Eat Local Challenge Day 17

Today is Wednesday, which means yesterday was Tuesday, which means I stocked up on fresh veggies from the 12th South Farmers Market. I made connections with a few of the vendors, including The Goat Cheese Man and Foxy Baking Co., who groaned in disappointment at herself for not having any zucchini bread to offer me. (On my first trip to the market, during Week 1 of the challenge, I bought a mini loaf of her fresh-baked zucchini bread. As a lover of all things “autumn spicey” or pumpkin-flavored, which this loaf hinted at, I couldn’t wait for my next trip to the market to get another. I even posted about it on her Facebook page. Then I got sick and had to miss a market day, so by the time I approached the Foxy tent yesterday, I was ready. 

Then she groaned. Then she told me zucchini is almost out of season. Then I got sad. Then I realized, why stop with zucchini bread? So I bought an adorable 5” bacon-and-onion quiche. I figured the portion would be just right for my breakfast for the next day or so. Delicious! Enough to be filling but light enough not to weigh me down so early in the morning. 

Tonight, I had a meeting at Panera, which I do not count as “local” so I drank some coffee and anxiously awaited coming home to my produce.

I had bought a 2 (or was it 4?) oz. serving of fettuccine noodles from Alfresco Pasta, freshly-made, flash-frozen, whole-wheat pasta. Only $2 for 1 serving, which made 2 portions for me. The frozen noodles did cook quickly (only 3-4 minutes) but were too long; I like to break my noodles up to take smaller bites. 

Pasta from Alfresco Pasta

I cooked the noodles and added yellow squash, eggplant, bell pepper and purple onion and topped it off with goat cheese feta, all from the market. I think my meal would’ve been better with fresh garlic but I used what I had. I also think it needed a fresh caprese salad to finish it off, but overall, not a bad dinner (and leftover lunch the next day!). 

Fettuccine with local veggies and feta, with a glass of Malbec.

I liked the noodles because they really did taste fresh and “wheaty” without the stiff almost corrugated feeling of most dried whole wheat pasta. $2 for 2 servings isn’t bad, but the same price gets you a lot more dried noodles...an eat local conundrum.

Why haven’t I been going to the market all summer? This could’ve been great! Well, now I know, and now I can start to build relationships and can continue to take advantage of this until winter, when I’ll go back to eating leftover Thanksgiving casseroles my grandma sends home with me. Maybe I’ll look into a winter CSA, but I bet it’s chock full of cabbage which i can’t stand. :p

Until next time, buon apetito!