West Chester Farmer's Market and Zucchini Without a Prayer

A Saturday morning at the West Chester Farmer's Market was exactly what I needed after indulgent weekends with friends.  Don't misunderstand, I adore my friends.  I miss them dearly.  Why do we all live so far apart from one another?  But my simple routine was completely off kilter.  There was no baking over the weekends with Tim.  There was no tending to our little garden.  There was no snuggling with the cutest puppy dogs ever.  And I missed Tim.  Our little life is a wonderful thing.

I admit I'd never been to a farmer's market before Saturday.  I have had the best of intentions to go, and in early May even drove up to South Lebanon a few times when I thought that their market might be open early.  Of course, it wasn't open, and then my early June weekends I was out of town, so this was my first opportunity.  I arrived around 9:30am and the area was already bustling with shoppers.  I had been given some advice by friends that you shouldn't take a grocery list with you but just go with what's fresh and available.  I did bring a little wish list of things I was hoping to find, and luckily, everything I wanted for the week was there. 

After perusing the farmer's market's website, I had two vendors in mind that I was particularly interested in checking out.  One was Blue Jacket Dairy.  A few weekends prior, Tim and I had been watching our local public broadcast channel and caught a special about local cheesemaking at Blue Jacket Dairy.  It was intriguing how this small, family operated business was turning traditional dairy farming into a specialty foods business.  With the local food and slow food movements expanding throught southwest and central Ohio, I was thrilled to see they were going to be at the market.  Their high quality gourmet cheese did not disappoint and I walked away with around $5 worth of each Ludlow cheese and Gretna Grilling cheese.

The other vendor I wanted to shop was Morning Sun Farm run by Dave and Evelyn Filbrun.  I was attracted to their booth because of the huge truck backed up to their stall and the long line of people waiting to purchase eggs and meat from them.  Their eggs are laid by free range, organic chickens and their selection of different organic poultry, pork, and lamb products was impressive.  They had all cuts of chicken available, and I was able to cross a whole chicken and a dozen eggs off my wish list.  Since this was one of the first booths I went to, I only had big bills.  The gentleman who was working the booth (perhaps it was Dave Filbrun?) was very polite and even offered samples of some sweet sausage they had warmed up on the table.  He asked me after I paid that if I had smaller bills when I finished shopping if I could bring him back some $1's or $5's.  About 20 minutes later, after I had purchased a zucchini, a big bunch of green onions, and some organic honey, I came back with some change.  The gentleman was so thankful that he gave me a package of frozen organic chicken wings at no charge. 

That's the beauty of doing business from person to person.  I will definitely be purchasing my meat from the market from here on out.  Not only is it better for my local agricultural industry (which is a big deal in Southwest Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana) but he made a big impact on me.  I highly suggest if you are in the Cincinnati area to check out the West Chester Farmer's Market and see if you can do some of your shopping person to person.  I think it will make an impact on you, too. 

While I'm saving the chicken for dinner this week, I did use the green onions in my Vegetable Pad Thai and I used the zucchini in this recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cakes with Pecans.  I'm pretty sure everyone has had zucchini in a quick bread, but I'd never had it paired with chocolate.  I know that Ashley over at Delish made some Mini Chocolate Zucchini Cakes of her own that I'd love to compare to this recipe.

While grating the zucchini I was wondering to myself how in the world this was going to taste!  Zucchini, while it is mild, definitely has a "green vegetable" flavor that is distinct when tasted alone.  When paired with 1 cup of sugar, zucchini just doesn't have a prayer of it's own flavor shining through.  While this is definitely not a healthy way to prepare zucchini, it is definitely a way to sneak vegetables into a dessert.  A nifty trick if you're like me and have a kid that won't even try something if she even slighlty suspects it won't taste good. 

I opted to top these with pecans but the original recipe called for walnuts.  For some reason Tim is rather picky about nuts and doesn't care for walnuts.  Personally, I don't find walnts and pecans all that different in flavor or texture.  I think if you left the nuts off completely, you would lose the little crunch that these bite size desserts need in order to be a more satisfying morsel.

I used semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than chopped bittersweet chocolate, and I think that was the right decision.  Without the semi-sweet chocolate, there isn't much intense chocolate flavor.  With the chips, they are very chocolately.  The texture was somewhere between a cupcake and a brownie and it was very easy to eat a bunch of them before you even realized they were half gone.  I suggest packing them up individually to ration them out before you eat all of them in one sitting!

This recipe also gave me a very good reason to use my mini muffin pan, which I've only used a handful of times to make very addictive Pepperoni Pizza Puffs.  In fact, Tim requested those Pizza Puffs this weekend, and that was what reminded me to make these Chocolate Zucchini Cakes! 

Chocolate-Zucchini Cakes with Pecans
adapted from Everyday Food Magazine
makes 24-30 mini cakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp course salt
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup finely grated zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini)
3 tbsp sour cream
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
24-30 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, stir together butter, sugar, salt, and egg until combined.  Add vanilla, grated zucchini, and sour cream.  Stir until incorporated.  Sift flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and stir until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Spray mini muffin pan with cooking spray.  Fill each cup with batter until 3/4 full (about 2 tablespoons) and top with a pecan half.  Bake 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool slightly in pans on wire rack before serving. 

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 

Tried and True Pad Thai

For my older sister's birthday a few years ago, we went to Thai 9 in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio.  Being a somewhat adventurous orderer at restaurants, I am certain I picked some sort of moderately spicy dish like green curry.   Tim likely ordered a stir fry that was so high on the 1 to 10 heat level that he probably blistered his tongue and wandered around in a tasteless world for a few days.  I definitely remember (which is rare since I already told you about my memory issues) my sister, Amy, who prefers tried and true meals, ordered pad thai.  Being the food snob that I am, I likely balked at her ordering such a simple noodle dish.  How unimaginative!  How predictable!

Amy, I would like to apologize for not trusting your tried and true food choices.  It was not until this week, when I saw a recipe for Vegetable Pad Thai in Everday Food Magazine that I decided to give it a shot, and I am certainly glad I did.  I even successfully convinced Tim (a man with hunterer and gatherer instincts) to have a meal with no meat (gasp)!

Thankfully when I went to the West Chester Farmer's Market there were vendors who have had much more luck in their gardens than we are having.  I did make a little "wish list" before I left for a few things that I knew I needed to pick up, one being green onions.

Lucky for me green onions were in abundance.  From one vendor I got a medium zucchini and this huge bunch of green onions for only $1.75.  I felt like it was a small victory, and just another reason to shop there again.  I'm a bit disappointed that we will be out of town this weekend and I won't get to go back and visit for a few weeks. 

The recipe I was following was easy enough.  As with all Asian cooking, prepping everything you need before you even fire up the stove top is key to a successful dish.  You don't want to overcook because you will lose the texture of the ingredients.  I found it very efficient to drop the rice noodles in hot water to soak while I prepped everything else.  The only change I made to the recipe was to add a little bit of peanut butter to the sauce so that the dish would go beyond a basic soy sauce mixture into the arena of distinct peanut-ty flavor.

 
The resulting pad thai was salty and peanut-ty with complex textures from the soft, chewy rice noodles and crisp green onions.  Next time I make this (and there will be a next time, perhaps even this week if my sister and her hubby come over for dinner on Tuesday) I might toss in some shrimp or tofu, but it's definitely not necessary.  This simple pad thai stands tall on it's own.

Vegetable Pad Thai
adapted from Everyday Food Magazine
serves 4

Ingredients
8 ounces dried, wide, and flat rice noodles
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup), separate white parts from green
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Soak noodles according to package instructions.  Drain and set aside.

In a small bowl mix together brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, and peanut butter.  In a large non-stick skiller, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add green onion whites and garlic, cook while stirring constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add eggs and cook, scraping skillet until eggs are almost set, about 30 seconds.  Remove egg mixture (including green onions and garlic) to a plate.  Add noodles and soy sauce and cook while stirring constantly until noodles are soft and coated with sauce, about 1 minute.  Add egg mixture and mix in with noodles, breaking the egg up gently.

Serve topped with cilantro, remaining green onions, and peanuts.

The Day I Almost Abandoned the Garden or The Little Watermelon That Could

I had two completely opposite experiences at the garden this morning.

I knew going into it that today would be a battle of endurance and perseverance but apparently my game face isn't as scary as the gigantic weeds choking out our plants.  Only after 20 minutes or so, I looked at Tim, his face red with sweat trickling over his eye behind his glasses, and thought if we just give up and go home, we can drink ice cold water and put our feet up.  The weeds were endless and our only goal today was to clear a small area around each plant so that they wouldn't be so suffocated by the increasingly strong grasses.  But as Tim was wilting away across from me and each time I dug my little hand fork into the ground my left bicep was screaming out, "you haven't lifted your arm this many times since 9th grade weightlifting with the girls volleyball team," I began to doubt our ability to make an impact.

In this moment of weakness, I considered abandoning the garden. 

And then I saw something that gave me hope.

We had not failed the garden yet, and it had not failed us.  There, in the midst of the weeds, was a teensy watermelon.  It was barely bigger than my thumb, but it was there, and it was hanging on.  It was the little watermelon that could, and if it could, we could too.