April Fools & Farmer's Market

Well, I've been at it again, more veggies for dessert. This time it's April Fools style. Peas & carrots, mashed potatoes & gravy, and corn on the cob were on the menu. Yum! This is another creation from the Hello, Cupcake! book. The ingredients included starburst, chewy sweet tart minis, caramel, & jelly bellies.

In other food related news, I just discovered the Farmer's Market in Long Beach and am so excited! I can't believe I had not been there before a couple of weeks ago (I've lived in LB for 7 years as of March 30th). I loved browsing and buying the seasonal produce, paying in cash at the different vendors, using my Chico bag, and then planning my weekly menu from what I bought. I felt like I was in a different time and place. It was so "my cup of tea" and so much better than shopping at the grocery store. The prices seemed pretty comparable, too. Of course, I still have to go to the store to get the rest of the stuff we need, but I ended up spending considerably less there than an average week. So what did I get and what did I make? I got strawberries, asparagus, leeks, beets, lettuce, nuts, etc... I made a couple things from my Simply in Season cookbook- Velvety Vegetable soup with the leeks and Shredded Beet Salad with the beets. I used the strawberries in Amish friendship bread, among other things. I also did one bread with macadamia nuts & white chocolate chips, which was yummy. I made a roasted asparagus salad from a recipe in the Food & Wine 2009 cookbook. That's all I can remember right now. I'm hoping to make it our new weekly routine to hit up Farmer's Market on Sunday afternoon, after church with the family, (it also happens to be close to In-n-Out, so burgers for lunch are a given) and plan my grocery store list around what I got there. Yeah! I know, I'm easily excited.