Last Farmers Market of the Season!

From Attitude of Gratitude website

Thanksgiving approacheth, and it's worthwhile to remember our causes for gratitude, as I sit typing this with dinner unmade and my 7th grader in tears beside me over her math. I am grateful for free public education. I am grateful that, prepared or not, there will eventually be food on the table. I am grateful for a three-day week next week, followed by family time and the tastiest meal of the year, in my humble opinion.

For the umpteenth annual time, we can pledge to eat at least one local food at Thanksgiving. Piece of cake, considering the riches of our local produce. Last Saturday at the Bellevue Farmers Market, I found different potato varieties, brussels sprouts, winter squash, apples for pie, cheese for the cheese plate, bread to cube into stuffing, fresh parsley--even first-course soups! Eating local captures the original Thanksgiving spirit, when shipping exotic viands thousands of miles was simply not an option. Eat what you could find or whatever had been put by earlier, throw in your lot with your friends and neighbors, and give thanks.

Enjoy the following links to some of my favorite seasonal recipes:

Elena's delicious Butternut-Squash-Apple Soup. I made this the other day with squash I'd already roasted. So easy and happens to be vegan, if one of your guests is!

Cook's Illustrated Green Bean Casserole. I love this dish in any form, even the open-a-can-of-cream-of-mushroom kind, but this one is over-the-top yummy.

If you don't do mashed potatoes, try this simple Gratin Dauphinois from Cooking Light. (I do substitute whole milk for the nonfat business.)

And, a repeat from an earlier post, the dinner rolls I make ahead and freeze every Thanksgiving and Christmas, adapted from Betty Crocker's Best Christmas Cookbook.


Besides grabbing your feast fixings, be sure to stock up for the long dry spell. Loki Fish offers a discount when you buy 10 lbs, so I'll be loading up on Sockeye filets. If you have a favorite sausage or other meat from Olsen Farms or Samish Bay, now's the time. Artisan bread from Ble or Snohomish Bakery freezes beautifully. Depending on how I plan to serve it, I either slice and freeze (for sandwiches) or throw it in whole.

And if you've managed to dodge hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas, hostess gifts abound at the Market. I've shown up with Jonboy caramels, Pete's Perfect Butter Toffee or a jar of Handmade by Rome jam--the fig with vanilla is fabulous on a cheese tray.

My blog will continue weekly during the off-season, but this Saturday will be our last chance to run into each other live and in person! See you at the Market.

Sweets to the Sweet

With the end of Sugar-Free January and the advent of Full-On-Fat February, it's been high times in the UrbanFarmJunkie's household. I think we've had sugar cookies, chocolate-chip cookies, Snickerdoodles, peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookies, dark chocolate, and ice cream. Not all at once, mind you, but that's a pretty long list, considering it's only February 8. Nor does that include desserts had at restaurants.

With all the no-sugar fuss, we never did give up jam or honey. I've been enjoying Rome Doherty's blog posts (as Handmade in Seattle, he was our Bellevue Farmers Market jam purveyor), including a post on why he doesn't use sugar substitutes. If you've had his jams, you know he specializes in classics as well as intriguing flavor combos. The next jar I open up will be his Apricot with Vanilla Bean.

Whatever your indulgence this Valentine's Day weekend, try to keep the food homemade and real! It turns out that, as if our overcast, dark winters weren't enough, trans-fat consumption can also lead to depression. Check out this Science Daily article. Seems to me there are many variables in such a study (couldn't olive-oil eaters be happier because they tend to live in sunny, Mediterranean climates?), but it's not like anyone has proven trans-fats to be beneficial...

Skip the fast food, skip the processed food, and watch the portions. There's been lots of press about how American portion sizes have ballooned along with our average weight, but this article provides some nice visuals.

Oh, but one exception to portion-size would have to be your Valentine's Day treat. Even Eating Well magazine caves and runs its chocolate recipes, including this one for their favorite rocky road brownies. Try it out and save half a pan for me!

Two Farmers Markets Left!

The good news is we aren't going anywhere for Thanksgiving because the parents are coming this direction. The bad news is we aren't going anywhere for Thanksgiving because the parents are coming this direction. Meaning, I don't have to be organized when it comes to luggage and the kids' schoolwork, but I do have to get my act in gear about Thanksgiving dinner. Especially since there are only two Saturday markets left!

When you're thinking about eating local for Thanksgiving, don't forget the following goodies on the shopping list:

1. The perfect hostess gift. Caramels? Toffee? Smoked Salmon? A jar of jam? Fancy cheese? Flowers, naturally.
   
2. Appetizers. Assemble a cheese tray with Golden Glen's Cheddar with Red Pepper and Samish Bay's Ladysmith (Jalapeno, if you feel adventurous). Or whip up some cream cheese and serve it alongside Handmade in Seattle's Ginger Pear Butter. Or stop at Hama Hama for some smoked oysters.
   
   
3. Potatoes. Whether chopped and roasted or mashed with tons of butter, the Market carries every variety. And I've said this before, but after you read Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, you will never want to eat a non-organic potato again.
   
4. If you aren't making rolls, grab some tasty bread at Ble. Slice it and throw it in the freezer until you need it.
   
5. Don't forget that Samish Bay carries sausage, if you prefer sausage-and-cornbread stuffing. Not to mention, onions and celery can also be found at several stalls. If you like oyster stuffing, hit Hama Hama.
   
6. Having a pescatorian Thanksgiving? Treat your guests to Food Magazine's Thanksgiving Salmon recipe, complete with cranberry sauce. Loki Salmon tastes wonderful cooked any which way, and the diehards might not miss the turkey.
   
7. And finally, for dessert, there are plenty of apples for homemade apple pie, and I've even spotted a few pie pumpkins. Tiny's Organic had a new apple--the Golden Russet. Not as dramatic to look at as their Arkansas Blacks, but very tasty and crisp.

Get cracking, and we'll see you on Saturday!

Butter, Jelly, and Hot Links!

If you dropped by last week's Saturday Market, you noticed the bumper crop of new farmers and vendors, migrating from the now-finished Thursday Bellevue Farmers Market. Enjoying my slice of Veraci's special-of-the-day while I bought my eggs and produce was quite the bonus, except that it led to much juggling when I visited the neighboring stall, Handmade in Seattle by Rome. Handmade features luscious fruit butters and jellies, including a Pear Butter (with or without ginger) to die for. So far I've enjoyed it on cornbread and swirled into old-fashioned oatmeal. More unusual and also worth a taste is Handmade's Sangria Jelly. If you wonder, like I did, what you would do with sangria jelly, imagine spooning it over baked brie and loading the whole thing on a cracker. Uh-huh. That suggestion sounded good to me--I got a jar to share at my next book club meeting. For a complete run-down of flavors and some recipe ideas, check out Handmade's blog.

Speaking of blogs, a friend of mine recently dropped out of the Microsoft grind and has been experimenting with and posting about putting food by, sustainability, and other Pioneer-woman-type activities. She's clever and creative, so check out ContemporaryInsanity.

Eating well doesn't necessarily have to break the bank. Check this link from Eating Well Magazine, temptingly titled, "How to Save $2,997 a Year on Food Without Even Noticing." Thrifty practices include packing lunch and eating leftovers, which you probably will notice, but it's fun to see how many of the suggestions you already implement, so you can feel smug about it. With a score of 5/6, the UrbanFarmJunkie achieved an 83% on the Self-Righteousness Scale. Of course, I could conversely feel depressed by this article. After all, I'm already saving the $3,000, which means this is as wealthy as I get...

And lastly, speaking of depressing and in honor of Halloween, I bring you this article from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, via @unhealthytruth, on Why American Kids Are So Danged Fat (not the exact title). Something to keep in mind as we cast our November ballots, except--oh, wait, that's right--neither political party will touch farm subsidies, no matter how fat and unhealthy we get. All the more reason to vote at the Market with our dollars. Happy Halloween!