Saturday Market

Every Saturday morning I wake up extra early to run with my running club In Flight Running (shameless plug).  I am a mentor for my running club which I’m pretty excited about.  We tear up the streets of Houston, TX sweating and chatting about anything and everything under the sun.  We train for marathons and half marathons all over the world.  Our season is 40 weeks and today was long run #36.  On Saturday mornings my husband takes over kid duty so I can do this.  Usually afterwords I am too worn out to stand in the kitchen for any length of time so I like to treat myself to breakfast out.

I am still on duty as our household manager and Saturday is the day of the best farmers market in Houston, Urban Harvest.  Time to buy food, one of my favorite things to do.  I really love this market and come as often as I can.   Because of my Saturday commitment to my running club I don’t always have time to make it to the Saturday market.  Not to worry, I have a backup plan.  Tuesday afternoons I always stop by the Rice University Farmers Market. They have some of my favorite vendors so I’m not missing anything.  Here’s a picture of today’s bounty.

I spent $35 at the Atkinson Farm’s booth, they are my favorite vendor for produce.  Their farm is in Spring, TX just 30 minutes north of Houston.  I got sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, golden beets, green leaf lettuce, broccoli, purple carrots, turnips, cauliflower and strawberries.  I spent $5 on tangerines (impulse buy) and $15 on a 2.5lb beef shoulder from Law Ranch Cattle Company out of Crosby, TX.  I need to buy a side of beef from them soon.  If you can get a few friends together this is the most economical way to buy grass fed meats.

I also swung by Wabash antiques and feed store to pick up eggs.  They sell cage free fresh eggs for $7 per 20 eggs.  They are delicious, I bought 40.  So grand total for the day I spent $69 and got a bounty of food.  I don’t usually buy this much on Saturday but ‘snowmageddon’ last Tuesday caused the Rice University Market to shut down their operation and we were out of food.  This Tuesday I’ll probably buy some pork from Shiner Farms out of Shiner, TX and beef from Pearls Pastured Beef out of Franklin, TX.  It is important to help your local farmers and to know where your food comes from.  I also save money shopping this way.  I really feel like this is the best route to optimum health.

When I get home I have to put it all away, this means washing and bagging all the greens (turnip, beet and green leaf lettuce) and creatively filling my fridge like a game of Tetris.  I threw the turnip greens in a pot with onion, bacon and chicken stock to eat later.  I washed the beet greens and lettuce for salad and wrapped them in dry paper towels in gallon size ziplock bags. Beet greens are great for chopped salad and an excellent choice for dark leafy greens.  The greens will keep for a week this way.

It was in culinary school that I learned to use everything, waste nothing.  I haven’t found inspiration for the carrot tops but if you wanted they would add texture to salad.  Every meal I eat at home will have any combination of the veggies and fruit piled up high on my plate.  My kids are eating most of these foods daily and my daughter’s teachers say she eats her vegetables eagerly and asks for seconds at school.  I believe that is because we have offered these foods to her since she started eating solid food.  I am very passionate about this way of shopping and eating.  Why not, this all tastes better than what you’ll find in the grocery store!  In the coming week I will show you how to cook it all so stay tuned and have a great health filled weekend.