There is a farmer’s market that is set up every Wednesday, and now that I no longer am a member of a CSA, I try to visit this market weekly. It’s a nice break in the afternoon, and it’s exciting to see what is available and to think ahead to plan my meals. I discovered two years ago how much I like patty pan squash, and for some reason it isn’t being sold in my supermarket. So, I was very excited a few weeks ago when I saw it at the farmer’s market! It’s easy to prepare it – just steam them in a pot of water until it gets soft. It’s a delicious summer squash.
Since I generally do my food shopping on Sundays, this new weekly shopping trip throws me off schedule a bit, since I can’t necessarily buy some produce (like lettuce) that will be eaten the following week. But at the same time, I am happy to  adjust my schedule to support these farmers since I know that  I am getting better-quality produce.

After I returned from our staff food cleanse, I have been trying to have more produce in my diet, even though I generally did eat a lot of them before hand. Every day I have a large salad for lunch (and add canned corn and/or a protein to make it more filling instead of just having vegetables).  I noticed that the salad can really fill me up for the remainder of the day. Of course it’s healthy to eat something at night, so Hale suggested that I have “mono-meals” in such situations, where I am not really hungry yet it is still important to eat something. I used to have either chicken and veggies, whole wheat pasta or something really filling like those dishes for dinner.

I thought this was a very practical suggestion, so now I am on the hunt for vegetable dishes to make for dinner. I steam patty pan squash; stir fry bok choy with onions and garlic; sprinkle olive oil and salt on beets and roast them in the oven;  and saute string beans and purple onions. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share!