Farmers Market Magic!

I love the Farmers Market.  It’s where I go for my inspiration!

My first instinct is to pick up one of everything and find a way to create Farmers Market magic with each ingredient.  It’s how I feel when I walk into a Central Market or Whole Foods too!  It makes me want to eat healthier and prepare a feast for family and friends!

But instead I now use it as a tool to teach my kids about different fruits and vegetables.  It’s a lesson for me too!

We recently took the kids to the famous Dallas Farmers Market.  It’s truly a mecca of color!  Bright reds and greens for as far as the eyes can see.  My husband and I can’t help but reminisce about dishes of the past like our famous Lemon pasta and veggie dish we made bk (before kids).  The rest of the visit we played the “what’s this?” game.  It’s fun, you should try it!

A day doesn’t go by that my daughter doesn’t eat an apple.  I’m really grateful she loves apples.  Now if I could just get her to eat the green stuff!

My hope is that the beauty of the Farmers Market will turn into inspiration for my kids as well.  Hopefully the “what’s this?” question will turn into “can we get this”!

Whenever we go to the Farmers  Market, we usually pick one ingredient that we can bring home and prepare something immediately.  On this trip we decided on mini cucumbers.  Growing up I would dip my cucumbers in Creamy Italian dressing but this time we decided to make a simple cucumber salad.  This is great as a side dish or a snack.

Take your mini cucumbers and slice in half long-ways.  Then start chopping into bite size pieces.

Put slices in a bowl and cover with Kosher Salt.  I highly recommend using Kosher Salt over regular salt.  It’s much thicker and has better flavor.  It does a better job sticking to the cucumber.  Then add crushed black pepper to the dish and mix really well.

And there you have it.  A fresh, simple snack that came directly from the Farmers Market.  If you want you can add tomatoes and a little honey dressing and you have my Tomato Salad and Honey dressing recipe!  It’s wonderful!

If you haven’t been to your local Farmers Market, I highly recommend it this weekend!