Coastal Alabama Farmers & Fishermens Market

rss

Located in Foley, Alabama


Cucumber – Tomato – Avocado – Rice Salad

There is a theory, an obscure, unsubstantiated theory for sure, but a theory that the human body desires or craves the nutrition derived from fresh, in season, fruits and vegetables.  If you enjoy the first strawberries or blueberries of the season as much as I do, you probably understand that feeling of tasting the first of the crop.  When we’ve gone months without fresh berries (no, grocery store berries just don’t satisfy) and the nutrients available, there is something immensely satisfying in the taste.  Of course, the same feeling results in first vegetables.  Is there anything better than a fresh off the vine tomato when they first start producing?  The theory is that our body is receiving nutrients that it craves and the nutrients are in greater supply in a fresh product. 

 

The theory also includes a component the human body will crave a substitute of fats, salt, and sugar when the nutrients are not available.  Our bodies tell us that nutrients from fresh fruit and vegetables are needed and we substitute drive-through fast food and super sweetened drinks instead.  Even after finishing a hamburger, fries, and drink, we will still feel something is missing – a lingering hunger for something.  That something must be nutrients from fresh food.

 

Sometimes from the Market I buy a vegetable that just came in and for supper I will either steam it or lightly grilled the vegetable.  This spring I got a bunch of the first yellow wax beans.  I steamed them, added a little sea salt and flavored vinegar, and I felt healthier with each bite.  One of my favorite vegetables to eat fresh is zucchini.  I slice zucchini lengthwise, lightly rub olive oil over each piece, lightly salt with sea salt, and grill it.  While still crunchy, it makes a great sandwich on whole wheat bread or as a side dish. 

 

The recipe this month includes some fresh vegetables from vendors at the Market plus some other foods to make a salad.

 

Cucumber – Tomato – Avocado – Rice Salad

 

Ingredients:

 

1 Cucumber (available from various vendors)

8-10 Cherry Tomatoes (available from various vendors)

1 Avocado (Forland Family Farm)

½ cup of Farmer’s Cheese diced (from Forland Family Farm)

¼ - ½ cup whole grain rice (chilled – this is a great way to use leftover rice)

Note:  We use a mix of different whole grain rice at our house, but other grains such as Quinoa work well.

Cilantro (from a plant I purchased from Lilly)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Sea salt

Ground Pepper

 

 

Directions:

 

  1. Peel and dice cucumber ~ ½ inch pieces.  Add to a large bowl that will allow mixing.
  2. Quarter cherry tomatoes and (Any tomatoes will do, but I like the flavor of cherry tomatoes in a salad.  However, when the Cherokee Purples come in, I’ll use that tomato.)
  3. Dice avocado into ½ inch pieces or larger and add.
  4. Add diced cheese. 
  5. Add chilled whole grain rice. 
  6. Mix the ingredients with your hands.
  7. Add finely chopped cilantro ~ 1 teaspoon.  Cilantro can overpower, use discreetly.
  8. Mix ingredients.
  9. Sprinkle lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (about ~ ½ - 1 tablespoon of each to taste)
  10. Mix
  11. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and ground pepper.
  12. Mix.
  13. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
  14. Stir the mixture before serving.

 

Note:  This salad lends itself to using other fresh vegetables available – radishes, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and/or carrots.  I just included the vegetables I found the day I was shopping for the purposes of this salad.

 

This salad can be a side dish or a stand-alone salad.  Also, the salad can be served on Craine Creek Farms lettuce (available at Forland Family Farm). 

 

I like this salad as a stand-alone to accompany a thick vegetable soup.  Goes great with red or white wine.  My wife likes to eat the salad as a late-night snack with whole wheat crackers.

 

Enjoy.

 

See you at the Market.

 

Bob Zeanah

Author of No Anchor Available online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Books a Million

Author of Work to Do Available online from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Books a Million

14410 Oak Street

Magnolia Springs AL  36555

251-752-5174 mobile device

bobzeanah@gmail.com

www.bobzeanah.com 


Chicken Cacciatore

Bob's kitchen boasts Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market as well as our onsite retail store Forland Family Market's fresh food. Dedicated customers like Bob fall in love with fresh and support local farms. Dedication of our customers is realized as local farm numbers rise. This week 7 new farms will be at the market. Summer season is ramping up quick as we see blueberries, blackberries, peaches, strawberries, squash, zucchini, beans, new potatoes, sweet corn, lettuce, vegetable transplants, flowers, herbs, and so much more that is new to the season. Gulf Seafood, especially fresh shrimp is always here as well as eggs, chicken, beef, pork and lamb. Fresh baked is a treat as well as locally roasted coffee. Food staples are plentiful! Include fresh to your kitchen this week! Here's Bob..

   Recently I had the opportunity to meet an author online through Facebook and we friended each other. Her name is Sophie Patrick and she specializes in writing books about healthy living. One of her books is entitled, Healthy Eating Made Easy: 50 Simple Tips for Healthy Living Through Clean Eating.  A lot of the information in the book is good reminder type of knowledge – things I know, but don’t practice as I should – and some of the information I found to be new things to challenge my thinking. It’s a worthwhile read and I recommend it.  The book can be downloaded to a Kindle or a Kindle app for only 99¢.

 

In reading the book, the section about Farmers’ Markets and why to frequent those venues caught my attention.  Attending a farmers’ market regularly offers, she states, “a place to shop for healthy whole foods.  Farmers can tell you exactly how the crops were grown or animals were raised and you can be confident you are getting the freshest product. As a bonus the foods are grown locally and therefore have less impact on the environment, and you can also feel good that you are supporting local businesses.”  [Patrick, Sophie (2016-03-01). Healthy Eating Made Easy: 50 Simple Tips for Healthy Living Through Clean Eating (Kindle Locations 399-402). Sophie Patrick. Kindle Edition.]

 

The ability to eat healthy, safe foods is getting more worrisome as news emerges about unhealthy practices of food suppliers, meat and seafood substitution scandals, or massive recalls of food not processed correctly that has become contaminated.  Add to those concerns, foods labeled healthy or labeled organic in the grocery stores carry a ridiculously high price tag, well out of the reach of a middle class family to eat on a regular basis.  However, when I buy meat or seafood and vegetables from the Market, I’m talking to the person in charge and not having blind faith in a massive corporation somewhere far, far away and I’m not depleting a savings account in order to eat healthy.  I’m talking to my neighbor who is charging me a fair price. 

 

What’s amazing for us living in Coastal Alabama is that we can shop at Coastal Alabama Farmer’s and Fishermen’s Market and Forland Family Farm year round.  With only an occasional exception for holidays, we can shop the Market two days a week and at Forland’s six days a week, which affords us the opportunity to purchase healthy foods grown locally twelve months a year. 

 

This week’s menu is an adaptation of the Italian classic, Chicken Cacciatore or Hunter’s Chicken, that is prepared with a slow-cooker using a chicken grown and processed in Magnolia Springs at Nature Nine Farm.  As with other recipes featured in this blog, the recipe includes at least three ingredients purchased at Coastal Alabama Farmer’s and Fishermen’s Market and/or from Forland Family Farm.

 

Coastal Chicken Cacciatore

 

Ingredients:

 

Whole frozen chicken (purchased from Nature Nine Farm)

2 carrots (available from numerous vendors), diced at an angle in bite-sized pieces

2 onions (available from numerous vendors, but I prefer Vidalia onions from J&K Farm) diced

1 red bell pepper (available from numerous vendors) diced in bite-sized pieces

1 green bell pepper (available from numerous vendors) diced in bite-sized pieces

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes [Note: I prefer Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced tomatoes]

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (from a plant I purchased at the market)

2 sprigs of fresh oregano

Montasio Cheese (from AA Farm)

Olive oil

Sea Salt

 

Directions:

 

  1. Wash frozen chicken, inside and out.  Pat dry and set aside.
  2. Line the bottom of the slow cooker with half of the carrots, onions, and bell peppers. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
  3. Rub the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
  4. Place the frozen chicken in the slow cooker on top of the vegetables.
  5. Pour the diced tomatoes over the chicken.
  6. Add the remaining vegetables.
  7. Line the top of the chicken and vegetables with rosemary and oregano.
  8. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
  9. Cook 8 hours on low. 
  10. After serving on a plate or pasta bowl, add shredded cheese to taste.  I used Montasio, but any cheese from AA Farm will do.

Note: Do not add any liquid as the chicken and vegetables will have plenty of moisture.

 

With the Chicken Cacciatore, I had whole wheat pasta, tossed salad (Crane Creek Farm lettuce available from Forland’s), and a glass of Pinot Grigio. 

 

See you at the Market and be sure to purchase Sophie Patrick’s book at Amazon.com. 

 

Next week:  Tomato, cucumber, avocado, whole grain rice salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Coastal Alabama Fritatta

You must understand that I am an unabashed fan of the Coastal Alabama Farmers’ and Fishermen’s Market; I make no pretense about it.  Fresh, healthy food from local people.  However, the experience of shopping at the Market goes deeper than that simple, definitive statement.  The vendors are, without a doubt, some of the nicest people you’ll meet anywhere and they are passionate about what they do.  For an example of that passion, I urge you to stop by the Sweet Bee Farm booth sometime and strike up a conversation with Daryl Pichoff.  First, he’ll give you a sample of honey and then, if you start asking questions, you’ll learn how passionate he is about the purity of his honey, about protecting his bees (of course, it’s well known that something dreadful is happening to bee populations), and about his selectivity regarding where he will allow his bees to collect pollen and pollenate plants.  From him, I learned some of the methods that local farmers are using to minimize or eliminate pesticides from their crops and, in turn, that protects his bee populations.  Not only do I feel better about buying his honey, but I feel better about buying vegetables from local farmers who are using careful methods to protect their customers from harmful pesticides.  As I stated, fresh, healthy food from local people.

On the subject of honey, for many years, researchers have attempted to verify claims that consuming a small amount of local honey each day can help alleviate the symptoms of airborne allergies.  While medical researchers can neither confirm nor refute the beneficial claims, I can report that formerly I was a serious allergy sufferer being in my doctor’s office two times a year seeking relief from pollen-related allergies.  More than a year ago, I started adding a ½ teaspoon of Sweet Bee Farm honey to my non-GMO oatmeal each morning.  Since that time, I feel better … a lot better.  I have now survived two major pollen seasons with little or no noticeable detrimental effects from the pollen.  Some will dismiss my experience as an example of the placebo effect and maybe they’re right.  I don’t care, I’m adding Sweet Bee Farm honey to my diet every day because it makes me feel better and healthier.

As promised, this week’s recipe is my favorite Sunday morning breakfast.  Let’s call it a Coastal Alabama adaptation of an Italian classic dish – the frittata.  As stated before in this blog, each recipe will have at least three ingredients purchased at Coastal Alabama Farmers’ and Fishermen’s Market or from Forland Family Farm.  Also, as a reminder, I’m not a trained chef and make no claims to be other that a self-taught cook who cooks with foods he loves.  So, if you see a cooking instruction that doesn’t read like a professionally written cookbook would be written, you’re right.  Enjoy it anyway.

Coastal Alabama Frittata

Ingredients:

2 yard eggs (available from numerous vendors) at room temperature

2-3 small red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes (available from numerous vendors)

Handful of diced tomatoes or quartered cherry or grape tomatoes (available from numerous vendors)  

Optional ingredients: No more than a heaping tablespoon of diced carrots, diced bell pepper, and/or diced green onions (all available from numerous vendors)

¼  cup – ½ cup of diced cheese from AA Farm  (I use Montasio, but a softer cheese such a Fontina or Mozzarella works best and you can even add shredded soft cheese after cooking if you want more cheese.)

Basil and parsley (from plants purchased from Camellia Gardens)

Butter (I use the Amish butter from Forland’s)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

 

  1. Scrub potatoes clean and quarter potatoes into bite sized chunks.  Coat with olive oil and salt slightly.

  2. Bake potatoes at 350° until browned.  Remove from oven and leave the oven on.

  3. Warm a skillet over medium heat.

  4. Scramble eggs with salt and ground pepper.

  5. Add butter to skillet.

  6. Add potatoes and arrange evenly.

  7. (Optional step) Add vegetables and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Arrange vegetables evenly.

  8. Add eggs and rotate the skillet until egg mixture is distributed evenly.

  9. Add diced herbs.

  10. Add cheese.

  11. With a rubber spatula, lift the egg mixture lightly around the edges.

  12. While the egg mixture is still very runny, put the skillet in the oven for 10 minutes.

  13. Remove and again lift the egg mixture lightly just around the edges.

  14. Let sit for 2-3 minutes.  

  15. Slide the frittata onto a plate and add sprig of parsley for garnish.  

Enjoy.  

Next week:  Another Coastal Alabama adaptation of another Italian classic, but made in a slow cooker.

See you at the Market.

Bob Zeanah, Author

Work to Do.  Available online from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Books a Million

No Anchor.  Available online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Books a Million

14410 Oak Street

Magnolia Springs AL  36555

251-752-5174 mobile device

bobzeanah@gmail.com

www.bobzeanah.com 


Archives

  • 2019
    • 2018
      • 2017
        • 2016