Purple is my favorite color!

Purple carrots are my new favorite veggie.  Organic, locally grown and purchased at the Hillcrest Farmers Market.  I might go every week just to get my fix! 

Most people have never seen purple carrots.  I know I hadn't until I went to the farmers market.  I'm always on the look out for new and unusual vegetables.  

Here are some interesting carrot facts:

In Roman times carrots were purple or white. By the 10th century purple carrots were grown in Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern Iran. Purple, white and yellow carrots were imported to southern Europe in the 14th century. Black, red and white carrots were also grown. Purple carrots were used as a clothing dye fro Afghan royalty.

Orange carrots arrived from natural mutations of yellow forms, and then by human selection and development, probably in the Netherlands. It is thought that humans made selections from a genepool involving yellow rooted eastern carrots, cultivated white-rooted derivatives of wild carrot (grown as medicinal plants since classical times) and wild unselected populations of adjacent Daucus Carota subspecies in Europe and the Mediterranean.

They're super nutritious for you too!

The findings of the recent Australian study revealed the ancient carrot to be packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory goodness - up tp 28 times more anthocyanins, which are antioxidants that are responsible for the purple-red pigment in raspberries and blueberries, than there are in orange carrots. 

Keep an eye out for these tasty veggies next time you're at the store or farmers market!  Give them a shot!  What have you got to lose?  All you can do is improve your health.

Roasted Purple Carrots and Lemon-Butter Halibut

Yummy Quesadilla Goodness!

I think a new rule is to always have wheat tortillas and shredded cheese in our house.  You can put practically anything in between tortillas and cheese!

I took inspiration from my favorite website, Weelicious, and made some BBQ Chicken Quesadillas.

So easy to make and so yummy!  Arwyn is going to try some for her dinner.  Yum!!

My new addiction!

Ohhh.... the cheesy, eggy goodness that is the 

Breakfast Quesadilla!

These are so easy to make and Miss A loves them too!  I make it when she's down for her morning nap and then take 2-3 pieces and put them in the freezer for her.  I find that freezing them a little helps with cutting them into smaller pieces for Miss A.  She gobbles them up for her mid-morning snack or lunch.  Yummy!

I'm Ron Burgundy?

"Damn it, who typed a question mark on the teleprompter? 
For the last time, anything you type, Burgundy will read!" 

So, ok.... This post isn't about Anchorman or Ron Burgundy.  It is about another Burgundy.

Royal Burgundy Beans!

(excited yet?)

This was the most recent "Veggie of the Week."  We picked some up at last the La Jolla Open Aire Market last weekend.  I had never seen them before, so I knew I had to try them.

If you have kids, this may be just the veggie for you to try.  These beans are much sweeter than your usual green bean.  They have this beautiful purple color and when you cook them, they turn green.  What kid wouldn't be amazed by that?

I just sauteed them up with a little olive oil and they quickly changed from purple to green.  I love my green beans, but it's definitely nice to change it up a little every now and then.

Tomorrow we're returning to the La Jolla Open Aire Market for some more eggs, bread, and fresh produce.  I'm excited to see what we get this week!

How did it taste?

Remember the Rainbow Swiss Chard and Golden Beets we bought at the farmers market last week?  We cooked them, we ate them, we enjoyed them.

The Golden Beets were simple to prepare.  Cut off the leaves (you can eat those too) and wash the beets.  Them toss them with some olive oil, put in an oven safe dish, cover and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes (until a knife easily slices into them).  That's it.  You then can cut them up, or do whatever you like with them.

We also chose to eat the beet leaves.  You cook them up similar to how you cook up spinach leaves.  A little olive oil in the pan, some onion, some garlic, the leaves.  Cook until they're wilted and serve.

I really enjoyed the Golden Beets.  I'd say they taste very similar to peas.  Odd, but tasty!  Miss A really enjoyed having some with her lunch the next few days.  She would eat them first, then move onto the other food.

I did not feel the same about the beet leaves.  I'm sure they're chock full of nutrients, but next time I might just throw them away.  They were just.....  Chewy and bitter.  Yuck!

Moving on to the Rainbow Swiss Chard.  LOVE IT!  If I had to choose Swiss Chard or Spinach, I'd definitely choose the Swiss Chard.  I found an awesome recipe for Sauteed Swiss Chard.  Super easy, quick and tasty.

It's easy to eat such pretty food

I am thoroughly enjoying trying all different vegetables and new recipes.  Each week I excitedly look forward to the farmers market and what goodies I might find!

Healthy Breakfast!

I woke up this morning and decided to make something a little different for Miss A for breakfast (I ate some too). 

We had some Cottage Cheese Pancakes.  

I substituted the regular flour for whole wheat.  What a perfect dish.  You get some decent carbohydrates and some protein all in one.  Miss A loved them and gobbled them up.  She ate 2 1/2 pancakes!

These are so easy to make and quick to cook.  If you're looking for something new to try for breakfast, give these a shot.  I'm sure they taste awesome with some jelly or jam too!

Farmers Markets Galore!

On Friday, we hit up the Imperial Beach Farmers Market.  It was slightly larger than the Coronado one and had different vendors.  I will definitely be doing both from now on.  Eggs, cheese and fruit from the Coronado Farmers Market.  Pesto, Jam, and veggies from the Imperial Beach Farmers Market.  I am also eager to check out some of the other ones around San Diego.

We got some great items at the IB Farmers Market.  If we had a little more cash on us, we would've bought more.

What we bought.

Since I'm still on the cooking/baking kick, I got excited when I saw some Golden Beets.  I previously made some Sweet Beet Cookies with red beets.  Not a big fan of the cookies or the red beets.  I knew there were many other colors of beets with different tastes, but had yet to see any in the store or other farmers markets.

I also picked up some Rainbow Swiss Chard.  This will be our new veggie to try.  I was lured in by the beautiful colors of the stalk.  I am going to try two different preparations for it and I'll be sure to post later about it.

We really enjoyed some of the product vendors.  There was a vendor there with like 20 different hummus flavors.  Unfortunately, Matt had just bought hummus at the grocery store.  So we weren't looking for more.
We did really enjoy the pesto vendor, Basiltops.  So yummy!  We couldn't help but buy some!

Another product vendor that we like was selling hot (spicy) jams made from scratch.  She had a bunch of offerings like Jalapeno and Habanero Raspberry.  Me being the baby that I am about spicy foods, wasn't too interested.  She convinced me to try the Jalapeno, since it is the least spicy.  She put some cream cheese on a wheat thin and topped it with some of the Jalapeno jam.  My mouth was in heaven!

On Sunday, we will be perusing the La Jolla Open Aire Market.  I will be sure to post about that shortly.

If you have a farmers market near you, do check it out and support your local farmers and businesses.