Whitehall markets.