mealsfromthemarket

So it hasn’t even been a week since I last blogged, but it feels like forever.  So what have we been up to?  A lot of simple!  Thursday was our oldest son S’s school performance so we were out late, we ended up at home late and allowed our oldest to pick the restaurant to eat out at.  He picked chipotle, he tried to reason it was “sort of” local… they do buy local meats and veggies when they can.  Ok I’ll give him that one, Taco Bell doesn’t do that, and Taco Bell is his fav place, so this was a nice choice of his.

Friday… S’s GF came over so we went out to the park and did a picnic.  We picked up pizza, went and bought fresh produce, drinks and a dessert at the local market and ate at the park.  We had a grand time.  Eating, playing, laughing… it was great!

Saturday was A LONG DAY… it started early in the morning with S and I hitting the market.  It was nice, some of the permanent table fixtures were going in to place and it felt less crowded.  We made our way around and shopped it up!  We purchased bagels, eggs, spinach, leeks and shared some breakfast while we were there.  It was nice getting out of the house with him and spending alone time.  From there we came home and unloaded and reloaded the car, we were headed to Grand Haven for some flea market shopping.  It was a fun drive and we had a nice time shopping around.  On our way home we stopped and ate locally for lunch, it was expensive BUT good.  Beer battered asparagus – GIVE IT A TRY!  MmmMmmmmm… from the lunch restaurant we headed to a local greenhouse to pick up 4 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.  So needless to say we were all hot and tired.  So dinner was local and simple… breakfast for dinner.  I made J a mushroom/spinach omelet with cheese.  S had a sandwich with homemade bread and a mushroom/spinach egg inside… laid on top of smokey jack cheese, MMMM!  I had a feta, egg and tomato sandwich on homemade bread… Oh YEAH!!  So enough of the simple… Sunday J kicked it up a notch to a step above simple.

Sunday evening was cheeseburger quiche evening.  The quiche was good – there were a few “problems” but I think those can be fixed.  First, the crust did NOT work out.  I don’t know what exactly happened, J did but the crust, it didn’t hold together whatsoever – my guess is it was too “wet”.  Second, might have been might fault.  I purchased the meat and got the 85% lean from the market, it was cheaper than the 95% lean and I wanted to do a meat dish so I went with what was affordable.  This might have been avoidable if I had drained and rinsed the meat prior to mixing it with the other ingredients.  Other than those two things the quiche had GREAT flavor and S even had it for breakfast the next day… he really enjoyed it.

Monday was another notch up the belt on simplicity… almost in medium territory!  I was cooking and I had a GRAND idea… it didn’t turn out so grand looking, tasted great – but the look was way off.  I made a potato, carrot and leek “thing.” The recipe I was using as a “loose” guide called it a tart… I was going for quiche.  We ended up with an ooey gooey pie – with FLAVOR!  What would I have changed… well first I wouldn’t have pureed the potatoes and carrots… I would have chopped them and left it at that, the smoothness of the dish seemed to be the undoing.  Also when J prepared the crust the night before he did two at once since we knew we were going to need one for Sunday and Monday… so the crust was off in this one as well.  The flavor in this dish meshed very nicely together, the only problem was the dish not holding together.  No worries… it all got eaten.  S had two BIG servings and J just ate the rest right out of the baking dish.  The baby even liked it… smooth and tasty is his style!

Tuesday, tonight, was simple as well.  I started with browning some mushrooms, sautéing some leeks and then simmering some local spaghetti sauce on top of those.  The noodles cooked, we tossed and enjoyed a simple meal that did not heat the entire house.  Sunday and Monday were a lesson onto us.  Baking when it is warming up outside is NOT a great idea.  We need to get ourselves a grill or start coming up with some cooler dinner alternatives.

So hubby J came home from work and was pooped and frustrated at his day.  He had a long day of dealing with people on the phone who couldn’t seem to get it straight, and the machine they were working on was NOT cooperating.  As you can see in this pic he needed a pick-me-up and paired his remaining starbucks drink with the frittata of tonight.  His first bite made him grunt in approval, the second slice had him reminding me I can make this frittata any time, and he really doesn’t mind feta when I cook it in a meal like this.  Not only did tonight’s dinner win his approval, yet again our oldest son S liked it and didn’t even mind the tomatoes.  YAHOO FOR MOM!  This kid HATES tomatoes and getting him to eat them is also a chore, not in this frittata.  He had two servings and asked for the last piece, his dad said no it was his and he could have yogurt. HA!  Based on his rough day I guess he earned it! 

So after a rough day at work what do you like to come home and unwind to at the table??  A beer? Starbucks?  Frittata?  Or a frozen hungry man??

As you can see S’s slice has only a FEW tomatoes, but still… he ATE them!!