I still have lots to post from our Spain/Holland trip, and pictures… but in the meantime (while I finish uploading and editing photos) –
FARMERS MARKETS! SEATTLE! UTOPIA!
I thought, because I hadn’t frozen/canned/preserved enough vegetables this summer, that I was doomed to two season of shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. And honestly? I hate both of them right now. Ok, well I don’t HATE Trader Joe’s, but the last time I walked through, I came to the realization that all they really sell is a huge variety of pre-made foods. That’s what they’re best known for. And we just don’t eat premade ANYTHING anymore. Granted, I can get cheaper cheeses there – but I get all our cheese from the Farmer’s Market, so…
When we first got back from our trip, the house was empty of food so I did have to go to Whole Foods to stock up. I felt really SAD and grossed out, walking through the produce aisle, thinking I was going to have to buy vegetables from far, far away for two seasons.
Then I went to the year round, Sunday market in Ballard to see what options I’d have there, and I talked to the wonderful people at Nash’s Farm and found out – HOLY TOLEDO – I would NOT be shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s or even PCC. I will still only set foot in a grocery store maybe once every couple months. Some of the farms are in an area – around the Dungeoness Valley, where they don’t get much frost and the weather is still fairly temperate. So they’d be bringing tons of produce to the market – produce for ME to buy and for my family to live on all winter! Potatoes and onions and root vegetables galore. Kale. Chard. Brussel Sprouts. Squash. And on and on. I still have my egg source, my meat source (all pastured – pork, beef, etc) my raw milk source and all the cheese makers will still be at the market. I even go to a farm to pick up our Thanksgiving Turkey on the 20th.
Last night, for dinner, I was feeling kind of lazy so we had a version of breakfast for dinner. Scrambled, pastured eggs. Pork breakfast sausage from Thundering Hooves (where I get all our meats.) Roasted cauliflower (gotten from the market in the morning). And mesclun with radishes (also both from the market) drizzled with something I whipped up – red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and a couple drops of white truffle oil.
The night before, I made curried squash soup with chorizo (also from Thundering Hooves) which Nugget LOVED.
Tonight? Spaghetti squash and home made meatballs (ground, pastured, grass-fed beef!) with another mesclun salad. At some point this week, I’ll make a rubarb pie (Mr Nikki’s been pestering me for this for weeks now) and chicken croquettes with the meat leftover from the chicken stock I made last week.
All this good food and I don’t have to step foot in a grocery store. That, to me, is perfection.