National Farmers Market Week!

Wow! What a busy week! My goal for national farmers market week was to make a local meal everyday, which I managed to do successfully!  I made a variety of recipes from small snacks to big dinners.  There weren't any hungry people in my house this week.  Although, it's fairly easy to put these meals together with local ingredients, the heat was the most challenging part of my week.  Turning on the oven to make stuffed zucchini was not fun.  But eating it in air conditioning was!  The farmers markets have so many fruits and vegetables available this time of year, it is simple was to make a many meals out of one trip!

The market I made a visit to was the Lexington Farmers Market.  Lexington Farmers Market is located on the corner of Woburn St and Mass Avenue in Lexington on Tuesdays from 2-6:30.  If you are in the Lexington area, this is worth a trip.  When I shop a farmers market, my main focus is the amount of vendors for fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, and fish.  I also appreciate breads, wine, pasta, chocolates and, ice cream, which are not items on my weekly shopping list, but definitely good to have at a market.  Okay, maybe the wine is the exception to that, but that is a blog post for another day.  I love a good red wine and will be posting about local vs imported wine soon!  If there are vendors with homemade items such as jewelry and handbags that is a bonus too.  Lexington has all of these.

I bought two large tomatoes, two peppers, and one bunch of scallions from Busa Farms, which is located right in Lexington too!  Then I went over to Fiore Di Nonni and bought a small ball of mozzarella, this went well on top of the stuffed zucchini.  And finally my last stop, Samira's Homemade, a delicious vendor to buy Mediterranean food, such as hummus, ful medammas, baba gannough, grape leaves, and pita bread.  They also sell moussaka, which is an eggplant dish, typically prepared with meat, but they make it without.  If you are an eggplant lover, like I am, you will need to try this dish.  The first time I tried it, I immediately called my cousin, also an eggplant lover, told him to cancel his plans because I was coming over with eggplant.  His girlfriend and I sat down and ate the whole thing while he was making dinner.   During this trip, however, I bought the zesty ful medammas, which is similar to hummus, but made with fava beans.  This time of year, I usually live off of hummus and cucumbers, but the ful medammas is a great way to switch things up a bit.  Samira's Homemade is available at many farmers markets in the Boston area, but if you are looking for a one stop shopping trip, check them out at the Lexington Farmers Market.

What farmers market did you go to for National Farmers Market week?

Here is one of the many local recipes I made this week.  If you saw something on Facebook or Twitter that you want to try, leave a comment or send me a message, and I will post the recipe.

Stuffed Zucchini

Check out the huge zucchini my friend gave me from his grandmother's garden!

1 super large zucchini
1 lb ground beef
1 green Pepper diced
1/2 white Onion diced
1 large tomato diced
1/2 can tomato paste
mozzarella cheese
olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 and heat up a frying pan on med-high heat.  Cut zucchini in half and then cut into quarters lengthwise.  Scoop out the pulp and brush the skin side with olive oil.  Put the zucchini skin side down on the frying pan for 2 minutes and then set aside in a baking dish.  Then start cooking the ground beef, peppers, and onions.  I cook the ground beef separate from the peppers and onions.  When the peppers and onion are almost cooked, add the diced tomatoes.  Drain the ground beef when it is cooked and add the tomato paste and stir well.  Then add the peppers, onions, and tomatoes and stir well.  Spoon the mixture into the zucchini and bake for 15 minutes.  At 15 minutes, shred some mozzarella cheese on top the of zucchini and bake for another 5 minutes.

FYI  This recipe makes extra stuffing.  I did this on purpose to have for another night for stuffed zucchini or stuffed peppers.  You could also freeze the extra as well.