Picture this: You wake up early Saturday morning to go to your local farmers market. You get excited looking around at all of the booths, the plethora of options, and the curiously unknown products. So you decide to grab a few things both familiar and new. Before you know it, your trendy reusable Trader Joes bag is full and you’re heading home. Now this is where it gets interesting. Some people will sit down, map out a meal plan for the week, and use every spare bit of the food they purchased at the market. Other people, will eat the entire pint of strawberries they bought on the car ride home, then feed their trash can the rest of the produce they bought after its gone bad by weeks end. Typing that sentence out made my heart sad.

Often times people go to the farmers market, get excited about food, but simply don’t know how to utilize the ingredients they purchased. Have you read my most recent posts? Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. So you took the first step, supported your local farmers, got an unfamiliar ingredient, and brought it home. That’s the hardest pat of the process! Now keep the cooking and meal prep easy. This week I decided to show you guys some easy ways that I utilize some of my yummy farmer’s market finds. Hopefully these simple recipes give you some motivation and inspiration for your own farmer’s market finds.

Pick #1 - Tomatoes

Tomatoes are an absolutely staple in my house! There are so many simple ways to utilize these deliciously sweet, juicy finds. Below, are a few ways that I will be utilizing this ingredient in my house this week.

Diced and tossed in a salad
Made into a Salsa (My go-to recipe)
Sautéd with garlic and onion in a pan
Stuff them with other ingredients
Make into a spaghetti sauce
Slice and put in a sandwich/wrap

Pick #2 - Broccolini

This is a short season vegetable that looks like broccoli but has stems similar to asparagus. These can easily be sautéd in a pan with olive oil and used as a side for any meal!

Steamed
Baked in the oven with spices
Sautéd in a pan with olive oil and garlic
Used in an Asian stir-fry
Side dish with potatoes or rice and a protein

Pick #3- Potatoes

Aren’t these potatoes pictured above absolutely beautiful! They are so perfectly diverse and full of life. Potatoes are used in so many of our weekly go-to meals. I even did a blog post called “Mr. Potato Head.” Here are a few more ideas to utilize potatoes.

Baked in the oven
Made into fritters
Mashed
Hasselback potatoes
Used in a potato salad

Pick #4 - Dill

I love walking around the farmer’s market, seeing a new in season veggie, and taking it home to experiment with. Dill isn’t always available year round so when I see it I have to take advantage of it. This was one of the ingredients that I impulsively purchased and had no plan for! How exciting!!!

Creamy dill tahini sauce
Pickled with cucumbers
Baked with potatoes
Used in a pasta salad
Tossed with quinoa and tomatoes
Baked with chicken

Pick #5 - Summer Squash

My favorite food in the winter/fall is squash. Thankfully summer squash exists to hold me over until then! These little beauties were fast to cook and packed full of flavor.

Baked in the oven
Sautéd in a pan with olive oil
Roasted with spices
Baked in bread

Farmer's Market Finds