Hey loves!
I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!
It was BEAUTIFUL here this weekend! Blue skies, warm sun…the perfect setting for the opening day of Clarksville’s Downtown Market!
BB had something he had to do for work, so Saturday morning I set out for a morning at the market armed with my shopping bag and my camera!
Our market is not your average farmer’s market…
While you can find the traditional fare: seasonal produce, farm fresh eggs, grass-fed beef, local honey
And beautiful flowers…
It’s also one of the best craft fairs around!
Handcrafted wooden bowls, homemade soaps, jewelry made from recycled aluminum, anything and everything you can think of in knit form…and yes, that would be a knitted Swiffer duster!
I spent a whole 10 minutes sniffing all the wax melts…the Monkey Farts smelled just like banana cream pie! Lol
For the record, I could have watched these men with their magic wood-shaving machine for hours…throw in a stick and they’ll turn it into a table leg!
Our little market may not be very large, but the thing I love most about it is that it’s not very large.
It’s so nice to get to know all the regular vendors…
Like my favorite “Earring Lady” who makes the most beautiful jewelry…I buy a pair of earrings from her at LEAST every other week during the months the market is open. And all her profits go to fund her yearly mission trip to Honduras!
This year, there were even more vendors than last year and I was fortunate enough to meet Sarah, the baker behind Nerdy Birdy Cookies!
Grain free, gluten free, soy free, but ANYTHING from taste free!
I tried the maple almond butter and it was perfectly dense and chewy with just enough sweetness…I can’t wait to go back next week and try some of her other flavors!
Luckily, after I snuck a bite of cookie, I decided to save the rest for later…otherwise I would’ve missed out on all the deliciousness that awaited me!
Boar’s Head sampler plate with some sort of mind-altering delicious rice and bean burrito, chicken salad in a lettuce cup, and a cream cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped jalapeno…hand-popped kettle corn…a cup of fresh summer punch made with Legacy Tea and a slice of whole wheat nut berry bread with buttah from Evawood Bakery!
So when I wasn’t taking 5,000 pictures of everything and constantly being asked if I was with the newspaper (which I proudly stated, “Nope, I’m just a food blogger”…and actually did NOT get any weird looks!), I was stalking the puppy of my dreams!
Meet Bailey the chocolate Labrador…and yes, I did in fact force her owner to hold her down for a picture! 😉
*Sqeeeeeeeel*
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t take any money from my sugary and butter covered hands so I went home puppy-less, but I did at least have a small collection of treasures from the market to cheer me up:
Two loaves of fresh bread (one raisin pecan, one whole wheat with seeds and nuts), farm fresh eggs, green onions, yellow squash, sundried tomatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes!
After BB finished up with his work stuff, we made a trip over to McCraw’s Strawberry Ranch for probably our last pick of the season…the weather has been so hot lately that the crops have definitely suffered 🙁
It took some extra hunting to find the ones that hadn’t withered away in the sun or didn’t have caterpillar bites in them, but after about an hour, we had a basket filled to the brim!
LOVE!
Of course breakfast on Sunday just HAD to incorporate some of my fresh finds from the day before, so I pushed up my sleeves and committed a cardinal foodie sin…
I made French toast on Pancake Sunday!!!
I know…just take me out back and beat me with empty syrup bottles…
But I have to admit, I would totally do it again! 😉
Whole Wheat French Toast
by
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients (Serves 1)
- 2 slices fluffy whole wheat bread
- 1 whole egg
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1/2 teaspoon maple extract (HIGHLY recommend)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Fresh fruit, peanut butter, and/or syrup for topping
Instructions
1. Preheat skillet or griddle to medium heat and coat with coconut oil.
2. Combine all ingredients except for bread in a medium-sized bowl and whisk until mixed well.
3. One at a time, dip bread slices into egg mixture, allowing the slices to sit for a bit to soak up as much as possible.
4. Carefully transfer soaked bread slices to the skillet or griddle and cook approximately 4-5 minutes per side or until golden brown and a slight crust forms.
What is your favorite strawberry recipe?
Lord knows I could use some ideas!
Do you frequent your local farmer’s market? If so, what are your favorite vendors to buy from?
I’m supeeerrr lucky that my local farmer’s markets is literally across the road from my house! Score! I waste it, though, because I’m rarely up early enough on weekends to get the best stuff! My favourite vendors are the apple people (totaaaal apple freak, right here), any of the bakers, the olive & goats cheese people and the ICE CREAM MAN, who I’ve befriended and who gives me samples and listens to my flavour suggestions. His best flavours = hot cross bun (only at Easter booo!), pine nut and cinnamon, roast pumpkin and nutmeg, earl grey tea… ahhhh all so good!
I LOVE strawberry picking! we used to do that all the time as kids and so did my mom. We’d go out in the fields and my mom and her siblings would tell us stories about when they used to go as kids with my grandpa and great grandpa. Those are some of the best strawberries I’ve ever had in my life!
Your farmer’s market looks amazing! Ours is pretty small, so we don’t have any vendors with farm raised meat or eggs. But there’s always a great selection of fruits and veggies at least!
I love using strawberries in strawberry rhubarb crisp. I’ve got a recipe on my blog if you need some inspiration! 🙂
That farmers market is incredible, I am so jealous! My husband is a huge fan or French toast but I’ve never thought about using maple extract, I usually just use vanilla…hmm I might just have to give that a try RIGHT NOW.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that photo of the bowl of strawberries – makes me hungry just looking at it! Looks like a wonderful weekend, that market looks amazing! I love local, handmade jewelry, that place would be dangerous for me (at least it’s for a good cause!).
First off I read that as ‘french toast pancakes’ and I recall having seen such an item on foodgawker but not knowing how it could be done. As I see it, unless you flavour pancakes like FT, never the twain shall meet. Which is fine, because two kinds of breakfasts are better than one.
I went to the local farmers market yesterday as well. My favourite part is the samples, but just looking at the colour is wonderful too. I always feel a bit bashful taking pictures but I’m slowly breaking out of that. I love that your FM has crafts though. True to my affinity for sniffing things, I would also have spent 10 minutes at the wax melt table.
I’m also so jealous that you got to go strawberry picking. London’s strawberries are lookin’ kinda pale and lame at the moment and I’m hoping there is something left when I’m back stateside. Shame on me for not knowing strawberry season, huh?
My mom makes a mean strawberry rhubarb pie, usually with fruits from our own back yard! Or….isn’t rhubarb a veg?
Wow- your farmers market looks awesome! Ours is decent, but not very big. There’s also not much prepared food. I went to one in Charlottesville in the fall that definitely holds everything else to a higher standard- and you could get ANYTHING to eat there (plus fresh produce, meat, eggs, crafts, etc….)
I am dying to go strawberry picking. I’m not sure if ours are even ready yet…
I’m SO jealous that your farmer’s market is already running! My husband and I discovered the awesomeness of farmer’s markets last summer, and have been itchin’ to get back to one since last fall!
BAILEY!!!!!!!!!! Anything else I was thinking to comment went out the window when I saw that pupperoo.
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The Farmer’s Market in our town is very small so I usually try to go about 20 minutes away where they have a slightly bigger one. That is, if I can get up on time lol!! Downtown Topeka has one that is very much like the one you go to. Produce, eggs, beef, flowers, crafts, homemade soaps 🙂 I visit that one if I am in Topeka for the day since that is almost an hour away.
As for strawberry recipes..I’ve got nothing. I once made straberry jam, but it did not firm up so I gave it away as strawberry topping for icecream lol.
My favorite strawberry recipe is from Tracy Anderson it is
1 cup strawberries sliced
1 tablespoon chopped mint
1 teaspoon agave syrup
Mix in a bowl and put in the fridge for at least an hour
those berries!!!!!
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