Farmers Market Round-up

Things are perking up at the Umpqua Valley Farmers Market.  The first potatoes of the season appeared today at the Linnea Marie Farms booth.  I bought a basket of fingerling "peanut" potatoes and a basket of baby Yukon golds.  I'll make some pan-roasted potatoes tonight with the ultra-fresh garlic I bought at the same booth and serve them alongside the Emerald Hills Beef patties my husband will be grilling tonight.  You can buy Emerald Hills beef at Kruse Farms in the freezer case.  Their extra lean frozen patties (1/3 pound each) come in bags of 8 and work out to about $3.25 per pound for local, grass-fed beef.

I chose a lovely bouquet of flowers from Dang's Gardens and a head of Romanesco cauliflower from Suzi at Big Lick Farm.  Bought one feta and spinach tart from Judi aka The Baklava Lady  and topped it off with a sample of Donna Holms delicious hazelnut toffee.

My son and I picked two buckets of strawberries at my parent's house yesterday (they are out-of-town, so we get to raid their garden) and i think we'll practice making chocolate-dipped strawberries for tonight's dessert.  We'll be dipping lots of berries next week for my daughter's wedding on Saturday.  I'm going to try using coconut oil instead of shortening with the melted chocolate chips.  I bought the refined kind that is not supposed to have a distinct flavor, so we'll see.

More on the wedding later, if I can spare a few moments to blog!