My “recipes,” (if you can call them that), mostly consist of throwing a bunch of random ingredients together and praying to the good Lord. However, before I started working at HealthSouth, I didn’t know what I was missing with farmer’s markets.
Before I began going to the monthly Owl’s Hollow Farm market in our lobby, farmer’s markets, to me, made me think of getting up way too early on my off day to bump shoulders with Mountain Brook moms who are unable to control their dogs and children to pay eighteen million bucks for a box of tomatoes that I’d never be able to finish.
This one was so much better. I could go on my lunch break, pick out as much or as little items as I wanted, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable.
I got:
Three red tomatoes
A medium-sized eggplant
A large squash
A large zucchini
A big bag of spinach
A red onion
A clove of garlic
A head of broccoli
Cilantro
Two little peaches
A small jar of pineapple salsa
All for a little more than $30.
Plus some natural, peach-flavored lip balm by Skull Girl!
I will admit, my main motivator for cooking is the fact that these farmer’s market veggies have no preservatives, so I’m afraid of them spoiling. However, I still hide no shame in buying a few extra products at good ole Target. I still need my lemons, limes, and avocados that are impossibly out-of-season, (I know, chemicals…) almost as much as I need frozen pizzas.
Here’s some of the things that I’ve cooked so far:
Homemade veggie pizza with feta on wheat crust
- Store-bought wheat crust (I ain’t makin’ no crust from scratch! you think I’m Paula - Deen or somthin’?)
- Olive oil, cracked black pepper, and tomatoes for “sauce” (I refuse to ever eat tomato sauce, ew)
- Grilled chicken
- Spinach
- Mushrooms
- Red onions
- Feta cheese
Here lately, I’ve been making grilled chicken on a skillet with some light olive oil. I used to cook tofu, but after starting a small grease fire in my apartment the first week I moved in, I figured I should start using real meat that’s easy to cook and good for me. And grilled chicken can be added to pretty much anything.
Pineapple Salsa Grilled Chicken over Quinoa
- Grilled chicken
- Cooked/topped with pineapple salsa
- Quinoa cooked with tomatoes,
- Black beans,
- Onions,
- And cilantro,
- Topped with avocado slices
- And a lime wedge
I used a lot of those leftovers to make wraps for my friends’ and my cancelled picnic:
- Grilled chicken
- Black beans
- Mushrooms
- Tomatoes
- Avocados
- Red onions
- Mexican blend cheese
- In a spinach wrap
The next night, I used my leftovers to whip up a lil somethin’ for myself:
- Grilled chicken
- Cooked with taco seasonings
- Topped with Mexican blend cheese
- And avocados
- With black beans
- Mixed with pineapple salsa
- And spinach
- Topped with cilantro
I cooked mini eggplant pizzas the next week for our second cancelled picnic (I hate rain ), which was actually my first time cooking an eggplant, so I was a little intimidated but it turned out so well that I think I’m going to try to use it in a lot more dishes.
The recipe was from our HealthSouth magazine with a few modifications:
- Set oven to 350 degrees
- Cut eggplant into 1” slices
- Prick slices with fork
- Set aside for 30 minutes
- Spray each side with olive oil cooking spray (I use Pam)
- Cook in oven for ten minutes on each side
- I mixed tomato chunks, red onions, olive oil, cilantro, lemon juice, and black pepper for “sauce”
- Spoon “sauce” onto eggplant (after cooking each side for ten minutes)
- Top with spinach, avocado slice, and feta cheese
They turned out amazing. I was really proud of myself. If you’re afraid to use eggplant, this same recipe would probably work using a big Portobello mushroom cap as well.
I’ve cooked zucchini, squash, tomatoes, red onions, spinach, grilled chicken, and cilantro for a long time; it’s really easy. You just slice everything up and throw it in a skillet with whatever flavoring you’d like. I normally use low-sodium soy sauce and a little teriyaki marinade and eat it over quinoa, but it also tastes great when I put lemon juice on the veggies, cook the chicken with lemon pepper, and put some garlic and olive oil in the quinoa.
Spinach is my super-food. I have naturally low iron, which ignited my love affair with the leafy, green stuff, and it’s such a muted flavor that it honestly tastes great (even in large quantities) with everything. I’ve been eating more spinach salads (with black olives, cherry red tomatoes, grilled chicken, and feta cheese) and using it on all of my sandwiches as a substitute for iceberg lettuce.
I’ve even made my own cocktails too!
This one was for my housewarming party:
- I mixed honey whiskey with Buffalo Rock ginger ale (I couldn’t find any ginger beer)
- I threw in some sliced strawberries and added a lemon wedge for garnish
It tasted best with ¾ whiskey, ¼ ginger ale
I wanted to use mint, but Publix and Whole Foods were fresh out.
I learned how to make Palomas at a work function. According to Wikipedia, it is the most popular Mexican drink instead of the Margarita, although it is almost the same thing.
- I mixed Jarritos grapefruit soda with fresh lime juice, salt, and white tequila for a really refreshing concoction.
We had some leftovers after the event, so my boss let me take some ingredients to the dinner party I was headed to that evening, and everyone loved it.
These drinks and dishes are pretty basic, I know. But I’m really inexperienced; yet eager to try new things, so I’m actually pretty excited to start on my cooking journey.
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