Sunday
Jun262011
From Farmers and Gardens to Plate
Sunday, June 26, 2011
I have food on the mind lately. I'm trying to feed our family better and I'm also working on a post in my head as a follow up to the McDonald's post. I want to talk about our food system, our relationship with it, how it impacts our lives, and what needs to change. But I still have to finish working through my train of thought.
In the meantime, in addition to sharing cookies with you yesterday, I thought I would share today's journey of food from local farmers and our own backyard garden onto our dinner plate.
Good farmer's markets know it is smart to do something to attract families. Ours often has free attractions and activities for kids. Today's attraction was free face painting.
Our bounty from the farmer's market! I always go around and check the organic stands first and then go back to other local vendors if I'm missing something I need. Today we got garlic scapes, cucumbers, asparagus, onions, and Japanese turnips. We also picked up some bread, some cheese, and some wild game sausages.
Here are a few odds and ends from our property and garden. I already harvested a lot yesterday, so there wasn't much left to take today. I picked some wild strawberries that grow in different spots around our property. I found a few more peas in our garden and I picked some of the rainbow chard, which probably could have grown a bit more, but looked like it was getting attacked by some sort of pest, so I figured I'd better grab some before someone else ate it all.
For dinner tonight, we fired up the BBQ to make the sausages we bought at the market. I also made an Asian-inspired vegan quinoa dish. I cooked the quinoa in a toasted sesame miso broth and also chopped up the fine part of the garlic scapes (the part that is like chives) and mixed it into the broth. I then sauteed the garlic scapes, along with some julienned carrots, and some of the onion from the farmer's market. When it was almost done, I added some chick peas and the stalks of the swiss chard. Once that was tender, I threw in the leaves of the swiss chard, the leaves from the Japanese turnips, and one finely chopped tomato. I then mixed it with the quinoa in a bowl. At the table, I added just a touch of sesame dressing to it for extra taste. We served all of that along with chopped vegetables and hummus. The vegetables included the Japanese turnips, one of the cucumbers, the peas from our garden, and some other random veggies I had in the fridge.
This is a typical lazy Sunday for us, where I have lots of time to shop carefully, spend time in the garden, and spend time cooking a healthy, nutritious meal. Not every day is like this though. Not even close.
Note: This post is being submitted for inclusion in the Healthy Child, Healthy World Summer Garden Show and Tell.
In the meantime, in addition to sharing cookies with you yesterday, I thought I would share today's journey of food from local farmers and our own backyard garden onto our dinner plate.
Good farmer's markets know it is smart to do something to attract families. Ours often has free attractions and activities for kids. Today's attraction was free face painting.
Our bounty from the farmer's market! I always go around and check the organic stands first and then go back to other local vendors if I'm missing something I need. Today we got garlic scapes, cucumbers, asparagus, onions, and Japanese turnips. We also picked up some bread, some cheese, and some wild game sausages.
Here are a few odds and ends from our property and garden. I already harvested a lot yesterday, so there wasn't much left to take today. I picked some wild strawberries that grow in different spots around our property. I found a few more peas in our garden and I picked some of the rainbow chard, which probably could have grown a bit more, but looked like it was getting attacked by some sort of pest, so I figured I'd better grab some before someone else ate it all.
For dinner tonight, we fired up the BBQ to make the sausages we bought at the market. I also made an Asian-inspired vegan quinoa dish. I cooked the quinoa in a toasted sesame miso broth and also chopped up the fine part of the garlic scapes (the part that is like chives) and mixed it into the broth. I then sauteed the garlic scapes, along with some julienned carrots, and some of the onion from the farmer's market. When it was almost done, I added some chick peas and the stalks of the swiss chard. Once that was tender, I threw in the leaves of the swiss chard, the leaves from the Japanese turnips, and one finely chopped tomato. I then mixed it with the quinoa in a bowl. At the table, I added just a touch of sesame dressing to it for extra taste. We served all of that along with chopped vegetables and hummus. The vegetables included the Japanese turnips, one of the cucumbers, the peas from our garden, and some other random veggies I had in the fridge.
This is a typical lazy Sunday for us, where I have lots of time to shop carefully, spend time in the garden, and spend time cooking a healthy, nutritious meal. Not every day is like this though. Not even close.
Note: This post is being submitted for inclusion in the Healthy Child, Healthy World Summer Garden Show and Tell.
Reader Comments (14)
We joined a CSA this summer and I am so glad. It has been so nice to have fresh fruits & veggies for almost 2 months now. The pickup point is at our local farmer's market. I wish it was a bigger venue but there are about 4 farms that are regularly there.
We don't have our own backyard garden...but there are some gorgeous squash blossoms billowing out of our compost bin!
Can you share the recipe for the broth? It sounds delish!
Liisa:
I don't have it unfortunately. It was leftover from a party that was catered. I was lucky enough to be able to grab some of the leftovers, including this delicious broth.
Dana K:
We have been members of a CSA for years, but decided not to this year. We wanted to give our own garden a go. So far it isn't doing as well as I had hoped, but I'm hopeful that things will pick up.
Doesn't it just feel better to know exactly where your food is coming from? I much prefer the coop, the farmers' market and our own organic companion planted community garden to the grocery store. The flavors are better, and I have piece of mind. My goal is to one day cut out the grocery store completely. I love garlic scape season! Great recipe idea. I'll definitely be trying something similar.
That quinoa dish looks delicious. I've been meaning to incorporate this grain into our diets; particularly as vegetarians. But I fall on the lazy side of the cooking spectrum. The first thing I'd do when I have heaps of disposable income (har, har) is hire a personal chef. That would be heavenly.
Quinoa is super easy to prepare, like rice or couscous. I often make enough to serve warm with dinner and then to use in a salad the next day too.
Wondering if I could just pop it in my rice cooker, then?! :) What do you typically use to flavor it?
I don't have a rice cooker, so I can't help you there.
In terms of seasoning, it depends on what I'm serving it with. I usually cook it in broth (instead of water) to add a bit of flavour. Otherwise, the flavour comes from the things I am serving it with.
The quinoa dish makes me salivate... I feel hungry just looking at it!
Mmmmm, that looks great. I was actually introduced to quinoa not too long ago. Judging by how great this dish looks, I guess I'll be having quinoa soon! Thank you!
That quinoa dish looks delicious! I must take my kids to the farmer's market. We do go to my in-law's farm several times a year, and they have an organic veggie garden. The kids are intrigued by the *notion* of eating potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, etc., from the garden, but they don't always eat them...! But, strangely, they love the chives!
That quinoa dish looks delicious! I LOVE Farmer's Markets.
Looks tasty!! We've just started harvesting from our summer garden (I planted a bit late). This year, we joined a CSA, found a few new farmer's markets available on weekends so we can go with friends, located a local organic fruit farm delivery program, and found out about local organic pick-your-owns and farmstays. It's been an awesome summer food-wise and I can't wait until next year when we're able to put all of these things together again more efficiently. This year we've wasted more food than I would have liked because we were overwhelmed at the beginning, but now we're getting better about preserving and I think next year we'll be much better. Can't wait!