Shopping Spree!

Now this is my type of shopping spree! My mom was in town yesterday, so she, my sis and I decided to hit up the Farmer's Market for some locally grown, mostly organic and very delectable produce. Here is my loot below:
I got a couple of ears of corn (so good!), yellow carrots, orange baby carrots times 100, a poblano pepper, half of a freaking huge cucumber and some zephyr squash.
These guys were my favorite buy of the day! Look at how cute! Evidently, they are a cross between zucchini and regular yellow squash. I have them on my menu for tomorrow night with a heaping helping of guacanara--I think they'll be perfect!

I also got a bajillion green beans (which are fantastic mixed with some pineapple salsa, by the way).

I especially liked these green beans because they were locally produced and harvested by a special program provided by the county jail. It allows the offenders housed at the facility to learn new marketable skills and develop a positive sense of accomplishment while giving back to the community.

I loved the little tatted up dude who sold them to me. He made me an awesome deal and he seemed so proud of what he had helped create. It totally gave me the warm fuzzies. My mom got the little orange carrots from that stand too (convict carrots, ha ha). Having tried both, I can give them my official stamp of approval, and I will probably head straight there the next time I hit up the market. Plus, I think it's for sure Experimentarian-approved to sample produce from these homies--I kept expecting to pull out a lock pick or something from one of the beans. :)

There were tons of other delightful things at the market, and I should have taken my camera to snap pics of all the amazing samples the vendors were giving out. Gorgeous peaches, huge melons (that's what HE said--perv),lots of ingenious jams from a booth specializing in hot pepper and fruit preserves, local goats' milk cheese, hummus, and more.

I may venture out to the market again on Tuesday night with my youth group--my girls were totally taken with the idea. If we go, you can bet I'll be doing the mango tango with some of that pepper jelly and swinging by for a little jail-house rockin' tomatoes and spinach!

Super Size Me

Well, not me exactly, but my groceries for sure! Erin was interested to know what else I scored at Whole Foods besides my yummy tea from last night, so here's a peek! Everything was so jumbo! There's only one Whole Foods in the area that carries that huge tub of Fage. It's much more cost effective to buy that large size--it's only $2 more than the 16 oz container! Along with that I got some ginormulous peaches. Holy cow, they're like the size of my head! I also got a garnet yam and a new type of yogurt which I got to try this morning.
Very very unique flavor. As I mentioned in my last post, I don't love orange flavor, but I picked this based on the ingenuity of the combo. The orange flavor was still very prominent, but not too overpowering. Super thick texture and lots of grated ginger for an extra kick in every bite. I loved that it was sweetened with agave nectar--very light handed with the sweetener I might add.

Other ingredients: pasteurized skim milk, candied ginger, orange extract, live active cultures and vegetable rennet. I'm not sure what vegetable rennet is, but I'm guessing it's some sort of natural thickener or stabilizer. Can I just say that it makes me giddy when I find products with so few ingredients!! I mean compare the ingredient list on that luscious, tangy, satisfying little snacklet to the label on any other light yogurt. I guarantee the other yogurt will have a list a mile long, chuck full of preservatives, artificial flavorings and aspartame or sucralose. Not that I completely shun things like that, but the closer I can get to clean eating, the better. 16 grams of protein for this, too!