When I first moved to California, many years ago, I was amazed at the number of farmers markets and the convenience of where they were located, along with their incredible variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. In Connecticut, we had a few roadside stands with seasonal produce in the summer but not much selection and certainly not year round.
In the first few years of living in California, I would go regularly to the Saturday morning Farmers Market. I loved wandering up and down and looking at all of the amazing produce and related items. However, schedules change and regularly going to the Farmers Market was pushed aside for the convenience of Trader Joe's and other grocery stores.
As I have been getting back to cooking and clean eating, it seems natural to get back into the habit of weekly trips to the Farmers Market. I made my first trip to the Saturday Farmers Market with a few specific goals in mind. First up was cauliflower. I have always loved cauliflower but recently I have been trying different recipes like cauliflower rice. Then I discovered that you can freeze cauliflower rice. I thought I would pick up a few heads of cauliflower and make and freeze the rice for easy prep in the future.
Since many of the farmers still have mostly winter vegetables, there were a lot of options like in the photo above. I picked up a traditional cauliflower and one of the yellow-orange ones to try something new.
The other thing I was reminded when I went to the Farmers Market today is that vegetables and fruits still can have flavor. The strawberries I picked up (not pictured) were so sweet and juicy as compared to what has been in the grocery store lately. And tomatoes, which barely taste like anything when bought at the Farmers Market are out of this world. I wasn't sure if I could get tomatoes this early but there was one stand that had only tomatoes and though a bit expensive, they were really beautiful looking. I bought enough to eat fresh but also to make into a marinara sauce. I can't wait.
I am looking forward to planning for future trips to the Farmers Market and to discovering new fruits and vegetables and recipes to go with them.
For the month of March, I will be writing and posting daily as part of the Slice of Life Challenge. Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers for hosting the March Slice of Life Challenge.