What You Get For Your Money: Late Spring Farmer's Market

...or is it early summer? It's hard to tell with all the tomatoes and cucumbers that were at the farmer's market this week. I resisted the more summery offerings telling myself that better, cheaper tomatoes are yet to come to the market.

Once again, I ventured to the Falls Church Farmer's Market armed with $30 (the weekly amount of my CSA last year). What did I get?

1 bunch of baby red onions, 2 bunches of kohlrabi (each bunch has 3 bulbs), 4 bunches of tatsoi (an Asian green), 1 quart of yellow wax beans, 1 loaf of sunflower flax bread, 5 oz of fresh butter, and 1 bunch of multicolored radishes. My basket was overflowing. And heavy! Note that the butter & bread (total) was $10 leaving $20 for veggies.

What am I going to do with all this? Well, with the kohlrabi, I'll use the bulbs and greens in an Indian curry and serve it with naan and/or rice. I'll take the tatsoi, beans and onions and turn that into a stir-fry...maybe with some chicken or tofu...over rice noodles. I think. And, finally, the radishes, bread & butter will be breakfast as detailed by Gradually Greener.

I find it hard to go to the farmer's market with a meal plan as you just never know what's going to be there or what's going to look good. Thus, instead, I play a bit of Iron Chef as I do a loop around the market to check out the produce offerings & prices. I saw a few people with shopping lists and I was just in awe. Maybe if I went every week (which might be possible now that my Saturday class is over) I would be able to do that!

Overall, I think these vegetables should last us for a week's worth of dinner (the curry and stir-fry will last 3 meals each) and breakfast for me. For lunches for the week, my husband & I will both make meals out of things from our pantry/freezer. The only thing lacking from this trip was fruit but I think we're going to try to go strawberry picking tomorrow which should result in a ridiculous amount of berries.

It is my goal every year to be tired of strawberries and tomatoes by the end of the season. This year, I think I'll succeed at both!