Sunday at the Market

(pictured: Lunch today, salad with falafel)

This morning starting like every Sunday with a trip to the local farm market downtown. As usual I purchased an almost ridiculous amount of fresh vegetables. There are three different types of squash, kale (for kale chips), bok choy, green onions, tomatoes, eggplant, fresh shitake, purple broccoli, mesclun, leaf lettuce (for lettuce wraps), onions and turnips. We walked out of the market with six reusable grocery bags stuffed full of fresh produce. How two people manage to eat all of this each week (plus more from Costco) I have no idea. I love buying local produce each week. It will be very sad when the market closes for the season. We have gotten very accustomed to the quality local organic produce and I always hate when the market closes for the winter.

Given all the produce from our trip to the market this morning, we had a big salad today for lunch today. I am not going to post the recipe because I didn’t measure anything. As usual I topped the salad with something warm, in this case falafel from the freezer that I reheated in the microwave. The salad also contained, mesclun, fresh tomato, cold cooked tomato sauce, cucumber, shelled hempseeds, avocado and creamy pesto dressing. Hempseeds were added for omega 3 fatty acids. Avocado was included for monounsaturated fat. Since avocado has been linked to prostate health I like to add it salads so I know my hubby eats it (he isn’t a fan so I always wonder what happens to the avocado when I send it in his lunch).

If you are wondering why I would add cold cooked tomato sauce to a salad that is something I tried last week. We were low on fresh tomatoes and I had some leftover sauce in the refrigerator so I added it to my salad. Much to my surprise it was better than raw tomatoes. My red sauce had a bit of a punch from the red pepper flakes, and that is nice in a salad. Additionally it moistens the salad without adding fat. I tried it on the hubby this weekend and he has decided he prefers this to a salad with only fresh tomatoes too. Since the lycopene in cooked tomatoes is more bioavailable this is another reason to add it to your salad. I know it sounds odd, but it is really good. The next time you don’t have fresh tomatoes, but you do have chunky tomato sauce give it a try. You may be surprised how good it is.


(pictured: Dinner last night, apple leek seitan sausage with dijon cabbage)

Last night for dinner we had a quick ten-minute meal, which is why I didn’t post the recipe. All I did was reheat two apple and leek seitan sausages in one pan and make a fast cabbage dish in another pan. The cabbage dish included water sautéed red onion, 8 cups of shredded green cabbage, 1 teaspoon of cumin seed, 1 teaspoon of fennel seed and 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard. This was cooked until tender, or about 5 minutes. My husband loved the apple and leek seitan sausages as much as I did. In fact he wants me to make more this week for the freezer.

I am cooking dinner for my husband and I and my parents this evening. There will be two or three recipes from dinner tonight, although I may not get them all posted until tomorrow. It will all depend on whether my husband decides to work after dinner tonight or not. If he decides to take a break we will watch a movie this evening.

I hope you are all having a good day.