What I bought:
This was my favorite trip to the farmers market so far this season. A wide variety of produce and other goodies were available.


• Melon
• Peaches
• Eggplant
• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Yellow beets
• Free-range eggs
• Fire-roasted sweet red pepper and garlic chevre from Tourmaline Hill Farm
• Olive bread from Rippling Waters Farm
• Fingerling potatoes
• Green-leaf lettuce

What I did with it:


• As you can tell by now, if you've been reading this blog for the last few weeks, I love beets. The yellow ones I bought this week were smaller than the weeks before, so they only took about a half hour in a 350 degree oven. What I did differently this time is add a little water, olive oil, and 1 tbsp of Maine blueberry honey to them. That combo came out really nice. See pic below. The honey made them sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. What will I do with beets next time? Tune in and find out.
• I treated the fingerling potatoes in a very ordinary way - while the oven was on for the beets, I mixed the potatoes with olive oil, fresh rosemary, oregano, tarragon and parsley, and roasted them as well. Very simple. When I took them out of the oven I mixed in a little salt and pepper. The buttery flavor and creamy texture of the potatoes were not overpowered by the other flavors.
• The melon was eaten as is - in all of its pure summer-iness, while I was on the back porch watching the birds at the birdfeeder.
• I peeled and pitted the peaches, then placed them face-down in a baking dish. A sprinkling of brown sugar, cinnamon, fresh blackberries, and some honey was next. I topped it all off with a sheet of puff pastry and baked it at 325 until the puff pastry was done. After placing a serving platter upside-down over the top of the baking dish, I inverted it so that it came out upside-down on the platter. We ate this peach "upside-down thingie" with blueberry ice-cream. See pic below.
• It had been a while since I had eggplant parmesan. A lot of the eggplant parmesan I've had is greasy, or too cheesy, or both, and just tastes like grease, cheese, and and sauce. Here's the shortened version of how I made it: a. I dredged each slice in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs, b. I baked it at 350 until the bread crumbs were getting brown, c. I layered the eggplant with mozzarella, sauce, and provolone in a baking dish, and baked at 350 for another 30 minutes. Served with pasta and a salad made with the tomatoes, green-leaf lettuce, and a cuke, this meal went a long way, and wasn't difficult.
• Fresh, local corn is the BEST - boiled and topped with butter, salt and pepper.
• I had the olive bread a number of ways, but one of my favorites was with fresh tomato slices, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
• Last, but not least, I paired the eggs and chevre together with sauteed mushrooms in an absolutely delicious omelet.

One more week, and another bounty of nutritious and delicious meals.