Farm Market Food Shopping for Everyone!!

Although it's late in the growing season the local farmers are still producing some great late season veggies. If your local farm market hasn't closed yet or your CSA has a winter CSA it's a great lesson in eating seasonally. Fall greens, root  vegetables and squashes are full of dark green, oranges and reds. The darker the color the more nutrition you are getting. I think it also opens us up to trying new and different varieties of foods that we might not try otherwise. When you are a gypsy mama it can be difficult to belong to a  CSA because we are usually never in  one place long enough to join one. That however doesn't deter us from seeking our homegrown, locally produced food. The food movement is on! And we haven't traveled to a place yet that didn't have a way for us to seek out and find the best of what this country has to offer. Industrial farming in unnatural and even the organics found in supermarkets and big box stores are shipped from far far away from where you buy them. Imagine purchasing fresh vegetables that were grown, nutured and  picked with loving care only hours before you receive them, instead of days and thousands of miles possibly from their source. These real food farm markets we are finding are carrying all of the things we purchase on a weekly basis...dairy (including milk, cream, eggs & cheese), animal meats that are raised and fed the way nature intended, fruits, vegetables, canned and preserved goods (jams, jellies, pickles, relishes) and many baked goods too. The Franklin Farmer's Market we attended yesterday has all types of artisans too, clothing, knitted items, jewelry, musicians and lots of wonderful people with their dogs walking around shopping supporting local agriculture. This was our second visit to this market as the gyspy husband's company was working in this area before.

This gypsy mama knows that the heartbeat of the communties we visit through our travels are at these farm markets. We make it a point to search for local. For example we wanted pizza Friday night, we wanted it locally owned and operated. I even called a old friend who has lived in the area we are in for years to get a recommendation. Unfortunately, all he could suggest were two chains. I finally found one by googling "Locally Owned Pizza" and the name of the city and state. We found a great little local place and we're very happy with and the pizza was really good, plus we felt good about supporting a local restauranteur.

Here are some photos of our wonderful finds from the farmer's market, I am looking forward to turning all of this beautiful food into some delicious meals. I just know that with ingredients like this not only will our bodies be nourished but our souls as well.

One More Pumpkin Creation

In my little RV refrigerator sat a mason jar with more pureed pumpkin. Another creation waiting to happen.
Some kind of bar cookie with pumpkin was rolling around inside my gypsy mama head just waiting to be birthed into a yummy creation. The gypsy kids are always wanting a treat and I am learning and enjoying eating and cooking more and more seasonally. It is still pumpkin time! So here is what I came up with:

Note: If  you like really sweet stuff this is not super sweet..I suppose you could adjust the amount of sugar but I try to keep the sugar consumption down as much as possible. All ingredients are organic...yes, I know it cost more.

Gypsy Mama Pumpkin Bar Cookies

Crust & Topping
3/4 C. Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 C. Organic Rolled Oats
5 T. Organic Butter/break up into pieces...use substitute if vegan
1/4 C. Organic Brown Sugar
1/2 C. shelled pumpkin seeds/pepitas

Filling
1/3 softened Organic Cream Cheese/could use silken tofu or vegan equivalent
1 1/4 C. of pumpkin puree
1/4 C. of Brown Sugar
1 egg/use any binder for vegan
1/4 tsp. fresh ginger root ground
1/4 tsp. of cinnamon, ground cloves, freshly grated nutmeg
You could use 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice...to substitute for the above spices
1 T. Molasses
Pinch of Salt

Combine Crust ingredients,

 using your fingers (or a pastry blender or two knives) work the butter into the flour, oats, sugar until it resembles a crumbly mixture. Reserve 1/4 of the mixture for the topping.

Press the crust mixture into an 8x8 square pan.

Combine filling ingredients and pour on top of crust. Sprinkle remaining crumbly crust mixture on top of filling evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.* Let cool completely before cutting the filling will set up upon cooling.

*All of my baking times and temperatures are suspect because I bake in a tiny microwave/convection oven combo in my RV. If you are using any other type oven probably would be a good idea to watch what you are baking carefully and make adjustments based on your oven.