Fresh Ideas

Hello, dear blog readers! Last night Hubby and I watched an episode Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. While I can't say I always appreciate the TV "reality drama" of cooking, I DO appreciate certain nuances--like, for example, using ingredients that are fresh and in season.

While I can't make the claim that I have rotten food in my fridge, I certainly have an overabundance of cheaply produced, highly processed foods. Actually...I should say we DID earlier this week. Today the fridge is empty-ish and the cupboards are pretty bare. I made an extremely creative fruit salad of the last of our banana, some apples, peanuts, and tofu. Sounds maybe a little disgusting, but my kids loved it, especially with a pinch of salt and some honey to bring out the flavor and juices of the apples.

All of that being said, this is the PERFECT time of year to start visiting farmer's markets and getting ideas for using seasonal foods. Today's project: after the kiddies wake up from naps, we will be heading off to one of our local stores who incorporates produce grown locally. Time to come up with something aside from the odds and ends in the fridge for dinner!

In the spirit of kicking off with spring and summer produce, here is a link that I found last night that has me really excited: http://www.pickyourown.org/. This website is fantastic because it's not specific to a local area--most states have links on this page! Since we are new to the area of Northern Virginia, I wanted to find out more or less when certain fruits and veggies are available in our area, and where to get them. Another link that I found: http://smartmarkets.org/ has a listing of several local farmer's markets that run throughout the week. So, if you're like me and you fully intend to visit a market on a certain day and don't get the chance, you can still visit a similar market (with some of the same vendors) on a different day.

Happy Friday to you all, dear blog readers!