Farmer's Market Fridays - 8/24/12

All summer long I knew this day would come but there is still no way I could be prepared for it.  How could I be prepared for my last summer Friday?  How could I be ready for the last Friday where I get to wake up and go to yoga, then leisurely stroll over to Starbucks for my coffee and oatmeal (which, BTW, I don't even have to order anymore because my ladies know me so well), and then go hang out at the farmer's market with all my favorite vendors - nay - friends?  There's no way to be ready for that.  No way.

But alas, ready or not, today was that day.  The weather was gorgeous so I really took my time at the market, chatting it up at all my favorite booths - Perkins Pickles, The Granola Tree, and Cellar Door Soap Co.  (In fact, I talked for so long that my mom finally left me at the market and went home!)  

I was most excited about Perkins Pickles because I used up my chow chow a few weeks ago and have been craving it ever since.  Although it was quite tempting to buy more, I limited myself to two jars.  Oh, and look!  It matches my hair!

At The Granola Tree I bought two more jars of Carrot Cake Jam and one of Cranberry Orange Marmalade.  You know how I love to make my Carrot Cake Jam Oatmeal!  I also found that the Cranberry Orange Marmalade, with slivered almonds and dried cranberries, makes a fantastic oatmeal, as well.

Believe it or not, I managed to walk away from Cellar Door without buying any soap.  It wasn't easy but I managed.  It helped that Brandon told me I couldn't buy any.  Repeatedly.  I'm glad he intervened because I need to save my soap money for next weekend when the Fall and Halloween soaps come out.  There are going to be TEN of them!!  And you know that I won't be able to pick and choose so I'll be coming home with TEN new soaps next week.  Brandon has been previewing one new soap each day on Facebook and will continue to do so up until the September 1st release date.  So far we've seen "Witches Brew," "Zombie Repellent," "Chai Latte," and "Apple Wood."  I can't wait to see the rest - and buy them all!  Muhahahahaha!

There was a new vendor this week at the market - Motor City Munchies.  They sell energy bars made with medjool dates, nuts, and hemp or chia seeds.  (Similar to Larabars but local, fresher, and more flavorful.)  In addition to the base ingredients, some also have vanilla, cinnamon, coconut, or cacao nibs.  They are all organic, gluten free, raw, and vegan.  There are 3 flavors - Raw Energy, Raw Vitality, and Raw Indulgence.  I sampled all three.  While all of the bars were delicious, I ended up buying the Raw Indulgence Bar, which has dates, cashews, cacao nibs, coconut, hemp seeds, vanilla, and cinnamon.  (Definitely the most indulgent of the three!)  While the bars are not cheap - $3 each - I wanted to support this new local business and figured it would be a nice treat.

I also finally bought some of Matt's Mix all-purpose seasoning.  Matt has been at the market for years.  I was talking to him last week about different vegetarian/vegan restaurants (his wife is vegan) and it occurred to me that I've never tried his mix!  So today I made sure to buy some.  It's a blend of Kosher salt, garlic, herbs, and spices that he claims is "great on everything!"  And I really don't think he would say it was if it wasn't.  I plan on using it on grilled veggies, kale chips, and popcorn with nutritional yeast.  There are recipes on his website; he specifically recommended I try the Black Bean Roasted Corn and Avocado Salad with Red Quinoa.  Thanks, Matt.  I think I will! 

Oh, and I bought some produce.  I picked up 4 huge red tomatoes and a massive bunch of curly kale.  Gotta make my kale chips - with Matt's Mix, of course!

So, that was my last summer Farmer's Market Friday.  But even though it was MY last day, the market still goes until the end of October.  Although who knows, perhaps I'll manage to sneak off work and get in one more trip before the season is over . . .

Happy weekend everyone!

Book Review: Eat and Run

I don't really get into non-fiction.  I love to read but tend to pick up novels - love stories, psychological thrillers, the (ahem) occasional young adult vampire series.  I blame it on all the non-fiction I've had to read for school and still have to read for work.  To me novels are more of an escape.

Along came Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run.  I knew this was a book I had to read.  Yes, it's non-fiction but it's a memoir so that makes it a little easier.  But that's beside the point.  You see, Scott Jurek is a runner.  But he isn't just any runner.  He's an ultra runner, which means he runs distances of 50 miles, 100 miles, 150 miles, or more.  Pretty intense.  

But Scott Jurek isn't just any ultra runner.  He's a VEGAN ultra runner.  So that means he runs these distances on a vegan diet.  Do you know the crap I hear about running 13 miles on a vegan diet?  So like I said, my friends, this is a book I had to read.

Scott writes about his family and childhood, back before he was a runner, when he used to hunt with his father.  He writes of his transition from meat-eater to vegetarian to vegan, along with a stint as raw vegan (too much time chewing, he said).  Each chapter describes a race he either ran in or trained for, along with what was happening in his life at the time and the friendships he made along the way.  There are amazing stories of perseverance in the face of pain, sickness, exhaustion, and injury.  Some of the stories border on insanity, yes, but they are amazing nonetheless! 

In addition to the stories, at the end of each chapter Scott offers training tips for the everyday runner, along with his own vegan recipes.  Most of them look pretty easy to make and they all seem healthy and delicious.  I haven't tried any yet but am especially looking forward to making "Long Run Pizza Bread" and "Coco Rizo Cooler" - a rice/coconut milk drink with chia seeds that sounds refreshing after a hot summer run.

I really love that he shares these recipes for vegans, yes, but more importantly so that non-vegan athletes can see how delicious and satisfying a vegan diet can be!  I always get questions about where I get my protein and Scott addresses this issue.  (And really, if anything, Americans get too much protein.)  Clearly, a well-planned vegan diet will give you all the nutrients you need.  Scott found that as he transitioned to a vegan diet, his speed improved, his recovery time improved, and his overall health (e.g. blood pressure and triglycerides) improved dramatically. 

And honestly, you cannot NOT be inspired by this man!  I mean, it blows me away that he ran a 100-mile race at a 9:22/mile pace!  Or pushed out an 8-minute mile at mile 90.  (And these are just what stick out in my brain right now - he's probably done even better.)  I've run 10ks that have been slower than that!  Granted, he does a lot of training but it certainly has given me a lot to think about.  Since reading the book I've tried to push myself a bit more, especially when I feel like cutting my planned distance short.  "What's 7 miles?" I thought this morning.  "Scott Jurek might be running 27 - and he'd just be getting warmed up!"

So if you're a runner, whether you run 5ks, 10ks, marathons, or ultras - or maybe you just like to get out there and run a couple miles for fun - do yourself a favor and pick up Eat and Run.  

Read about the time I MET Scott Jurek here!

Easy Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Have an overabundance of cherry or grape tomatoes?  Want an easy, healthy, and delicious way to cook a lot of them at once?  Then get roasting!  Now is the perfect time, especially if you're in Michigan with this oddly cooler August we're having.

I got some beautiful heirloom cherry tomatoes at the farmer's market last week - 1 quart of yellow and 1 quart of some red variety.  You can use any kind you want.  I liked having two different varieties because of the color and flavor contrast.

I follow Susan's method over at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen; however, I usually find my tomatoes to be juicy enough that I don't need to add any broth or water.  Yesterday I stirred in some fresh basil from the garden after the tomatoes were done roasting.  We love these tomatoes so much that we always double the recipe and make it in a 9x11-inch pan - and there are NEVER leftovers!

Brian made bruschetta and spooned it over grilled Italian bread.

I made an entree of mine and served it atop a mix of quinoa and spinach.

There are many different things you can do with the tomatoes once they are roasted.  (Such as add them to my Israeli Couscous & Roasted Vegetable Salad.)  But honestly, they are so delicious you'll have a hard time wanting to do anything but just eat them straight out of the pan!

What do you like to do with roasted tomatoes?

Farmer's Market Fridays - 8/17/12

Today has been the most perfect day.  Which I have to say I really needed because it has not been all that great of a week for me.  (I'll spare you the "Debbie Downer" wah-wah details.  In hindsight, maybe starting my week with reading the Rachel Dratch memoir was a bad idea.)  I woke up feeling pretty positive, though, and was thankful I had yoga to start my day.  I met my mom and Callie at Sattva for a pretty challenging practice.  Although I felt really stiff at the beginning, after what seemed like 20 sun salutes I was a bit more loosened up!

After yoga we walked over to Starbucks for the usual post-yoga breakfast - Perfect Oatmeal with all the toppings and a Venti coffee.  The weather is gorgeous - temps in the low 70's and sunny with blue skies and fluffy white clouds - so we sat outside while we ate and sipped our coffee.  It was the kind of morning where we probably could have sat there for hours because it was so beautiful outside!

But we had to move on.  There were jams to be tasted and soaps to be smelled!  So off to the farmer's market we went.  From The Granola Tree I bought more Carrot Cake Jam (I went through nearly a whole jar in my oatmeal last week!) and a new flavor this week - Cranberry Orange Marmalade.  Mmm, super delish!  I'll be trying that in my oatmeal with some almonds for sure!

My current stash - Carrot Cake, Cranberry Orange, and Strawberry Coconut

Next stop, why Cellar Door Soap Co., of course!  Today I was on a mission for some gentlemanly soaps.  I really want Brian to start using Cellar Door Soaps.  He's been testing out my "Turkish Mocha" and has liked it well enough but I think he would really settle into it if he had his own gentlemanly bar.  (Not that they aren't ALL manly enough but well, you know.)  So anyway, there are a few different scents of the gentlemanly variety and I wanted to make sure to get one that was moisturizing enough for his skin.  Brandon's sister was running the booth today and she suggested either Sex Panther or Blackbeard's Delight.  You probably want to know, "Which one smells better?"  Tough to say.  They both smell pretty awesome.  That's not the question I asked myself, though.  The real question was, "WWNPHD?"  (That's, "What would Neil Patrick Harris do?")  If you read my post a few weeks ago, then you know which soap I bought for Brian.  

I also bought one of the Cellar Door soap wooden soap dishes (pictured below).  I've always used the soap exclusively in the shower but now I'm going to start using it for hand soap.  Uh oh, looks like I'll be going through soap a bit quicker now!

lively Lemon Verbena and sultry Sex Panther

Besides soap, I bought Brian some of his favorite Traffic Jam cookies. I also bought two kinds of heirloom cherry tomatoes - one container of red and one of yellow.  They will be perfect for roasting with just a little salt and pepper and fresh basil.  Our favorite!

Oh, and then I got a pedicure.  I had my toenails painted purple to match the purple streaks in my hair.  What did I tell you?  A perfect day!

Happy Friday, everyone!

My Recipes on the Bell Plantation Website!

I submitted two of my PB2 recipes to the Bell Plantation website and they are both up!  Do they put every recipe up that is submitted?  Maybe.  But am I still excited about it?  Of course!  It looks like they've recently redone their recipe section because at first there were some typos and I was embarrassed to admit that they were mine.  Looks as though they've since remedied the situation.  

Since they've gone up on the website I've gotten a lot more traffic on my blog so thanks Bell Plantation!

• PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
• Basic PB2 Smoothie (For some reason they did not credit this recipe as mine but it is!)

There are also a lot of other great recipes on the site.  (Not all are vegan, though, but many can be modified.)  Check them out!