Saturday, June 13, 2009

Market Fresh, hopefully the first of many!

As soon as I heard farmers markets were starting up I put going on the very top of my to-do list. Somehow I ended up having my heart set on going to Zionsville's, probably since To the Last Drop (a catering business in downtown Zionsville that I think is wonderful) sets up a stand there. Even though I was totally willing to venture down on my own, I figured I'd try and recruit a fellow food shopper if at all possible, and was fortunately right in assuming my dad would join me :D. So... we got up at 7, yes 7 AM, yes 7 AM on a Saturday during summer vacation, and dropped my brother off to take the ACTs and then headed to Zionsville's vibrant Mainstreet. We popped in to Eagle Creek Coffee Company, which I found out has delicious quiche, had a little breakfast and then headed to the farmers market!!!

Turns out Zionsville's farmers market is a little anticlimatic... with my dad in a desperate search for gooseberries (which hopefully I'll be able to introduce you to later on via a pie) we ended up going to the Carmel famers market. Carmel's farmers market pwns Zionsville's farmers market. Yes, that's how you spell pwns. Claggy taught me that on Twitter today. So because of the major pwnage going on at Carmel's farmers market, GO THERE! Saturdays, 8-11:30 or something like that. We ended up buying some crazy good honey, fresh lemon spice spaghetti (which should be featured in my next post!!!), and some delicious smelling tea that I have yet to brew. It's pretty freakin' ridiculously awesome.

What I did pick up, however, while I was in Zionsville was zucchini.


Zucchini Bread


Aren't they pretty? Believe it or not, I went to the farmers market intending to buy a couple zucchini. I had recently come across a recipe for zucchini bread and I though, "you know what? I feel like that has the potential to be incredibly delicious." Hopefully I was right.

I feel like far too many people are afraid to embrace vegetables. People automatically think vegetables = yucky. WRONG. You all are missing out on so many wonderful culinary experiences because your preconceived notions of this amazing food group are so so so so so wrong! Vegetables are delicious if you prepare them the right way. If I didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't even realize you were enjoying a vegetable when eating this.

Zucchini bread is kind of like banana bread. Except they are completely different. Following me so far? The recipe that I used is from the Kitchen Sink. It's a little chocolately, but not too overpowering. The best part is the recipes healthified!!! The butter's been replaced with applesauce, the oil is minimal, most of the flour is whole wheat, instead of all whole eggs some whites are used, it's just the right hint of chocolatey, and it's a hidden serving of vegetable!!!


Zucchini Bread




Green and brown are so like my two favorite colors! When I told Sally, "that brown thing" was the finished loaf she exclaimed, "Hey! That look like cake!" Righto Sally! It kinda tastes like it too, very subtle in it's sweetness but incredibly dense and moist. I imagine this being delicious with a cup of tea, I think I'm going to try it with the new leaves I got at the Carmel famers market :D. I did only use two of my zucchini for this recipe, now I need to find a use for the third...


Zucchini Bread


Check out the recipe: http://thekitchensinkrecipes.com/2008/07/09/identity-crisis-er-crises/#more-1708.

3 comments:

  1. I was right. Tea + zucchini bread = epic win.

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  2. I taught you well! =P And I'll have to get my mom to go to Carmel's farmer's market seeing as I live here now and she goes to the Zionsville one sometimes. And by the way, I'm actually easing into a raw food diet at the moment. So if you have any raw food diet recipes... let me know! I need to find some more so I can get going full blown on the diet.

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  3. Good luck with that Claggy. That bread looks pretty delicious. I think I may have had zucchini bread before. Also, I think it was Acorn squash pound cake, or some sort of cake that was actually extremely delicious. Anyways, Carmel's farmers market is pretty amzing. My dad goes there and gets fresh fruits and veggies that by far beat out anything that you can buy at the store. If we had a farmer's market open all year round my family would shop there every week.

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