Love Fall and My Local Farmers

I love the change of seasons!   I especially love Fall with the leaves turning vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow.  I love it that the weather requires a sweater at the very least and local farmers markets are full of pumpkins, lots of root vegetables and hearty greens like Swiss chard and kale.  Perfect soup and stew weather.
Scroll through my Soups & Stews index, to find many choices.

My mother used to make Bean & Barley soup, my father's favorite.  He used to say it was "stick to your ribs" soup.  Not sure what that really meant, but thick hearty soups say to me..."warm me up from the inside" soup.  My favorite legume to add is the lentil, and you will find quite a few variations in the index.   But this one is the best yet.

Lentils, Swiss Chard, Mushrooms and Fresh Chorizo Soup

This one has my newest addiction...fresh Chorizo sausages from Getaway Farm Meat Mongers at the Seaport Farmers Market.  Not only do they do their own butchering... I've mentioned Ben the Butcher and the rest of the gang often... they make their own ground beef and pork and, even better, their own sausages... thus my new addiction...freshly made Chorizo sausages, which are great on the grill and absolutely lovely turned into meatballs for this hearty soup.  The vegetables came from several market vendors as well as from my daughter's vegetable garden.  How lucky am I to have so many options!  

But back to meat, because, well... we love our meat!  Not to mention the fact, that with life being so busy, I like to make things that are quick and don't take much thought at the end of the day.  You can marinate flank steak in the morning before you head out, or the night before, or even do it on the weekend and leave it in the fridge for a few days so that the actual cooking time is only as long as it takes to fire up the grill plus ten minutes or so.  You'll also find lots of flank steak options in the Meat Index,   And if those aren't enough choices, I have more pinned on Pinterest to try, food apps on my iPad to search,  plus lots of cookbooks sitting on my shelves and counters to flip through.  

Grilled Around the World Spiced Flank Steak

That said, I often am too... put your own adjective here...to do much hunting through all my options, so I'm so glad I discovered Epices de Cru spices distributed by Costas Halavrezos at the Historic Farmers Market a number of years ago .   A pinch of this or that turns the simplest, most basic dish into a heavenly trip to somewhere far away and yet as close as your kitchen.

Garlic, Thyme & Rosemary Sauteed Mushrooms

From dried to fresh...the fresh thyme and rosemary come from Riverview Herbs, the garlic from... well there are at least four vendors, plus my daughter, who had a wonderful harvest this year.  The mushrooms are from Selwood Green Farms (here's the chat with Norbert Kungl and his lovely wife Minga).

 Hopefully, I've tantalized your taste buds enough to get you to be a keen supporter of local farmers and  purveyors at your farmers markets.