Fresh picked Clapps pears at Market on Broadway in Orangeville

Buy Local Share Local made stops in Peterborough, Kingston, Orangeville and Toronto this past week to raise donations of fresh produce for food banks in each community. The donated produce went to: Kawartha Food Share in Peterborough, Loving Spoonful in Kingston, the Orangeville Food Bank and the Fort York Food Bank in Toronto. Peterborough residents and market vendors were incredibly generous with a total of 600 pounds of donated produce at the end of the market last Wednesday. Thank you to all of the generous market goers and vendors who helped out their communities by donating nutritious local produce!

Kingston's Loving Spoonful delivers donated produce to food banks and meal programs by bike trailer

There is an amazing variety of produce in season right now and I couldn’t resist buying some pears at Market on Broadway in Orangeville to take home with me. The farmer was selling a variety of pears I had never tried, Clapps pears, which he explained were great for baking. I decided to poach them in syrup (4 pears in 4 cups of water with 3/4 cup of sugar, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a cinnamon stick or two). If you have some extra white wine in the fridge that works nicely also. I let the pears simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes until they were tender, then cooled them in the syrup and halved and cored them. Poached pears are perfect on icecream, but I made them into a pear almond tart using a recipe similar to this one.                                                        

This Thursday Buy Local Share Local will be at Covent Garden Market in London and Saturday at the North Bay Farmers’ Market. Stop by and visit our booth!

Ontario cantaloupe

It turned out to be a beautiful day, and the market was teeming with customers as soon as it opened at 7:00 am. There was a huge variety of produce for sale from farms around the Stratford region (including the first of the Ontario apples!!) and market goers donated everything from potatoes and zucchini to peaches and pears.   

I couldn’t resist buying some of the fresh cauliflower at the market, and since I don’t usually buy cauliflower I needed a simple and easy way to cook it. I did some looking around online and decided to try making aloo gobi, a dish I had eaten in some Indian restaurants before. Aloo gobi is a dish with cauliflower, potato and spices, and was surprisingly easy to make, the only hard part was finding all of the spices in my grocery store. I used this recipe as a base but instead of using tomato I just added a bit of water before leaving everything to simmer. I also made a paste with the spices, ginger and a bit of water at the beginning to make sure they didn’t burn. It made a perfect side dish for dinner and tasted almost as good as what I’ve had in Indian restaurants (but not quite). There must be a secret ingredient missing!

White, purple and green cauliflower on for sale at the market

 This week we will be at: Peterborough (Wednesday) Farmers’ Market on Wednesday, Kingston Public Market on Thursday and Brickworks and Orangeville Farmers’ Markets on Saturday. I am thinking about getting some pears or apples so if anyone has any recipe suggestions let me know. Also if anyone has a different/more traditional aloo gobi recipe I would love to try it!

This past Monday night Buy Local Share Local was at Sorauren Farmers’ Market, and Tuesday we stopped by Riverdale to collect fresh produce for the local food bank at Yonge Street Mission. On Tuesday I could not resist buying some wild blueberries to take home for myself, and since our booth was next to Feast of Fields and their yummy looking peaches I had to buy some of those too.

Delicious Peaches at Riverdale Farmers' Market

At the end of the market Tuesday we had 100 pounds of produce donated by generous market goers and vendors for Yonge Street Mission, and I went home with my fruit purchases. I quickly realized that a plain wild blueberry crumble would be very expensive (my $10 of blueberries would not go that far) so I decided on wild blueberry and peach crumble.

My crumble in the making

Donated produce at Riverdale going to Yonge Street Mission

Buy Local Share Local will be at Stratford Farmers’ Market this Saturday from 7:00 am – 12:00 pm collecting donations of produce for the food bank at Stratford House of Blessing. If you’re in the area stop by and visit us!

Fresh Ontario fruit at Ottawa Street Farmers' Market

Thanks to generous Hamiltonians and Woodstock residents, food banks in these two communities will be able to give fresh, local produce to those in need this week. Fresh food drives at Ottawa Street Farmers’ Market in Hamilton on Friday and the Woodstock Farmers’ Market on Saturday collected just over 1000 pounds of produce from generous market goers and vendors.

Donation bin full of fresh produce for Hamilton Food Share

Even though Friday was incredibly hot, Ottawa Street Market saw a steady stream of customers all day long picking up their supplies for the weekend. Watching market goers on Friday I noticed many people were picking up supplies to make dill pickles. I decided to try pickling myself on Sunday, which turned out to be more of an undertaking than I originally thought. It took all afternoon to make 9 one litre mason jars of garlic dill pickles and I ended up with a few burnt fingers. But it will all be worth it (I hope) when I open up my first jar of homemade pickles in two to three weeks.  

Before

After

I purchased some fresh broccoli and eggs at the market and decided to make a simple quiche for dinner. I bought a frozen pie shell and filled it with lightly sauteed broccoli and onions. I then whisked together three eggs with a cup of milk, a pinch of nutmeg and salt and pepper. I poured this mix over the veggies, sprinkled it with grated cheddar, then baked it for 35 minutes at 375. I also found a low-fat quiche recipe from Foodland Ontario. The next night I still had broccoli left over so I tried a recipe for broccoli salad I found online…it was absolutely delicious!

Easy Broccoli Quiche

Delicious and Crunchy Broccoli Salad

Broccoli will keep up to five days in the fridge, and will keep up to ten days if it is bought fresh from your local farmers’ market. Make sure to look for broccoli with dark green or purplish florets, if the florets are yellowing the broccoli is getting old.

This Friday (August 14th) Buy Local Share Local will be holding a fresh food drive for Hamilton Food Share at the Ottawa Street Farmers’ Market in Hamilton. We’ll be there all day from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, so come on out and visit us!

produce display from Nature's Way Organics

My Kale Experiment

I’ve never cooked kale so I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. After a little research I found out that kale is packed with nutritious vitamins, and I decided on whole wheat penne with kale (amongst other local, in-season veggies). I still had a lot left over, so as an experiment, I decided to make kale chips. I was completely surprised at how good they were; actually I couldn’t stop eating them after I took them out of the oven. They were easy to make, and there are tons of different recipes online. I used a recipe similar to this one but with a few modifications (and a lot less salt). I sprinkled a bit of parmesan on top before I put them in the oven, but garlic powder or cayenne would be nice too.

Post-oven kale chips

Kale chips pre-oven

Heirloom Tomatoes at MyMarket Liberty Village

Another weekend of the Buy Local Share Local farmers’ market tour, and another weekend of rain! While the rain held out until I left Brickworks market on Saturday we weren’t so lucky at Liberty Village yesterday. I’m starting to get used to the torrential rains (but not the lightning). Even with the rain on Sunday, we still collected around 200 pounds of produce for Daily Bread Food Bank this weekend, thanks to generous market goers and as always some very generous vendors. I’d especially like to thank Greenfields Organic Farm for a donation of fresh, nutritious kale and swiss chard.

Some of the donated produce at Brickworks Farmers' Market Saturday

Some interesting finds this weekend

At Brickworks on Saturday I bought some heirloom seeds at Urban Harvest for a friend with a vegetable garden. There were lots of interesting varieties, but I settled on Easter Egg Radishes and Lunar White Carrots. At the end of the day, Urban Harvest came by and donated some basil and dill plants for Daily Bread to plant in their garden and use in their on-site kitchen!

At Liberty Village on Sunday, after the downpour I ventured out from under the canopy to do my shopping. I purchased some raw sweet potato fries and  zucchini. With the zucchini I made chocolate chip zucchini cookies using a recipe from Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. (I didn’t have whole wheat flour, and not wanting to go out in the rain again, I used all-purpose. The cookies were cake-like and turned out deliciously!)

My cake-like Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies

Buy Local Share Local will be at Stonegate Farmers’ Market this Tuesday in the parking lot of St. James Humber Bay Anglican Church (Parklawn near the Queensway). All donated food will go to the St. James Humber Bay Food Pantry on-site. Come on out, buy some fresh local food and buy a little something extra to help those in need. Every little bit helps!

It was another rainy market day for the Buy Local Share Local tour of Ontario Farmers’ Markets. This past Tuesday at Trinity Bellwoods farmers’ market, we braved the downpour along with numerous market goers and vendors, none of whom seemed to mind getting wet. At the end of the market we had collected just over 145 pounds in fresh produce and bread for Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, thanks to donations from the public and from vendors at the market. A special thank you goes to St. John’s Bakery for a very generous bread donation and to Under Ground Organics for a helpful donation of fresh produce.

My Local Food Find: Black Raspberries

A couple of weeks ago I first read about black raspberries, and I saw them for the first time at Trinity Bellwoods market on Tuesday. I bought a small box to take home with me and they made a yummy addition to my yogurt and granola breakfast. Not only are the black raspberries delicious, but I came across some articles online and they are apparently being studied for their anticancer properties.

Tormorrow morning we will be at Brickworks farmers’ market, and Sunday we are making a stop at MyMarket Liberty Village (both in Toronto), so come on out and visit our booth! Check back next week for more updates and some zucchini recipes.

Zephyr Organics booth at BirchCliff

BirchCliff Village Farmers’ Market

Although we got rained on for a while Friday evening at BirchCliff, the event was still a success thanks to generous market goers and vendors. All the produce went to the food bank at Churches by the Bluffs. I bought a brick of organic cheddar from Millbank Cheese and some delicious raspberries just before they sold out; they were half gone before I made it home.

Donated produce at Withrow Park

Withrow Park Farmers’ Market

Saturday morning at Withrow Park was beautiful and sunny, and what seemed to be the entire neighbourhood came out to enjoy the park. There were lots of families and dog owners milling around the farmers’ booths and enjoying baked goods, empanadas and fresh bread from St. John’s Bakery. We raised quite a bit of produce for Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre thanks to market goers and a very generous donation from Plan B Organic Farm. I took home some beets from Haystrom Farms, who advised me not to boil them but to wrap them in foil with vinegar, herbs and a root (like garlic or ginger) then grill them. Since I don’t have a bbq in my tiny appartment, I baked them in the oven with garlic, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar…the result was delicious! I found a similar recipe on Canadian Living’s website.

My beets from Haystrom Farm, picked at 4:30 am

Tomorrow evening Buy Local Share Local will be at Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Market from 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm, and this weekend we will be at Brickworks and Liberty Village. Check back soon for more updates, and if anyone has a recipe suggestion using fresh local produce let me know!

Ontario Zucchini

Where did the food go?

All the produce collected Saturday went to North York Harvest Food Bank. Bhavana Kapal, Food Drive Coordinator at North York Harvest was at our booth during the market to talk about the over 60 agencies North York Harvest serves across North Toronto. It makes sense with the selection of locally grown fruits and vegetables at this time of year, to give fresh, healthy food to users of food banks instead of just non-perishables and canned goods.

Ontario Sweet Cherries

Farmers’ Market Tour of Ontario

If you want to help your community and support local farmers, come to a farmers’ market on one of our tour stops and make a donation to your local food bank. In addition, you can purchase and take home fresh Ontario produce. There is a fantastic selection of produce in season right now. This past Saturday I bought Ontario sweet cherries. They were delicious on their own, and in a cherry streusel coffee cake I made. The recipe I used was based on one from Martha Stewart but I used fresh sweet cherries instead of frozen sour ones. Check back next week for news from our BirchCliff and Withrow Park stops and more recipes!

My cherry streusel coffee cake