Market Haul

My eyes were clearly bigger than my stomach at the market today. I brought home tons of colorful veggies: multi-colored radishes, beets, and carrots, snap and sugar peas, tomatoes, artichokes, fennel, lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, onions, leeks, and the long awaited garlic scrapes. Plus I bought a dozen multi-colored eggs and white mulberries. YUM!

Rapini in gingered soy sauce

Approx. 90 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 (large) servings.

When I started cooking this, I intended to make grilled chicken to go along with it. I got a little lazy and decided that if I ate half the pan, I would be full and didn't need to bother with the chicken. This recipe makes enough for 2 large servings (as main course) or 4 small side dishes.

Ingredients

• 16 oz rapini
• 2 Tbs soy sauce (low sodium)
• 4 Tbs grated ginger
• 1 clove grated garlic
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Wash rapini and cut stalks in half.
2. Add water, soy sauce, grated ginger and garlic, and red pepper flakes to a skillet; bring to a boil.
3. Add rapini and cook until tender but not mushy.

Beef with Pea Pods

Approx. 270 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 3 servings.

I had a piece of sirloin steak left, so I decided to make beef with pea pods. I was going to just remake the beef with snow peas recipe, but I didn't have quite enough peas for the amount of beef that I had. I did have some sugar/snap peas, so I decided to just blend the two types. I also decided to "cheat" and use ready-made Teriyaki sauce instead of making my own sauce.

Ingredients

• 8 oz sirloin steak
• 2 cups snap/sugar pea pods
• 2 cups snow pea pods
• 3/4 cup yellow onion
• 1/2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs spicy Teriyaki sauce (I used East-West brand, Spicy Ginger)

Directions

1. Slice beef into thin strips.
2. Add oil to a skillet and heat.
3. Stir fry beef until pink.
4. Add onion and stir fry until just slightly softened.
5. Add pea pods and cook until almost tender.
6. Add Teriyaki sauce and continue to cook until all vegetables are tender, but not mushy.

Grilled Fennel and Carrots w/ Sirloin Steak

I bought a few cute baby fennel and some baby carrots at the market this weekend.I wasn't sure what to do with them, and decided that I just wanted something really simple, so I tossed them in a grill pan along with a sirloin steak I bought with a Groupon. This really isn't a recipe, since all I did was season the beef with black pepper, and just tossed the fennel and carrots in the pan with it. I just "grilled" everything until the meat was done and the veggies tender, then plated everything and served with leftover carrot and radish salad.

Approx. 380 Calories for the entire meal as shown.

Ingredients

• 2 small baby fennel bulbs (approx 1 cup)
• 7 small baby carrots (approx 1 cup)
• 8 oz sirloin steak (I cut in half and only ate 4 oz)
• black pepper, to taste
• carrot and radish salad (approx 1 cup)

Directions

1. Heat grill pan until hot.
2. Season beef with black pepper and put on grill.
3. Wash fennel and carrots and place on grill.
4. Grill until everything is cooked and tender, turning as needed.
5. Plate and serve with carrot and radish salad

Carrot and Radish Salad

Approx. 50 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 4 servings.

At this week's farmer's market, I found an assortment of colored carrots and giant white sweet radishes. They were too pretty to pass up, so I added them to my shopping bag. When I got home, I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I just chopped them to make a quick and easy salad. I made the dressing with vinegar and an assortment of spices, but a bottled Italian dressing would probably work just as well.

Ingredients

• 1 huge sweet radish (approx. 2.5 cups)
• 4 large carrots of different colors: pale yellow, gold, orange, purple (approx. 2.5 cups)
• 9 Tbs red wine vinegar
• Sprinkle dried basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes, to taste.

Directions

1. Wash and chop vegetables.
2. Mix spices with vinegar.
3. Pour vinegar over chopped vegetables and let sit at least 30 minutes before serving.

Grapefruit and Nasturtium Salad

Approx. 120 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 1 (large) serving.

I love early spring at the downtown Phoenix farmer's market. One of my favorite vendors is the Roosevelt Grow Collective Garden. Right now, they have bags of mixed field greens with nasturtium flowers. I always buy the greens with the flowers. Seacat Gardens had a nice baby spinach, so I needed to get that too. I still had several grapefruits from a coworker, so I just decided to combine these simple ingredients into a beautiful, colorful, tasty salad. I decided that the peppery nasturtium plus the bitter/sweet taste of the grapefruit had enough flavor that I didn't need any additional dressing. I was quite happy with the way it turned out.

Ingredients

• 2 cups baby spinach
• 2 cups mixed greens
• 1 cup nasturtium flowers
• 1 medium grapefruit (w/ juice)

Directions

1. Peel and segment grapefruit.
2. Mound mixed greens and spinach on a plate.
3. Add flowers and grapefruit segments and juice.

Gingered bok choy and tomatoes

Approx. 100 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

It's Friday night and the fridge is pretty empty, since tomorrow is farmer's market day. I had bok choy leaves left over from the meal I made the other night, along with a few cherry tomatoes and some mushrooms. I decided that these would be good combined in a gingered soy sauce "stir fry". As it was cooking, it seemed to be lacking something, so I added a few toasted sesame seeds. They gave it a bit more texture and really enhanced the flavor.

This makes a great side dish. I didn't feel like making anything else, so I ate both servings as my full meal.

Ingredients

• 3 cups bok choy
• 1 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup grape/cherry tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbs grated ginger
• 2 Tbs soy sauce (low sodium)
• 1 1/2 Tbs toasted sesame seeds
• 1 cup water
• red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

1. Wash and chop bok choy leaves.
2. Chop mushrooms and slice grape/cherry tomatoes in half.
3. Add water, soy sauce, grated garlic and ginger, and red pepper flakes to a skillet.
4. Heat until water boils.
5. Add bok choy leaves and mushrooms. Cook until tender and most water has evaporated.
6. Add tomatoes. Cook until warm and just barely tender (not mushy).
7. Add sesame seeds, mix well, and then serve.