Twenty Dollar Thursdays, Welcome May

Welcome back to Twenty Dollar Thursdays! This week I am getting back in the groove of things now that Spring Break is over. Last week there may have not been a post, but I was sure to still head to my local farmer's market. This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie featured strawberries from Rodriguez Farms and my Homemade Minestrone Soup featured kale from First Generation Farmers and cauliflower from Garcia Farms. Our Thursday night farmer's market has opened for the season, and I am excited to head there tonight to check out the new vendors and pick up strawberries and produce for the weekend.

Week of May 1st:
This week I headed to the market with only $16 (there was a miscommunication and nobody stopped to pick up cash) so I made it work the best I could. I will add the extra $4 to next week's Twenty Dollar Thursday when I do my Mother's Day edition. I was able to get a flat of 30 organic eggs, plus the vegetables pictured above. I picked up these organic icicle radishes and purple carrots from Swank Farms, out of Hollister, CA. I picked up a whole bag of baby artichokes for only $4! I will be grilling them this weekend, yum!
Instead of kale, I picked up a bunch of swiss chard from First Generation Farmers. I have been swinging by to visit these guys almost every week. They are a community farm that offers education and volunteer opportunities to those interested in changing our current food system. They are currently running a campaign on IndieGoGo to raise $50,000 to transform their farming practices on their 50 acre farm and classify the crops produced as 100% organic.

The Breakdown:
Eggs $7 for 30 count
Baby Artichokes $4 for bag of 10
Swiss Chard $2
Purple Carrots $2
Icicle Radishes $1

This week's meal plan includes

 

Grilled Artichokes with Sundried Tomato Aioli

 

Warm chard salad with carrots and raisins, inspired by this recipe

 

Carrot Top Pesto, from Cookin' the Market

 

If I have a couple of artichokes left over, I would like to try to make these

Italian Stuffed Artichokes

 



Twenty Dollar Thursdays, Brunch Edition

I'm back for my third week of Twenty Dollar Thursdays, and I decided to switch it up a little this week. With Easter around the corner, I wanted to focus on brunch. Every Easter, my family and I spend the day at Grandma's where we do a big brunch with Easter Egg hunts for the kids and sit down for an early supper complete with ham and all the fixings. It is truly a day for food and family, and its a tradition we have carried on from the time I was a young kid. This year, we are switching it up just a little bit, heading to my parent's house (my kids' Grandma and Grandpa) instead of my 90 year-old grandmother's place. There will still be lots of food, and we will attempt an Easter Egg Hunt for S-Bug.

Week of April 17th:
I stopped at a Saturday farmer's market to shop for brunch items. For Easter, I am in charge of bringing desserts (like always), so I plan on making éclairs with an orange-vanilla pastry cream. This will be the first time making pate a choux since culinary school, so I hope they will turn out all right! I also plan to bring a big bowl of berries and scones or muffins that we can top with the 3 French Hens Meyer Lemon Jelly and Strawberry Jam. See the strawberries above? Yea, those will be long gone. I will have to pick up more the day before Easter. I picked up two types of kale from First Generation Farmers and farm-fresh eggs from Shelly's Farm Fresh.

The Breakdown:

Navel Oranges $1.25 for 4 (.85/pound)
Tuscan Kale $2
Russian Kale $2
Spring Onions $1
Organic Strawberries $7 for 2 baskets

Fresh Eggs $7 per dozen

*Meyer Lemon Jelly $7 (splurge item)

*Strawberry Jam $7 (splurge item)

 

Ok, with the splurge items included I spent more than twenty dollars ($34.25, to be exact!). When shopping at the farmer's market, always bring a little extra because you never know what you might find! I'm glad I did, because not only did I get a few goodies to share on Easter, but I also had enough to pick up a pastry and coffee for a mid-morning snack while shopping.

My Brunch Menu includes:

Quiche: Ham, Cheese, Spring Onion

Quiche (Vegetarian): Kale, Spring Onion and Cheese
see the recipes in this post


Cranberry Sour Cream Muffins

or

Cranberry Oatmeal Scones

 

Cheese Puffs (Gougères)

 

Eclairs

with

Orange-Vanilla Pastry Cream

 

Happy Easter to all! What is your favorite brunch food? What are some of your family's traditions for Easter? 

 

 

Twenty Dollar Thursdays, Week 2

Welcome to Week Two of my series "Twenty Dollar Thursdays"! Each week, I will spend a morning and $20 seeking out fresh, seasonal ingredients at one of my local farmer's markets. I will then incorporate these ingredients into my family's meal plan for that week. I hope to feature some of the growers and farms as the season goes on. I am lucky to live in an area that has a year-round growing season, and has Farmer's markets available year-round, rain or shine.

This week, we were blessed with a gorgeous summer spring day on market day. Last week, the rain was threatening to roll in, so there were less vendors and less people, so I picked up my produce and got out of there. This week it was nearly 80 out, so we shopped, strolled, and stopped to play at the playground. With my Peets iced coffee in hand, S-Bug had a blast running and playing with the other kids at the playground. We are entering into the "terrible twos" phase so it was good practice for him taking turns and sharing the playground equipment.

Week of April 10th:

There were a few new vendors at the market this week, with an abundance of spring produce. Green was all around, with beet and turnip greens, asparagus, artichokes, fava beans and spring snap peas! I started at the far end of the market and worked my way back to the front, chatting and buying along the way. First, I picked up a bag of baby artichokes and got a few new recipes from the vendor. I will be trying one of them out Friday when I have dinner at my parent's house. I then stopped to splurge on some local honey. By splurge I mean I spent $7 outside of my $20 budget. I then picked up more apples from Rainbow Orchards, this time I doubled what I bought last week so we could hopefully have enough apples for the week. I then stopped to pick up some local Brentwood produce, asparagus from Checchini & Checchini and beets and snap peas from Enos Family Farms.

The Breakdown:

Baby Artichokes $4 (bag of 10)

Apples $7.50 ($2/lb)

Asparagus $3.50

Golden Beets $1.50

Red Beets $1.50

2 extra bunches of beet greens FREE

Sugar Snap Peas $1.50 (1/2 pound bag)

*Local Wildflower Honey $7 (splurge item)

My Meal Plan for this week includes:

Egg Frittata with Beet Greens, Asparagus, Potatoes, and Feta Cheese

Burgers with Roasted Balsamic Asparagus

Beet Chips, Red and Golden

Spring Salad with sugar snap peas, apples, and walnuts with homemade honey-mustard vinaigrette

Fire-Roasted Artichokes with Sundried Tomato Aioli

I also hope to try my hand in fresh juicing

Apple-Yellow Beet

Greens-Cucumber-Mint-Ginger

My weekend is already proving to be busy and it's only Thursday!  My former Pony Club is in charge of running concessions at a local horse show, so I will be assisting them. I hope to visit a farmer's market Saturday morning and finish my Easter Egg Tree this weekend. Stay tuned for recipes and more!

Twenty Dollar Thursdays, Premiere

Welcome to my new series "Twenty Dollar Thursdays"! I am really excited about launching this series to promote eating locally and seasonally, by supporting the farmers directly by shopping at Farmer's markets in my area. Each week, I will spend a morning and $20 seeking out fresh, local, seasonal ingredients that I will then incorporate into my family's meal plan for that week. I hope to feature some of the growers and farms as the season goes on. I am lucky to live in an area that has a year-round growing season, and has Farmer's markets available year-round, rain or shine.

Week of April 3rd:
This week, I headed to my Tuesday morning market where I bought eggs, kale, apples (and apple cider), golden beets and grapefruit. I have been buying my eggs almost exclusively from the Farmer's market. They are so much fresher, and less expensive. Since Easter is on its way and I have plans to dye and decorate eggs, I bought white eggs. They also have flats of brown organic eggs for $7. I picked my kale up from First Generation Farmers. I picked up two pounds of Pink Lady apples and a pint of cider from Rainbow Orchards out of Camino. I always look for produce that I can't find at my local grocery store, so I picked up two bunches of golden beets to enjoy during the week. I picked up some grapefruits from Kennedy Farms out of Stockton. According to the farmer, this is his last week for his Oro Blanco and Mellow Gold Grapefruits to be in the market, but blueberries are coming!

The Breakdown:

Eggs: $5 for a flat (30 count)

Tuscan Kale: $2 per bunch

Apples: $4 ($2 per pound)
Fresh apple cider: $3 for a pint

Golden beets: $4 ($2 per bunch)

Grapefruit: $2 for 3

My Meal Plan for this week includes:
 

Spice-rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Apple Gravy

Pacific Snapper with Grapefruit, Fennel, and Olives

Baked Kale and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Golden Beet Chips

Roasted Golden Beets with Carrots

Baked Eggs in Kale cups

 

Apple Tart with Almond Oatmeal Crumble

 

Homemade Vanilla Crème Anglaise 

Grapefruit and Ginger Fizz

While shopping, I stopped to chat with the vendors. I love to know where my food comes from, and most vendors are willing to talk about their farm or give you tips for best using their produce. They want you, the customer, to be happy with your purchases. Besides farmer's selling their produce, the Master Gardeners were there advertising for their huge Heirloom Tomato Sale (which reminds me to build more planter boxes!), and Cookin' the Market had a booth set up showcasing spring produce.

My goal is to make fresh ingredients play a part in every meal. I hope to inspire you to think outside your grocery store with my recipes and insights, and to inspire creativity in your own kitchen!