Home-Made Spinach Pasta with Tomatoes and Capers

For the last seven years, as long as I was in DC, feeling well, and had no spectacularly amazing plans, Monday nights I spent salsa dancing. It was my thing.

Unfortunately lately, those dancing nights have become more frustrating than fun. And so this past Monday I decided to stay home, make dinner, drink wine, and watch The Bachelorette.

For dinner, I decided to make Home-Made Spinach Pasta with Tomatoes and Capers. The recipe is insanely simple, and you can use store-bought pasta if you don't feel like making your own. To go with the pasta, I picked up a bottle of Aveleda Fonte Vinho Verde: it's one of my most favorite wines: fresh, slightly bubbly and goes well with most food.

Special Thank You to Jenn for the fabulous tomatoes.

Ingredients for the pasta (I used only 1/2 of the recipe for this recipe; stay tuned to see what I did with the remaining pasta!)

1/3 cup spinach leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup water

1 egg

1.5-2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the sauce

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced

4 small tomatoes, cut into wedges

1 teaspoon capers

4 basil leaves, torn

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

1) In a food process puree spinach, oil and water.

2) In a bowl whisk an egg, add pureed spinach/oil/water and combine.

3) Add flour and salt and mix until a dough is formed.

4) Using a pasta machine roll out the dough and cut it into desired shape. [See my issues with my pasta machine]

5) Start boiling salted water for pasta. In the meantime, heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Cook garlic for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and capers. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Turn the heat off.

6) In the salted water, cook pasta for about 3-5 minutes. Drain, add to the sauce.

7) Heat the sauce and pasta for 1-2 minutes, add basil and lemon juice, adjust the seasonings and serve!

Note: If you have cheese, USE it!

Woo Hoo: Chosen Again

Happy Friday, indeed! Serious Eats chose my Peach & Blueberry Cake as on of their photos of the day!

Migue's Magnificent Mini Donuts

The weekend of July 4th I went to Eastern Market with Angela, Anna's friend from Birmingham, and a few of her friends. First we had lunch at Banana Cafe, then walked around the newly opened pavilion at the Eastern Market, bought some jewelry, etc. Then Angela and her friends left, and I decided to walk through the flea market area of Eastern Market. That's when I smelled something!!!

It wasn't a bad smell: it was an amazing smell of fresh fried dough and the sweetness of sugar! Migue's Magnificent Mini Donuts totally lived up to the name: they were mini and they were magnificent.

It's unusual to have a food vendor at the flea market part of Eastern Market, but such a welcomed idea!

The donuts are made right in front of you. The dough was first mixed in a KitchenAid and then it went through a complicated looking device where it was formed into the mini donuts and then was fried in hot oil: who can resist this?

A bag of seven mini donuts is only $2, and you get to top it with powdered sugar, chocolate syrup or a few other extra toppings.

Next time you are at the Eastern Market in DC, definitely buy a few of these fried sugary treats!

Peach and Blueberry Cake

I have made my mom's apple cake recipe a zillion times. My mom, obviously, has made the recipe a zillion times. It's a combination of eggs, flour, sugar, apples and a few other simple ingredients.

I don't know why it has never dawned on either one of us to use anything but apples in this recipe. [My friend Jenny, however, told me that she has made my mom's recipe using blueberries instead of apples in the past! Who knew?]

A few weeks ago when I was meeting Anna's friend Angela at Eastern Market, I was reading Southern Living magazine, which had a recipe for peach and blackberry cake: it looked gorgeous! Then, I saw beautiful peaches and blueberries at the market. Then, when I went grocery shopping, peaches and blueberries were on sale: everything was coming together and I decided to alter my mom's apple recipe to make Peach and Blueberry Cake instead.

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon yogurt
½ lemon, zested
2 peaches, cored, sliced
1 cup blueberries

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 375.
2) In a large bowl beat 3 eggs.
3) Add 1 cup of sugar to the egg mixture and blend together.
4) Pour 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda into white vinegar - the two ingredients will react and bubble - add to the bowl with eggs and sugar and mix.

5) Slowly incorporate the flour into the above mixture.
6) Add 1 tablespoon of yogurt and the zest of 1/2 lemon to the batter and mix.
7) Carefully incorporate peach slices and blueberries.

8) Spray a baking dish (I used 1.5 quart souffle dish) with oil or butter the dish.

9) Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake 45-80 minutes (it all depends on how deep your dish is: the cake is ready when a toothpick comes out dry).
10) Let the cake cool, and flip on a serving plate (if baking in a bundt pan).

ready for the oven

after baking

serve with some powdered sugar

I really liked how this cake came out! If your fruit and berries are very sweet, you can decrease the amount of sugar in the recipe. This is good for breakfast, as a snack or as dessert. Feel free to use any other stone fruit or berry combination.

Thanks, mom!

Grilled Cheese, Black Ham & Tomato Sandwich

Friday I needed something quick and easy for lunch. Since I was home, I decided to do something a bit more special than a simple sandwich. Grilled cheese is good, but grilled cheese with Black ham and a few slices of tomatoes is even better!

Ingredients
2 slices wholegrain bread
2 slices Swiss cheese
2 slices Black Ham
4 thin slices of tomatoes
sunflower oil

Directions
1. Heat a bit of sunflower oil in a non-stick pan.
2. Assemble your sandwich: bread/cheese/tomatoes/ham/cheese/bread.
3. Cook on each side for about 2-3 minutes. Make sure to add a bit more oil to the pan right before flipping the sandwich.
4. Serve immediately with spinach/olive oil/sherry vinegar/red pepper flakes salad.

What's your favorite grilled cheese sandwich?

PS. I am feeling better and am back at work today (Monday). Thank you so much everyone for asking!!!!

Cabbage with Bacon and Onions

Hi, guys and girls. I'm home for the 3rd day in a row...still sneezing, coughing, etc: not a pretty picture!

But in the meantime, I thought I'd share with you a super easy recipe for Cabbage with Bacon and Onions. This dish came about because I had a head of cabbage sitting in the fridge and a few strips of bacon: voila!

Ingredients
5 bacon slices, cut into pieces
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
1 head cabbage, quartered, core removed, thinly sliced
salt & pepper to taste
optional: soy sauce, hot sauce, mustard

Directions
1. Heat the pan. Add bacon and onions and cook for 8 minutes. If there is a lot of fat on the bottom of the pan, remove some of it.
2. Add cabbage, mix with onions and bacon, cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add 1/3 cup water, mix everything together, cover and cook for 3 to 10 minutes, depending on how soft you want the cabbage to be.
4. At this point you can add soy sauce, hot sauce, mustard, or just eat as is.
5. Serves 4 people.

This was a very easy dish to prepare, yet packed with flavor!

1) How do you cook your cabbage?
2) What do you think of these new large photos? Too much?

Get to Know Me

I was profiled on The Daring Kitchen, and thought I'd copy and paste my Q&A here too! Plus, I'm home sick today (cold!!!) and most likely tomorrow, so it's an easy post to publish ;)

Hope you enjoy getting to know me a bit better!

**********************************************************************************

Hi, I'm an economist by day and a salsa dancer/cook/photographer/traveler in my free time.

I spent the first 13 years of my life in Moscow, Russia and then moved to Seattle, WA with my family. After college I moved across country to the other Washington: Washington DC.

Cooking has always been a part of my life: both my parents are wonderful home cooks: they come up with their own recipes without consulting the cookbooks, and that's how I cook too. I have great memories of wonderful Russian meals, but now I cook simple meals with flavors from around the world.

How long have you been a Daring Baker/Daring Cook and what’s your favorite thing about being in the group(s) so far?

I have been a Daring Baker for a year and a Daring Cook for the last 2 months. I joined the group to challenge myself and to try out new recipes (as I very rarely make food from cookbooks). My favorite challenge so far was the flourless chocolate cake: I made it three times!

What’s your favorite kitchen gadget? How about your favorite kitchen appliance?

My favorite kitchen gadget is definitely a microplane: it's great for grating garlic, ginger, taking a rind off citrus or grating cheese and chocolate.

My favorite kitchen appliance is my bright red blender/food processor. I love it for making pureed soups, smoothies, hummus and shredding cabbage and any other vegetables.

Where is your favorite vacation (holiday) destination?

How can I choose only one? I love traveling and seeing different cultures and of course tasting the food! Some of my favorite spots are San Juan, Puerto Rico; San Francisco, New York City, and Atlanta.

I would love to travel to Argentina, Spain, Greece, and Morocco.

What is the ultimate comfort food to you?

Mashed potatoes, matzo ball soup, hot dogs (I know…they remind me of childhood), brownies, tuna melts.

Other than cooking and/or baking. What hobbies do you enjoy?

I'm an avid salsa dancer. I've been dancing for the last 7 years and love it. Whenever I go to a different city I always try to find a salsa club. The funny thing is that Olga is a pretty common Hispanic name too, so people often assume I'm from Latin America and speak Spanish: but I'm just a white Russian girl

You’ve had a rough week. We feel your pain. How do you relax after a rough week?

Lie on the couch and watch a good movie, go out to a casual dinner with friends, blast Salsa music REALLY loud or get a pedicure, flowers, and dark chocolate.

What’s your favorite flower and/or plant?

Orchids!!! That's why my email is orchidgirl1979. I love the variety of orchids, the fact that every time they bloom it's like a little miracle.

Not sure if orchid is technically a flower or a plant I also love Gerber daisies, tulips and African violets.

Do you have a favorite local restaurant? If so, why is it your favorite and what kind of food is served there?

Yamazato in Alexandria, VA has the best sushi!
Zaytinya in Washington DC has great tapas.
Amsterdam Falafel in Washington DC has falafel that reminds me of the ones I had in Israel.

Who taught you how to cook and/or bake?

I learned from my parents and grandparents and from just making my own stuff and experimenting in the kitchen.

Eastern Market in DC

It's been quite a while since I've been to Eastern Market in DC. I really love that place: great produce, beautiful flowers, jewelry stands, craft stands, European greeting cards and great people watching.

When Anna's friend, Angela, who was visiting DC from Birmingham told me she was meeting some of her friends at Eastern Market this past Sunday, I was more than happy to leave my messy apartment, loads of laundry and grocery shopping list and to meet her!

Amazingly, the Metro did not have any delays, and so I had a bit of time to spare before meeting Angela and her friends. I stopped by at Peregrine Espresso and ordered hot chocolate (see the photo on the left).

What's hot chocolate without whipped cream!? Exactly! But this time I did not mind the lack of whipped cream because the design on the top was so pretty!

Angela and me (I'm on the right)

After brunch at Banana Cafe, which brought back great memories of my dinner there with Laura, Jenny and Carlos, we walked around Eastern Market.

The fresh blueberries and peaches (together with an article in Southern Living, where Angela works and Anna interned) inspired me to make Blueberry & Peach Cake that night (will be posting that later this week).

Look at these tomatoes! Who cares that they are not perfectly shaped? I think their funny-looking form gives them more character, and they are full of flavor! And then there were buckets and buckets of gorgeous flowers.

The only thing I ended up buying was a pair of turquoise earrings.

My Day Just Got Better!

This day did not start on a good foot. I feel like I have a cold (in the middle of summer??) or maybe it's allergies acting up again?

Then, the Metro was a horrid mess again. Then, I forgot my work ID at home. And I'm at work instead of at home in bed. Right.

And then my day got better: Serious Eats chose my beet salad as one of their two favorite photographs of the day! YEAI!

Lemony Chickpeas with Blackened Shrimp

Here is a dish you can make in literally less than ten minutes. You can have it for lunch, or pair it with some rice or noodles for dinner.

All you really need is a can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), green onions, a lemon, shrimp and blackened seasoning. Okay, some oil, salt & pepper is necessary too, but most likely you have most of the ingredients at home already!

Ingredients (for one serving)
1 cup chickpeas
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 green onions, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
10 shrimp, peeled and deveined
blackened spice




Directions
1. In a bowl combine chickpeas with green onions, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt & pepper.
2. Heat sunflower oil in a nonstick pan.
3. Dredge shrimp in blackened seasoning and cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side in sunflower oil.
4. Dish out your lemony chickpeas on a plate and top with hot shrimp. Eat!



Note: this recipe will appear on Natasha's 5 Star Foodie blog on July 8th!

How To Make Pesto Without Basil?

Who said pesto has to be made from basil, pine nuts and Parmesan? Well, probably some amazing Italian chefs.

By now, however, you know that I don't follow recipes and don't adhere to rules when it comes to things happening in my kitchen...the rest of my life is another story.

Last week I had a bunch of parsley sitting in my refrigerator, some Parmesan cheese left from testing a recipe for Robyn and some sliced almonds left from the Bakewell Tart.

I decided to add all these ingredients to my food processor and make Parsley, Almond & Parmesan Pesto.

Unlike the regular pesto, I did not add garlic to mine; instead, I increased the flavor profile by adding lemon juice.







Ingredients
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 hand-full Italian Parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a food processor combine the first four ingredients. Then slowly start pouring olive oil and incorporating it into the rest of the ingredients.
2. Season with salt & pepper.

You can add this pesto to pasta, gnocchi, use it on sandwiches, or as a dressing for potato salad.

It is also really great spread on slices of baguette, topped with roasted red pepper and blue cheese and then broiled for a few minutes. I actually made this (together with slices of baguette topped with fresh figs and blue cheese), but the photos turned out horrific, so you'll just have to trust me on that!

If I don't "see" you before this weekend, have a great 4th of July!

Beet, Endive, Grapefruit & Blue Cheese Salad

I'm really glad I saved some recipes and photographs from last week, because I haven't really cooked much this week at all: making a sandwich and microwaving frozen Brussels Sprouts doesn't count as cooking in my book.

Here is a recipe I came up with for Beet, Endive, Grapefruit & Blue Cheese Salad. It is similar to the Beet, Orange and Blue Cheese Salad I've made in the past, but has an additional fresh and slightly bitter flavor of an endive. I decided to make this a composed salad instead of mixing all ingredients together because beets tend to color everything making the presentation less than pleasing. And a lot of you loved this black plate when I used it to display pot stickers, so here it is again.

I had this salad for dinner last week before going dancing, but you can serve it as an appetizer or first course at your next party. Just make sure to put it together the last minute (although you can have everything cut up and the dressing made and kept separately in the refrigerator for a few hours). The amounts below serve one hungry girl.



Ingredients
1 endive, bottom removed, separated into individual leaves ("boats")
2 beets, roasted, peeled and cubed (to roast beets, wash them and then wrap in aluminum foil and put them in a 450F preheated oven for 30-60 minutes depending on their size)
1 grapefruit, segmented, juice retained
2 ounces blue cheese, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon raspberry vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon grapefruit juice
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. On a plate set endive "boats," top them with a grapefruit segment and a tablespoon of cubed beets.
2. Whisk together raspberry vinegar, olive oil, grapefruit juice and season with salt & pepper to taste.
3. Drizzle the dressing over the grapefruit and beets and top your creation with a wedge of blue cheese.
4. Eat immediately (or at least as soon as you take the photograph!).

What an Awesome Way to Start the Day

I came to work and noticed that some traffic was coming to my blog from Serious Eats. Turns out, they posted my Peach and Chocolate Chip Pancakes photo with the link to the recipe on their site! This totally made my day.

Egg in a Hole

I can't believe it's taken me more than a week to post this, but here it is, Egg in a Hole.

I first tried making this "recipe" about a year ago when I was visiting my parents in Seattle...alas, the bread completely burned, and I was slightly embarrassed. This time around, I tried to be more careful and not crank up the heat too high.




Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil or butter
2 slices Italian bread
2 eggs
salt & pepper
tomatoes and dill for the salad



Directions
1. Cut holes in Italian bread and toast the bread.
2. Heat oil or butter in a non-stick pan. Put the slices of bread in the pan and carefully crack an egg into each hole.
3. Cook for a few minutes and then carefully flip the slices of bread.
4. Cook a few more minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve with tomato/dill salad.

This was still not perfect...and I'm not sure if the flipping technique is necessarily the way to go, but the eggs/bread tasted good. I just wish the yolks were a bit more runny.

If you have a better technique, please share!

Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I must confess I've never heard of a Bakewell Tart and was slightly apprehensive about baking this concoction. But, like any good Daring Baker, I decided to rise to the challenge.

The recipe is rather lengthy, so if you want it, just email me. Basically, there are 3 components to this tart. 1) Sweet Shortcrust Pastry 2) Frangipane (that's basically a combination of ground almonds, flour, butter, confectionery sugar and eggs 3) Jam (I used store-bought apricot jam).



This was a pretty straightforward challenge. I really liked the result, but brought most of the tart to work because seriously, I do not need all those calories! And I wasn't sure if the dessert would freeze well. The only "issue" I experienced, was that when I took out the first slice of the tart, the jam sort of oozed out...maybe I did not let the tart cool enough?



Here's a quick recap of what you do: make the crust. Let it sit in the refrigerator, then roll it out, put it into your tart pan and then into the freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile make Frangipane. Then add a layer of jam on top of the crust, then add a layer of Frangipane. Smooth everything out and bake it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Add sliced almonds and bake 5 more minutes. Voila. You are done!

(click on collages for better detail)

Pancakes with Peaches and Chocolate Chips

Even if I was a mom, I doubt I'd make pancakes from scratch. I guess I'm a little bit like that semi-home-made lady on Food TV (but I'd like to think that I'm way better!). Often, I think it's perfectly ok to take canned or boxed ingredients and turn them into fabulous meals without feeling any guilt whatsoever.

Take pancakes for example. Having a quick boxed mix where you only need to add water is insanely convenient. Not having to worry about the amounts of flour/egg/oil/water/milk to mix gives you a chance to get creative and think of wonderful things you can add into your pancakes!

If you recall, once I made pancakes with apples, cranberries, dried apricots and pecans; another time I added fresh cherries into a pancake mixture, and who can forget my very popular broccoli pancakes?

This time I decided to stick to two add-ins: peaches and mini chocolate chips. Stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, plums) is in season, so feel free to use any of the stone fruit or a combination of a few! And of course you can never go wrong with mini chocolate chips.





Ingredients and Directions

I made 1/2 of the basic recipe on the box of a pancake mix and added 1 peach, which I cubed, and a few tablespoons (approximately) of mini chocolate chips. Keep in mind that when you add solid things to your pancake mix, you might have to add a bit more liquid.

Cook your pancakes per usual and serve with a few peach slices on the side and a drizzle of syrup.

Aren't you ready to make these over the weekend?

National Capital BBQ Battle and a few random things

Hi, boys and girls.

If you live in Washington DC area, I would like to encourage you to go to the National Capital BBQ Battle this weekend! I know the weather is going to be incredibly hot, but this is a fun event (and raises money for a great cause)! I went to this event 4 years ago and this year was invited to attend as "media" and can take 5 of my friends for free!!! I'll post pictures from the event next week.

From the news release: Over 50 teams from all over the US are competing for $40,000 at the National Barbecue Championship. We have already raised one million dollars over the years for the DC Boys and Girls' clubs, and we're starting on our second million. We've got lots of food, lots of music, and lots of kids activities.

In other news, please check out my recipe in DC Examiner for Beet Greens with Prosciutto.

And finally, I'm now going to be freelancing for Robyn Webb's blog, You Can Eat That. So far, I've written two posts, and will post one new article once a week. This is my new adventure with Robyn: I have been her recipe tester for the last 2-3 years: time flies.

Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Soup

There was a lot of cooking this weekend in my little kitchen. Which also meant doing the dishes multiple times. But, I'm happy to report, that all the cooking was definitely worth it!

Just wait till you see my Daring Bakers challenge (June 27th is the big reveal day)!!!

But now on to this Roasted Red Pepper & Cauliflower Soup. I came up with this recipe because 1) red peppers were on sale for 50 cents each!!!! (unheard of!) and 2) I had a head of cauliflower left from testing one of Robyn Webb's recipes.

And although it's summer, I thought a pureed soup would do me some good. If you don't like cauliflower, feel free to substitute plain white potatoes or celery root or maybe even some butternut squash.

To add a bit extra flavor to the soup, I decided to add a whole head of roasted garlic. Be ready for your house to smell amazing while and after you prepare this recipe!


Ingredients
olive oil
4 red peppers, quartered, seeds removed and cut into big chunks
1 head of garlic, top cut off
salt & pepper
1 head cauliflower, cut into florettes
1 cup milk
1/2-1 cup cooking liquid from cauliflower
parsley, minced for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Take a head of garlic, cut off the top and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in aluminum foil and place on the cookie sheet.

3. Drizzle red peppers with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and scatter in one layer on the aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Alternatively, you can roast whole peppers on a gas flame. (Pictures below are of peppers before and after the roasting process).

4. Roast the peppers and the garlic for 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, cook cauliflower in salted water for about 20 minutes, or until cauliflower is completely tender. Drain the cauliflower, retaining about 1 cup of liquid.

6. In a food processor puree red peppers, cauliflower, 1 cup of milk and the squeezed out insides of the roasted garlic. If necessary, add 1/2 to 1 cup of retained cooking water (depending on how thick you want the soup to be). Season with salt and pepper.

7. Serve the soup in a bowl garnished with some chopped roasted red pepper and minced parsley. Note: this is a great soup to have for leftovers, as I found out. The recipe makes approximately 5 cups.

Panzanella with Mozzarella and Basil

Last week I went to Penn Quarter farmer's market and bought bread, tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I thought these ingredients absolutely screamed summer and decided to make a salad from them.

Panzanella is a bread salad usually made from bread, tomatoes and olive oil. This time, I decided to add fresh mozzarella.



Ingredients for 1 serving (Anna suggested I start mentioning number of servings for my recipes)
1 tomato, cubed
5 basil leaves, torn
2 slices of Italian white bread, cubed
1 small ball of mozzarella, cubed
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan and saute the pieces of bread until they turn slightly golden. You can completely ignore this step and add the bread without sauteing it first, but the bread then would turn super soggy in the salad...and who wants that?
2. Combine tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and sauteed bread. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Serve immediately!

Farmer's Market: Penn Quarter in Washington, DC

Yesterday I left work a bit earlier than usual and walked to the Penn Quarter Freshfarm Market. I did not really have anything particular I wanted to buy: I just wanted to stroll around, see what was there and sample some stuff (LOVE free samples).

By the time I arrived at the market, it was full of people, despite the hot and sticky weather.

I did what I usually do at markets: walk through, see what's out there and then make a second/third/fourth walk-through and decide what to get.












Below: "the scene" and also the orchid booth! This booth gets me in trouble quite often, as I absolutely love orchids. But this time I restrained myself and did not take any of these beauties home. Ok, don't feel too bad for me: I have 4 orchids at home, and one at work: it's just that none of them are currently blooming.




Then I saw the cutest mini eggplants at the Mountain View Farm stand. I just thought the price was a bit over the top. Instead, I bought a basil plant ($2) and a bunch of beets ($3.5o) from them. After getting home, I replanted the basil plant into a bigger pot and really hope it will survive for a while.

Then what made me really happy was seeing tomatoes! Remember, last time there were none to be found. I bought a bunch of tomatoes from Toigo Orchards stand ($5).

Here they are up close and personal!

I also could not resist buying bread (bought 1/2 of white Pagnotta = $3). But look at the other gorgeous creations they have!

Well, how could I go home with tomatoes and basil and not buy mozzarella? I stopped by at the Blue Ridge Dairy Co booth and bought a container of fresh mozzarella. It was no longer on sale like the last time, but I decided to splurge ($7).

All in all, I spent $20.50 and am very pleased with my purchases. Stay tuned to see what I cooked up with my buys from the market.

Question: what have you recently bought at your local farmer's markets? And what did you cook with your purchases?