Have you met Barbara McDonald?  She is the founder of Prim and Primal that began with a desire to make a healthy deodorant for friends and family. A couple of months later she decided to share it at the local farmer's market.  From her website she writes, "About a year later when repeat customers were regularly making me promise that I will never stop making it, I decided to branch out further."  She continues, "I’ve always been about finding the healthiest products. When I can’t find any I make them myself and I love being able to share my passion with others."  She’s an incredibly nice person and a fascinating person with whom to converse. 

I’ve quoted author, Sophie Patrick, before as I find her writing about healthy lifestyles to be challenging to some of my thinking and to some of my long developed habits that may not be the best for me.  “The idea of … (a healthy) lifestyle overhaul can seem like a gargantuan task … leaving you feeling overwhelmed and defeated before you’ve even begun.”  [Patrick, Sophie (2016-01-04). Organic Housekeeping Made Easy: 50 Simple Tips for Making Your Home a Healthier Place (Kindle Locations 92-93). Sophie Patrick. Kindle Edition.] 

In my opinion, living healthier starts with healthy eating such as fresh, locally grown food such as what I can find at Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market.  However, when I start pursuing healthier lifestyle in eating, I started thinking about other ways to be healthier.  Should I be exercising more?  Am I getting the right kind of exercise?  How much is stress taking away from my health?  Are my sleep patterns detrimental to my health?  Is this product safe to put on my skin?  Ah, for the last question, I always ask Barbara. 

Of course, she’s not the only person making healthy products to sell at Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market and at Forland’s Family Farms.  If nothing else, these vendors’ wares are interesting to browse and the vendors are fascinating conversationalists about their products.

Recipe of the Week:  This recipe is an oldie, just like me.  Back in the 60’s, Simon & Garfunkel were an incredibly popular duet and exerted profound influence on the music scene of the time.  Later they parted ways (I’m still not over it), but Paul Simon continues today as a phenomenal music writer and Art Garfunkel’s voice continues today as pure as it ever was.  They do, however, reunite occasionally for a concert or benefit.  Their last concert in Central Park drew 500,000 people.  Obviously, I’m not the only one who’s a fan. 

One of their most popular songs, released around 1965, I believe, was their version of a seventeenth century Scottish folk song called Scarborough Fair.  Do yourself a favor and put “Simon and Garfunkel + Scarborough Fair” in YouTube search.  Enjoy!  From one of the lines of this hit song came the recipe for Simon & Garfunkel Chicken (seriously, I’m not making this up), which any good dinner host or hostess at the time knew how to make.  Here’s a version using Coastal Alabama Farmers and Fishermens Market ingredients.  History does not record exactly what Scarborough Fair is though many speculate it was an open market somewhere near the Scottish coast, just like ours and probably selling the same things our beloved vendors sell.

Simon & Garfunkel Chicken

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;

Remember me to the one who lives there,

For she once was a true love of mine

Ingredients:

Half Chicken, defrosted (available from NatureNine Farms)

1 Tablespoon, loosely packed, of diced Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (from plants purchased at the Market)  [Tell me you didn’t sing it as you read these four herbs]

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Unsalted Chicken Stock

1 beer

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°
2. Coat chicken with olive oil and place on a wire rack in a roasting pan
3. Salt the chicken slightly.
4. Arrange herbs over the chicken, patting them in place
5. Add Chicken Stock (~1 cup to the bottom of the roasting pan.
6. (Optional) You can add onions, garlic, and/or celery in the bottom of the pan for more steamed flavor.
7. Cook for 10 minutes.
8. Add beer to the bottom of the roasting pan
9. Lower the oven to 350°and cook for an additional 20 minutes/pound.  Yeah, use the decimals, it’s important to get it exactly right. 
10. Remove and let sit for 5 minutes.

Serve with fresh vegetables or salad from the Market, of course.  I had beans and roasted new potatoes with the chicken as well as a glass of white wine.  Of course, I listened to Simon & Garfunkel as I ate supper.

Enjoy!  See you at the Market.

[Lagniappe:  Search YouTube for “Simon & Garfunkel + Central Park” and listen to Bridge Over Troubled Waters.  It doesn’t get any better than that.]