Where was I? Ah yes, we went to the farmer's market and were mainly there to get the super-cheap fruit available. Right now they have great deals on blueberries and strawberries and they generally have good deals on all produce. AR is always fun to be around and to watch in all sorts of situations (charades, anyone???) but she was especially fun at the market. She wanted to talk about and analyze every single one of her purchases with us. "Is $1 for a head of cauliflower a good deal?" "Should she get it at this vendor or one of the other vendors that has it for a dollar?" "What about blueberries?" "Where should we get the blueberries?" RE's friend, S, once we were almost through with our trip asked me if I was going to get anything. Yes, I replied, I've already bought peppers, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, and I plan on getting the strawberries and blueberries on the way out. I think it threw her off that I didn't have to talk about all of my purchases and ask if the purchases were sufficient.
And again, where exactly am I going with this? One of my awesome purchases was the blueberries. This purchase was exciting because of how much I saved on them. At Schnucks the week before I had bought one little container for $3. The boys really really wanted berries for a snack so I went ahead and spent the money. At Soulard, we all split the cost of one flat, which had 12 little containers I think, and I ended up spending only...$2!!!...for 4 little containers!!! Amazing deal I know. Thanks RE if you read this for reintroducing me to the Soulard Farmer's Market. I think I will now make it more of a routine in my food shopping...especially when buying fruit. I don't think I'm ready to try the 'coon or beaver yet though. ;^)
Here is what White Belt and Monkey helped me do with half of the blueberries:
We had blueberries.
We used a book that had a recipe for blueberry pancakes.
We made the batter then cooked them. Look at how blueberry-y they look!!!
We enjoyed our especially tasty (cheap) blueberry pancakes.
((I'm not quite to the photograph each step of the food making process and staging your ingredients as if photographing a cookbook (PPG and JL) but this is a start. Thanks for the inspiration.))
4 comments:
Those are super blueberrieie!! Tower Grove has great deals too - but I am glad you rediscovered Soulard!!
I'm really looking forward to TG Farmer's Market opening...I believe in May??? I think that's what I remember reading on the site. I know that most of those vendors are small "local" farms. Plus, I really love that whole scene of take your kids to the park Saturday morning, shop the farmer's market, then let the kids play at the playground with all the other kids who's parents are at the market. Plus during the summer there's the wading pool as I look outside at the falling snow. :D
I love shopping at Soulard.
If you passed by the homemade soaps and didn't buy any, I recommend picking up a bar the next time you go back. It was a little expensive, $4/bar, but I think it was worth it since one bar lasted us a month -- and I used it every day. I picked up the winter "flavor," which has a very effective moisturizer built in.
Also, the soap maker and his wife lived for one year without electricity, growing their own food and such. The husband, Eric Brende, wrote a book about it (that is taking me forever to read, because I'm a lazy and unfocused reader) called Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology.
(PS - Your blueberry pancakes look yummy. The only "fancy" flapjacks I've ever made had chocolate chips instead of blueberries.)
I got the recipe from "Tallulah in the kitchen". It's a book about a cat that wants to be a chef. I didn't see that soap maker when I went. I do know two other soap makers though one who lives right across the street. The other is a friend who is sometimes at Soulard and sometimes at Tower Grove. I like the Tower Grove Farmer's Market a lot. It's nice to just walk or ride your bike. It makes it seem that much more Earth Friendly.
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