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Showing posts with label Dallas Farmers Market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dallas Farmers Market. Show all posts

Thursday, January 31, 2013

What I bought at the Dallas Farmer's Market, + recipe

Farmer's Market veggies
 
OK, so I didn't go straight to the sewing machine yesterday.
Instead, I decided to use some of what I bought at the farmer's market.
I purchased,
 1 big bag of spinach $2.00
(shared about half with daughter #2)
1 bunch celery $2.00
1 basket (4) bell peppers $3.00
1 green, 2 red, 1 yellow
(gave daughter #2 1 red)
medium bag brussels sprouts $2.00
 
I made up a couple of "salads" using some of the spinach and peppers, 
for the hubby's lunch.
Sautéed the sprouts in olive oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice,
also for the hubby's lunch.
(Thank you daughter #1 for the fresh lemons).
 
Then I made a casserole/savory bread pudding,
that I adapted from all recipes.com
Here's the recipe if you're interested.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small chopped onion
½ each, chopped green, red, yellow bell peppers
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 or 3 handfuls of spinach, chopped
2 tbsp. crushed dried rosemary
1# sausage (I used hubby's homemade chicken sausage)
9 slices cubed bread
5 oz. hard cheese, shredded (I used Colby jack)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
 
Method:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onion, peppers, celery, spinach, rosemary and sausage.
(Hubby's sausage is on the lean side, if you're using purchased sausage you might want to cook it first, drain some of the fat and then add your veggies).
 
  
 
Saute until meat is cooked and veggies are tender. Take off heat.
Mix in the bread cubes.
Spoon into a lightly oiled casserole dish, mix in ½ the cheese.
In a large measuring cup, measure out your 1 cup milk, add the 4 eggs and whisk.
Pour into the casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes at 350°
Unfortunately I let mine bake at 375° for 40 minutes, (forgot my oven runs hot).
Still tasty though......
 

 
Next time I'll use homemade bread and be more mindful
of the timer:-)
 
 Till next time, happy cooking.
Bonjour


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The "New", Used Sewing Machine

Dallas Farmer's Market
I was looking for a used sewing machine on Craig's list
the other day and found one for $29.00.
A singer touch and sew, circa early 1970's.
Not a bad price for a machine in a cabinet, plus the matching chair.
 
The only problem?
 
It's location was in Dallas, about an hour away.
I might not even want it...
Maybe it wouldn't sew properly...
Maybe it would need work...
Maybe this was one of those Craig's list scams...
 
You can let the maybes deter you or just go do it!
 
So, off we went to give it a test drive.
 
It was a fine machine with bells and whistles,
 plus a few extras thrown in for good measure.
 
 
We tarped and tied her into the back of the pickup
and headed over to the Dallas farmer's market.
~Couldn't waste the fuel doing just one thing!~
 
Well, I have some sewing to do and soap to cut...
Hope you have an excellent day!
 
Till next time,
Bonjour
 


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Hubby Inturiptus

Farmer's Market New Potatoes
Recently I was trolling sewing blogs and ran across one
that caught my eye.
A sewer, a crafter, a thrifter, a soaper,
 and the icing on the cake? In my area.
What more could you ask for?
We have similar interests, why not ask to meet?

I know what you're thinking because my husband said it out loud.
You don't know this person!
And?
She doesn't know me either!
So I sent her an email, no pressure, yes answer, ok, no answer, ok.
I picked a neutral location, public, for both of our ease of mind.
I chose The Dallas Farmer's Market.
She was good with the meet-up.

Hubby?
Tagged along,
geez!

Anyway.....

Hubby wanders off and I meet up with Meka.
 She is the cutest, nicest person and
we're getting to know each other a bit, talking sewing, soaping,
you know, stuff.

Only thing is.....

Hubby keeps calling me with questions.
Is this a good price on potatoes?
Is this a good price on tomatoes?
Is this a good price on strawberries?
Yada, yada, yada...

I'm looking to get to know this person,
maybe have a buddy to thrift with,
talk sewing with, maybe have a Canton buddy.....
I was, well, you can guess how I felt!
Like, embarrassed!

I think maybe Hubby is a little.....
Hummmmmm?

I think next time I'll tell him...

Going to get fuel, be back in a few!

On another note...
I got a pic of the cutwork curtain panel/apron on me.
Here she be!


That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Have a great evening.
Till next time,
Bonjour

Saturday, September 3, 2011

More Canning? More Cooking? Why Yes, I Beleive So!


skins be gone - pizza, pasta, stew starter - turkey roaster waiting station


OK....
Remember those tomatoes from last week?
The ones I had to put in the freezer?
The ones from the farmers market? ($7.00 for about 20 lbs).
 Well yesterday we had  time.
 Let's get them canned up, I said!

We left them whole, more or less, and used the pressure canner.
I was running short on jars so we used a combo of quarts and pints.
Would have preferred to use all wide mouth, but....

We used the hot pack method,
keeping them between warm and hot in the turkey roaster.
Everything went well and we ended up with,
3 quarts, 8 pints and 3 juice.
The juice was the left over liquid in the roaster.

I'd say, we have quite enough tomatoes now!
(Remember, I canned some in January)...
 Anyone needing some of the "said tomatoes"
is welcome to come over and help themselves!

Let me back up!
Before we started on the tomatoes, I put a brisket in the electric roaster,
(about 10 1/2  lbs. for $1.49 a lb.)
and some dry (soaked overnight),  beans in the slow cooker.

OK, moving on....


Brisket waiting to be trimmed - all packaged up - meal size
 The Brisket
Typically, we don't do meat as a main course,
 use it for soups, stews, casseroles, tacos ETC.
I guess I get that trait from my mom, she was
trying to feed 9 people on a limited budget!
She did some wonderful recipes with very little to work with.
(Wish I would have told her, I love you, more often).

So, we packaged the brisket into meal size portions and popped them into the freezer.
(When I say meal size, I mean, big meal, several servings).
I would have rather canned it but I was low on jars, and by this time it was 5pm.

The Beans
My grand-daughter Lauren was over last weekend and
she was watching Nate and I make the crispy breakfast tacos.
(Not that Nathan was really helping, more like,
in and out of the kitchen while playing video games and watching a movie.
I guess he gets his multi tasking from me).

We were tossing around ideas for different fillings and she suggested
using re-fried beans as the binder, chorizo as the meat, and adding scrambled eggs.
Sounded good, might be ugly though, I'm not sure how the eggs will look.

And, as soon as I get my butt away from this laptop,
I'm going to smash some beans and give her idea a try.
I'll let you know how they turn out!

OH, and Sue,
I did at least manage to get the laundry done.
I might even get the dog hair swept up!!!

Yes, my grass is indeed that brown!
What are you guys going to do with your long weekend?

Till next time,
Bonjour

Saturday, August 27, 2011

No Rain, No Problem! Farmer's Market To The Rescue!!!

So....

Since we had to quit the garden
 due to the  no rain issues/fines for using too much water,
a trip to the farmer's market on Friday was in order.

There was no arm twisting involved, I love to go,
only,
 I would rather not have to buy my produce.

Oh well,
the bright side is,
 I'm helping out a south or East Texas farmer.
(Gotta take the positive notes where you can)!

Anyway...

We scored about 20 lbs of roma tomatoes for $8.00
4 giant, red bell peppers for $1.00
okra @ $3.oo a pint (got 2)
green beans @ $3.00 a pint ( got 2 also)
new potatoes @ $2.00 for 2 pints
and, 2 fairly large cantaloupe for $5.00

Some of the goodies

Not too bad, especially compared to the supermarket!

We canned some of the okra yesterday for Steve's mom
and saved the rest to fry.
We'll do that on Sunday.
My Steve does enjoy his fried okra!
He also enjoys green beans and new potatoes,
Sunday on that one also.

Today I got started on or meals for the week.
First up was spinach/lasagna roll ups from Rachel Ray's kid cookbook.

Rachel Ray's cookbook
Naturally, I put my own spin on the recipe using ingredients I already had on hand.

Here's my take!!

Mince, mince, chop!

Ingredients:
1 small onion, minced
3 ribs celery, with some leaves, minced
1 red bell pepper, minced
1 roma tomato, seeded and minced
1 package spinach, drained and chopped (about one lb.)
(I had a package of blanched mixed greens in the freezer, swiss chard, spinach and beet greens)
about a 3/4  lb. of queso fresco, divided use (fetta or ricotta would work)
medium thick rue, about 1 and 1/2 cups  divided use (made with turkey broth)
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
6 lasagna noodles, cooked, rinsed and drained
olive oil for sautéing

Directions:
Sautee first 3 ingredients in heated olive oil about 7 minutes.
Add spinach/greens, 1/4 lb. queso fresco, 1/2 cup rue and nutmeg.
Stay with the skillet at this point.
Cook, stirring until queso fresco starts to melt.
Remove from heat.
Lay out your cooked lasagna noodles on a cutting board.
With a rubber spatula coat the noodles with your spinach/queso fresco mixture.
I added extra, crumbled, queso fresco at this stage, a little for each roll up.
Fill and roll up all noodles and place seam side down in a casserole dish.

Time To Roll!!!


Spoon extra rue over the rolled noodles, sprinkle with extra queso fresco or parmesan cheese.
Bake in a 350 degree oven till cheese melts and noodles heat through. About 15 minutes.

When I make these in the summer I stop at the baking step. I just cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge. When ready to eat just spoon out a noodle or two and microwave.
Great for gourmet, lunch box treats !!!

Yummo!!!

I'm curious...
Have you been restricted on your water usage,
fined for using too much?
Do you  recycle your water when possible?

Tomorrow we'll be canning the tomatoes,
frying okra and making the green beans and new potatoes.

Till next time,
Bonjour


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Canning Citrus Recipe


10LBS. OF OARNGES

Well...
What to do with all those oranges and grapefruits from The Dallas Farmers Market?
Can them of course!!!
These make great snacks for taking to work, pureeing for a marinade, chopped for cobblers or
whatever else you can think of.

5 lbs. peeled, deseeded grapefriut

Here's the recipe for canning your citrus fruits.

13lbs. of citrus fruit to yield about 9 pints
(you can mix and match fruits if you like. (It will take more fruit if you're using lemons or limes)
 4 cups sugar
6 cups water or citrus juice or combo of both

Get your water bath canner set up with the water and jars inside and bring to a simmer.
Put your lids in a sauce pan with water and simmer.

Wash fruit.
Peel and deseed the citrus fruit. I like to peel with a knife. (Save those skins for candied peels.)
Pull segments apart and put into a large bowl.
When you are done peeling and deseeding all the fruit you're ready to make the syrup.

Combine the water/juice and the sugar and bring to a boil stirring to incorporate.

Pull your jars out of the canner, drain, and fill with the fruit to 1/2" of top,
then add your syrup to 1/4' of the top.
Slide a wooden spoon handle down the inside of the jar to release any air bubbles.
Wipe the rim of the jar with a damp clean cloth, apply the lid and then the band.
Place the jars in the canner as you fill them.

Once you get the canner filled put the lid on and bring to a boil.
Make sure the water covers the tops of the jars by about 2".
When you have a rolling boil set your timer to 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes are up remove the jars and place on a folded dish towel to cool.

My canner only holds 7 pints at a time so I have to do 2 separate batches.
If you don't have a canner you can use a large stew type pot with a folded dish towel in the bottom.
(You don't want your jars on direct heat.)
If you have any of the syrup mixture left over you can ladle it into jars to make juice. Just can up as you would the fruit.


CANNED ORANGES AND GRAPEFRUIT

I hope you give this a try and let me know your results.

Till next time,
Bonjour

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Dallas Farmers Market

TOW MATERS
SO......
I had to make a trip into north Dallas yesterday for soap supplies and since
The Dallas Farmers Market is on the way we decided to stop.

PINEAPPLES CANTALOUPES AND ORANGES

Lots of local greens, onions, south Texas grapefruit,
farm fresh eggs and honey.
Also plenty of the more exotic fare, pineapples, mangoes and papayas.

FARM FRESH EGGS
Well needless to say I parted with a little green!
We came home with 25lbs. of tomatoes, 14 pineapples, 10lbs. of oranges,
5lbs. of grapefruit, several bell peppers, (yellow and green) and, (I'm not saying how many) onions.
Guess what we're doing tomorrow?
Stay Tuned for canning day!!!!

Till next time,
Bonjour