Happy Monday my friends! I've been slacking a bit on sharing some yummy food posts, so it was a toss up what I was finally going to get a chance to bring to the table today. Since the farmers market is still providing such killer vegetables right now, there's no better way to start out the week than with a whole bunch of fresh produce! I also have some different views to share of where the weekly farmers market is held. We usually hit the Marietta Square at street level, but on Friday evening we got invited by some friends to come hang out for a free concert. An acquaintance of theirs works the bar at Brew with a View.
Not a bad view, right? Though the weather has been quite hot already, the evening was actually quite nice with a cool breeze and the sun just starting to go down. This view is from the top floor balcony of an old theater right on the square where they do private events and apparently open it up on Friday evenings like this in the spring and summer! The next photo overlooks where they had the band set up (they're across the street on the covered stage), but also it's the street where just hours later the farmers set up in the morning for the market. Kind of fun to see it from a different perspective!
The band was pretty much a typical cover band, but they played some fun music to get everyone going. I don't often love going places with such big crowds, however the balcony actually stayed pretty sparse for most of the time we were there. We hung out for a few hours, but left shortly after our friends went to grab a bite to eat. I had plenty of goodies for us at home, so no need to eat out this weekend. We did catch the sunset before we made our way back to the car to head home!
The next morning it was time to head back over to hit up the farmers market as usual! Though the farmers are having a bit of a tough time with the current drought we are in, they are busting their humps to keep everything irrigated and healthy to bring the best produce around for us to enjoy. We're in that wonderful in-between time now where there is still some of the spring varieties producing their last little bit, but also the summer stuff is coming in hot!
Not wanting to miss out on any of the good stuff, I just about bought a little bit of everything. 🤦♀️ I'm a bit of a maniac, but we will enjoy every last bite! I love that most of the farmers will share some of what they are bringing on IG or FB so I know which booths to hit first when there's something I really have my eye on. This week the first of the heirloom tomatoes and Roma beans were high on the list.
Of course I couldn't resist some more patty pan squash, as well. They are getting huge! I don't have small hands, in case you were wondering.
Saturday night I whipped up a super easy meal to make use of some of the tomatoes and beans while they were so fresh. The Roma beans I cooked on the stove top over medium heat for about 10 minutes, adding a few teaspoons of miso mixed in water for a little glaze at the end of cooking. The tomatoes are so darn good we just ate them sliced fresh!
I cooked long grain brown rice with a mixture of chili powder, ground turmeric, and ground cumin for a bit of flavor. I had also recently gotten some new delicious balsamic vinegars, so I used Garlic Cilantro White Balsamic to marinate sliced tempeh before also cooking on the stove top. That was delicious!
Last night 
Definitely not a bad way to start out the week! I'm back in the kitchen today to make some tofu scramble and a soup to finish out my meal prep for the week. Fingers crossed we might finally get to go do some more fresh fruit picking tomorrow! Blackberries and blueberries have started, so hopefully they'll have plenty left for us to go tomorrow. The peaches have been iffy, but maybe we'll finally get lucky again.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy week ahead!
