Farmer's Market Fabulous

Another reason why I love summer?  Farmer's markets!  I really just started getting into these things late spring of this year....thanks to my wonderful stepsister Amanda ;)  But now, it's become a part of my weekly grocery shopping.  My shining moment?  Week's worth of grocery breakdown: $25 - Farmer's Market.  $8 - Kroger. I'm gonna go ahead and call that a win!

There are a lot of benefits to choosing to purchase from your local market.  The biggest reason I started is because I'm trying to stick to organic as much as possible.  I'm interested in cutting out the food that requires unnatural (and in my opinion, unhealthy) processes to put food on the average American's table in the cheapest, quickest way possible.  I don't want to purchase food that's had to travel 2,000 miles to get to me and in the process lost most of its valuable nutrition anyway because of the techniques used by large corporations.  And yes, even though some things might cost me a little more, I'd rather my money go back into supporting the local economy.  To me it's about quality and sustainability.  

Oh, and another thing...the larger markets usually have vendors set up where you can get a delicious, fresh bite to eat.  This trip to the 2nd Street Market in Dayton included a salmon, cream cheese, spinach, and caper crepe....Mmmmm!

If you're interested in finding a local market to try out yourself, click here.

Because I do the majority of my shopping at the market, I'm usually coming home with quite a bit of produce.  The recipe that follows is a result of me going through my refrigerator last night trying to use up the rest of my produce before it went bad on me.  Enjoy!

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup dry, white wine  
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp dried dill
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 cloves minced garlic 
• coarsely ground pepper and salt, to taste
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and chopped
• 4 red bell peppers ( you could use green...I just love red peppers :) )
• freshly shredded mozzarella cheese

To make the dressing, combine the wine, olive oil, dill, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. 

Next, in a larger bowl, combine rice, beans, onion, tomato, and cucumber.  

Pour the dressing over the fillings and toss until evenly coated.  Let sit in the fridge for a couple hours to marinate. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Next, prep your peppers by removing stem and seeds.  Place in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove the peppers and place on a baking dish.  Place filling in each pepper and cook for about 20 minutes in preheated oven.  Add your cheese and cook until melted, about 5 more minutes.

Finally, pour yourself a glass of that white wine and enjoy your farmer's market pepper :)