It's Just Better at the Farmers' Market

I know I keep talking about the Farmers’ Market. It might be because I’m there so often. So far I have been passing along information to improve your shopping experience. But today I wanted to pass along some of the many reasons for us to buy local food AND give you another recipe:

  • Did you know that when you buy locally grown/raised/made food, it means that more money stays within your local economy? When you buy at the grocery store only about 15 cents of every dollar ends up in farmers’ pockets!

  • Supermarket food travels long distances and is handled who-knows-how along the way. Food purchased in grocery stores is harvested at least 2 weeks before you buy it and may have traveled up to 3000 miles.  Buying local means that you're getting fresh food that’s traveled around the corner (sometimes literally). And we all know the longer produce sits around, the less nutritional value it has to offer when it gets onto your fork.

  • Food safety has also become ever more of an issue these days as there seems to be weekly recalls and/or reports of people getting sick from contaminated food. Food traceability and higher nutritional value are important things to consider when it comes to food and buying from local farms means that you know exactly where your food has been and how it has been handled.

  • For every $1 million spent on local food 13 full time jobs are created, compared to the 3 that result from food purchases made from traditional supermarkets.

  • At this time of year farmers are often up well before dawn, outside most of the day between work and getting to markets, and often don't get home (and indoors) until late at night. They routinely put the needs of  the people they serve above their own.

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My strategy is to start my shopping at the Farmers’ Market and “fill in” at the grocery store
if I need to. I consider this a win-win. I always have local fresh food on hand so I know my meals are going to be healthy. It also supports my goal of keeping my veggie intake high, and I get to feel good about supporting my local food producers!

This week I scored a huge basket of “seconds” (heirloom plum tomatoes that weren’t perfect looking) for all of $7.00, along with a bunch of basil and a few heads of garlic. I came home and cooked up a batch of the most wonderful tomato sauce I’ve had in a long time. Of course I’m going to share the recipe!

Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
3-4 lbs. fresh, ripe tomatoes chopped roughly in quarters (plums are probably best for sauce but I have used other kinds..you just may end up with a thinner sauce)
½ cup good quality olive oil
Several cloves of garlic, peeled and minced (I use at least 6, often the whole head)
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes(optional)
A bunch of fresh basil sliced into “ribbons” (or dried herbs of choice)
Sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:
Place olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute, stirring occasionally until lightly browned. (Garlic can burn quickly so keep a close eye on it). Add the crushed red pepper flakes and give it a minute, then add all of the tomatoes and stir to mix the garlic in. When it’s starting to boil, turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the tomatoes have broken down a fair amount. At this point you have a few choices: you can either leave it as is and proceed (if you like your sauce chunky) or you can add some of it to a blender or food processor and pulse a few times to make it smoother. Put back into the pot and add basil, salt and pepper.

This sauce can be used immediately, stored in the refrigerator for a week or two or frozen for later use.

 

Edie Chevalier