Foodland Ontario Calendar - August (Grilled Chicken Salad)

Where has August gone? Is it seriously the 29th already? Yeesh!

I am sooooo late on the Foodland Ontario calendar recipe this month. For one thing, pears have just come into season and second, I kept forgetting to get some lettuce, which isn't something I've seen at the markets lately for one reason or another. Anyways, I finally got around to it.

I have a confession though...I took the lazy way out today and bought a ready-made roast chicken at Sobeys. I don't typically buy my meat at the grocery store but I will sometimes buy the roast chicken when I'm really pressed for time (like I was today) or I just have a hankering for it. Luckily, Sobeys does have an Ontario organic roast chicken available for only $2.00 more than the regular. Good enough for me.

Grilled Chicken Salad

• 12oz Ontario boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 clove Ontario garlic, minced
• 4 cups Ontario salad greens
• 3 Ontario green onions
• 1 Ontario peach, pitted and sliced
• 1 Ontario pear, cored and sliced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh Ontario cilantro or parsley
• 3 tbsp low-fat Italian salad dressing

In a shallow dish, arrange chicken in a single layer. In a small bowl, stir together oil, lime juice and garlic; pour over chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

Discard marinade. Place chicken on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and grill, turning once, until no longer pink inside, about 12 to 15 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes and slice into strips.

In a large salad bowl, toss together salad greens, green onions, peach and pear slices, cilantro and chicken strips. Drizzle with salad dressing to moisten and toss again.

I think I butchered this recipe... I used my roast chicken so didn't grill it or use the marinade and then instead of an italian dressing I used the garlic and mango dressing that I got from The Garlic Box in Hensall back in July. It was delicious, nonetheless. Besides, recipes are just a guideline; make it your own.

Oh, and I added green beans; just because they were in the fridge and needed to be eaten sooner rather than later.

Next months' recipe - Grilled Trout with Tomato Salsa. I have great plans for this one. We're going to a trout farm! Stay tuned for this one - it should be interesting...

For an electronic version of Foodland Ontario's 2011 calendar see: http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/english/calendar/2011/index.html

To view the previous Foodland Ontario Calendar recipes I've made this year click on the 'foodland ontario' label on the left side-bar.

January - veggie chips
February - parsnip, apple and brie soup
March - breakfast ham 'n' cheese egg wrap
April - potato toppers
May - grilled proscuitto and asparagus bundles
June - strawberry cheesecake shake
July - spicy garlic bok choy stir-fry

Field Trip - Springwell Farm, Belmont

Have you been to the Saturday market at Masonville Mall lately? There's a great new vendor there this year - Springwell Farm. Located in Belmont, they've really added a little something to that particular market. I was so impressed that I had to go and pay them a visit.

With my daughter and mother-in-law in tow we went over there yesterday afternoon after work. Although Brian and Elaine have been living on the farm and gardening for years this year was their first attempt at a large garden and selling their stuff at the market. They didn't just stop there either, they went all out and started doing weekly CSA baskets as well. I think they've had a successful first year - they've got me hooked.

What's great about their table at the market is that they sell many items that other vendors don't. They don't just grow your typical peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.. They have had ground cherries, swiss chard, candy cane beets, herbs, many varieties of heritage tomatoes, eggplant, kale, edemame, garlic, etc.. Coming soon, they'll have brussel sprouts, fennel and they're even growing popping corn for popcorn. Next year, there are plans for even more!

The farm is completely organic. The field on which the garden is on was never used for gardening before so has never had any pesticides or sprays applied to it. Everything is composted and then used for the soil; it's a no waste farm. To reduce pests and attract bees for pollinating there are plenty of flowers, marigolds and sunflowers all around. They make the garden look pretty too :-)

Here's one view of the garden - lots of greenery! Although the season is coming to an end for many items the've reassured me that there is still a good amount to come. Brian, who has been retired for 11 years is a master gardener and is teaching everything he knows to his daughters, Cheri and Tracy who are absorbing as much information as they can so that they can be involved and continue the business in the years to come.

In the house, I got a look at what they were preparing for today's market. Just look at this garlic - it's only half of what they had. Some people say Ontario garlic is hard to find. I don't think so; I think more and more people are growing them. Mmmmm...garlic.....

This picture will make your mouth water. Just look at all of the color! Fridays are their 'working day' which means that they were busy picking all of this yummy goodness for the market today. It's amazing to see it all in one place like that. Right now they're selling hot peppers, tomatoes, peppers, beans, ground cherries, edamame, and more.



Isn't it great to see new farmers coming into the business? They weren't around last year and now this year, here they are. And look at what they've had to offer! I wish them luck for another successful year next year.

Homemade Canned Peaches

Kids love those little tins of fruit cocktails and diced peaches/pears at the grocery store. As a result, they tend to be pretty popular in kids' lunch boxes at school. Have you seen the ingredients though? The tins of 'no sugar' added diced peaches include peaches, water, ascorbic acid, natural flavour, sucralose, and citric acid. Hello! Sucralose is still sugar...actually, it's worse than sugar, it's an artificial sweetener. And why do they have to add natural flavour? If they were using good quality peaches I'm sure the peaches wouldn't need any additional flavouring, correct?

Anyways, in true Dallas fashion, I make my own canned peaches. I've been doing them for the last couple of years and haven't looked back. How could I go wrong when I'm preserving the great taste of Ontario peaches?

Last weekend I bought a case (yes, a case) of peaches for $15.00! It was so hard to wait for the right time to buy the peaches. I originally wanted to can them when I was on holidays but was told to wait another week for the best peaches and the best price. He was right! I'm so happy I waited! I had to wait a little longer still though. I bought them on Friday and had to let them sit on my counter in the box until Tuesday to let them ripen further. This, my friends, is the secret to making the canning process much simpler. The riper they are, the more easily the skin will peel off. It's all about patience!

The next secret to simple canning is being prepared. Prepare your station - sanitize your jars ahead of time, get your pots boiling, set out the bowls and tools out, and make sure you've got some ice cubes ready in the freezer.

A second set of hands helps too. My mother-in-law has been visiting this week and spending time with the little one while I'm at work so I took advantage and put her to work.

The whole process is very simple once you know what you're doing.

1. Sanitize your lids and jars by boiling them or using the 'sanitize' option on your dishwasher
2. Start boiling water in your canning pot (it takes mine about 20 minutes to come to a boil)
3. Start boiling water in another large pot that you'll be using to blanch the peaches
4. Make a simple syrup - mine is about 1-2 cups of sugar or honey to 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then bring it down to a simmer
5. To blanch the peaches, mark the bottom of the peaches with an X using a knife and drop them a few at a time into boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Remove them and halt the cooking process by putting them into a bowl of cold ice water
6. Peel the skin from the peaches. If the peaches are perfectly ripe and were boiled properly then the skins should peel right off
7. Dice the peaches and put them into the jars
8. Fill the jars with simple syrup, leaving 1/2 to 1 inch of headspace
9. Wipe the rims clean and put the lids on
10. Process the jars in the hot water bath for 15 - 20 minutes
11. Once complete, leave the jars to rest for 24 hours before storing.

It sounds like a lot, but believe it or not we managed to get through all of the peaches and completed 17 cans of peaches in one hour! Don't they look pretty? More importantly, don't you think these will taste delicious when we're in the midst of the winter season?

Gooseberry/Ground Cherry Crumble

Don't you love it when you find a great recipe and upon looking at the list of ingredients you realize that you actually have everything needed to make it? I was perusing my July 2011 Clean Eating magazine the other day and saw a recipe for a gooseberry crumble. Normally I wouldn't happen to have gooseberries sitting in my fridge, but yup...had some sitting there.

So last night I decided to make the crumble for dessert and instead of pairing the gooseberries with the peaches as suggested I used the rest of my ground cherries that hadn't yet been eaten. I love making crumbles/crisps when my fruits are getting a little too ripe for comfort. It's a great way to prevent fruits from being tossed into the trash. There was a time (many years ago) when I would actually be tossing out moldy strawberries and even apples. What was I thinking?? For one, I apparently wasn't eating enough fruit in my diet, and two, I wasn't planning ahead or thinking outside the box.

Another easy solution to using up fruit is to make a quick jar of jam or a fruit sauce/syrup to be used on pancakes or as an ice cream topping.

Gooseberry Crumble
(adapted from Clean Eating Magazine - July 2011)

• 2-3 cups gooseberries and ground cherries
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp melted butter

Line the bottom of a 8x8 inch dish with the fruit.

In a medium bowl, combine pecans, flour, oats, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add syrup, vanilla and butter and mix until a crumble is formed.

Sprinkle mixture evenly over fruit and bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, until topping turns golden brown and edges start bubbling.

To serve, top with a dollop of yogurt and a drizzling of maple syrup or honey.

Yum!!

What do you do with your fruit when it's getting past its prime?

Field Trip: Clovermead Apiaries & Berry Hill Fruit Farms

Wow...another week of holidays has come and gone. I really thought that I would get to this post earlier but I have been so busy these days. It just seems that the week passed by so quickly. Can you believe that there's only two more weeks before school starts up again? Crazy, isn't it?!

Anyways, at least I was busy doing the things that I love to do the most - cooking, hanging out with friends and visiting different farms and markets. On Monday, for instance, we visited Clovermead Apiaries and the Berry Hill Fruit Farms' stand just north of Aylmer.

I've mentioned Clovermead a few times on this blog but haven't really done a proper post about them specifically. We got there ALL.THE.TIME. Our favorite beach to visit is the Port Burwell Conservation Area (south-east of Aylmer) so we usually make a stop there on our way back home to buy some honey. If you have the chance to visit you must try the different flavours that they have; they have maple, blueberry, lemon, ginger, lavender, root beer, cinnamon, strawberry, etc.. My personal favorite is maple.

Make sure to bring an empty jar with you - they have jars of regular honey for purchase but they also do re-fills on their liquid honey. Unfortunately, I always forget to bring a jar with me...

They don't just sell honey though; they also have many different types of preserves, many great jams, some teas, fudge, maple syrup, etc..

On this trip, I brought a friend along and her daughter to visit the adventure farm out back. I had brought my daughter a few years ago when she was 3 but we were never able to find the time to do it again. They've been hard at work these last few years, that's foresure! Lots of new things to see and do!

The girls loved hanging out in the old 'village', feeding the goats, bunnies, and chickens, playing in the sandbox and going down the slides. They rode the wild bee, climbed hay bales and had fun with the carts and tricycles. Did you know that they also have a zip-line now? Our girls weren't interested and I was too scared to try it but there's always next time. They did play on the rope swings though.

The highlight of their farm adventure, however, was the bee ride. They were just dying to go on it. Thankfully, one of the workers came and did a few rounds at one point. There were lots of laughs and giggles while they enjoyed their trip around the playground.

Once we left with our honey and our girls in tow we thought it would be nice to visit the Berry Hill Fruit Farms' stand just around the corner on Glencolin Line. You can just tell that we're well into August now. Everything is pretty well in season right now - peaches, plums, strawberries, blueberries, watermelons, canteloupes, corn, beans, etc.. 

Funny, as I'm typing this I have the Staples jingle/Christmas song in my head 'It's the most wonderful time of the year....' It's so true though.

I bought some plums and my friend decided on....hmmmm...can't remember what she bought actually. Oh well, we both left happy anyways.

The girls were happy too. There were a couple of dogs there and they absolutely loved watching them eat corn right off the cob. That really made their day; it doesn't take much to make them happy sometimes.

Overall we had a pretty terrific day. The weather was beautiful, the girls had fun, we brought some fruit and some honey home... Sigh...it's going to be really hard to go back to work on Monday!

Have you tried Ground Cherries? Or Candy Cane Beets?

Look at the picture below. Do you know what these are?

They're ground cherries.

I was at the market last weekend and noticed that a few vendors were selling them. I had no idea what they were so one of the farmers let me have a sample. From my perspective the taste is a cross between a red grape and a tomato. Others have said that they can taste a little bit of pineapple or strawberry but I didn't get that at all. Although they are related to the tomatillo, they are actually a fruit. What makes them so cool is that they have paper lantern husks that need to be peeled away. Many high-end restaurants love using them because they just look really nice on the plate when they're partly peeled. Since bringing them home I've just been eating them raw but they would also do well in a salad, in a dessert (tarts, pies), dried, poached, or in a jam. In fact, I came across a recipe online for a ground cherry/pear marmalade. It sounded pretty interesting..

Every year I make an effort to try something new when I visit the market; it's a great place to try new foods. It's rare for a traditional grocery store to offer something like ground cherries or different varieties of watermelon or canteloupe, or meats like bison or elk. Actually, something else I tried recently were candy cane beets.

I had heard about them before but hadn't had a chance to try them. They're called 'candy cane' beets because when you cut them in half they have white and pink stripes inside. I think they are a great alternative to traditional beets. They taste like regular beets (but sweeter) but they're so much easier to work with. For one, they don't stain your hands (or your cutting board) and they don't turn the rest of your dish pink. One thing to note, however, is that once cooked, they lose the stripes so don't expect them to look pretty afterwards. I ate mine raw in a lovely coleslaw.

Have you tried any new foods this year?

How to Preserve Corn for the Winter

There aren't too many summer vegetables that I preserve for the winter months. I tend to focus on fruits instead. In Ontario, the only fruit available from December to April is the apple. Eating apples for months on end would (1) cause me to go crazy, and (2) wouldn't give me optimal health; a diet needs variety. To preserve fruits for the winter months I freeze them, can them, and make jam with them.

Vegetables, on the other hand, are plentiful year round and are versatile so they can be used in an endless amount of dishes. Plus, they don't typically freeze well,and because I don't own a pressure canner I can't can most vegetables (vegetables, with the exception of tomato and pickles can't be preserved with boiling method due to low acidity). Corn and peas are the exception for me. These guys freeze really well.

The only thing to remember when freezing vegetables is that they need to be 'blanched' beforehand. Blanching is the process of boiling vegetables for 2-3 minutes and then plunging them in a cold bath (bowl of cold water and ice) to stall the cooking process. Blanching is important because it neutralizes bacteria and enzymes in the food which would otherwise cause it to go bad. It also ensures that the food remains crisp, flavorful and colorful in the freezer.

Side note: blanching is also the best way of removing the peel from tomatoes and peaches. Put an X on the bottom of the fruit with a knife, boil for 3 minutes, move them to a cold bath and the peeling will become easy to remove.

I was able to freeze a lot of peas a few weeks ago when they were in season. The last week or so, however, has been corn. Corn has had its difficulties this year. First, there was the never-ending rain of April and May which resulted in the corn being planted reeeeaaallllyyyy late, and then July was really hot, sunny, and there was no rain in sight. If you've had a chance to drive through the country you'll see that the corn fields look terrible compared to past years. Some are tall, some are short, there are bare spots, and the corn just isn't what it should be. The kernels are small and the cobs are rather thin. Let's hope the farmers have better luck next year...

Once the corn has been blanched you can freeze them still on the cob, or you can cut the kernels off with a knife. I tend to cut them off myself. Once the kernels are removed, spread them out on a baking sheet and put the whole sheet into the freezer. When they're frozen use a spatula and place them into a Ziploc bag. That's about it...now you've got a stock of corn for the winter. Each 1/2 dozen will fill a medium-sized bag.

While I was shucking the corn I had a craving for corn bread so I put one of the stalks aside and made some for dinner. Here's the recipe:

Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread

• 1 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (I used Thornloe Salsa Cheddar)
• 3/4 - 1 cup corn (about 1 cob)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped finely
• 1/2 orange or red pepper, chopped finely

Instructions are as expected - mix the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Combine the two together and pour into a greased 9-inch pan.

Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes.

Do you freeze any vegetables for the winter?

Homemade Condiments Part 3 - Relish

I've been slacking on the homemade condiments lately. Back in February I made mayonnaise and in March I made some ketchup. It's August now and I'm just now thinking about condiments again. This time it's all about the homemade relish.

Relish was on the top of my summer to-do list this year; specifically zucchini relish. We don't typically go through a ton of relish in my house but after making my own, I think we're going to be eating it a lot more.

Zucchini Relish (from Canadian Living website)

• 3 lbs zucchini cut into 1-inch chunks (about 3 large zucchinis - my husband weighed himself with the zucchini and then without to see how much we had)
• 3 onions, chopped (I used red onions)
• 2 red peppers, diced
• 1/4 cup pickling salt
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tbsp water

In a food processor pulse zucchini a few pieces at a time until they are itty bitty pieces. I used my Vitamix and put the setting at variable 1 to 3. The onions and peppers were put through the food processor, however, because the Vitamix would have pureed them rather than simply chopping them. Combine the zucchini, onion and red pepper pieces together in a large bowl and stir in the pickling salt. Let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Drain well; rinse and drain again, pressing out the moisture.

In a large pan, combine sugar, vinegar, mustard, ginger, turmeric and hot pepper flakes. Bring it to a boil. Add drained vegetables; reduce heat and simmer, stirring often until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Mix corn starch and water and stir into relish; simmer, stirring until it thickens, about 5 minutes.

Pack the mixture into 4 2-cup (500 ml) sanitized canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles, wipe rims and cover with lids. Boil in boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

All I have to say is 'Wow!' Is this relish ever good! I can't wait to have sausage or a burger so that I can smother it with this relish. I'm never buying store-bought relish ever again!

My First Beer

I have a confession to make. I am 32 years old and until this past Friday I had never had a beer...EVER.. It's not just beer though; there are many types of drinks that I just don't care to have. In fact, something else that I don't drink is pop. There is a picture of me (I may have been 5 or so) drinking a grape crush with my brother at the kitchen table so I know that I did have some at one time. I also remember having the yucky orange pop with my Happy Meal at Mcdonald's; anybody else remember that orange pop? LOL I hated the darn stuff. I wonder why my parents didn't just get me milk instead? Maybe it just wasn't an option.

Anyways, I never acquired a taste for it so I just don't drink it. I hate anything carbonated actually...or anything that has a strong taste, including coffee and juice. I tend to drink fruit smoothies and lots and lots of water. That's about it. In terms of alcoholic beverages I typically choose 'girly' drinks like pina coladas, kahlua and milk or a nice wine; and one is usually enough for me.

On Friday, however, my husband and I went on a rare evening out and decided to try out Gambrinus Bistro, which is located in downtown London right next to the Covent Garden Market. We weren't able to get out to enjoy Londonlicious in July but this particular restaurant had extended their special $25 3-course meal an additional week. Gambrinus Bistro is known for its beer selection; in fact, they have seventeen draughts which feature Ontario craft beers, seasonal one-offs, imported draughts, and over 130 different varieties of bottled beers.

With all that beer I came to the conclusion that if I was going to be eating a meal there, I should probably make an attempt at drinking beer. After some thought and perusing the menu for Ontario beer, I chose a bottle from the Mill St. Brewery in Toronto. So...I drank it....okay, I drank half of it. I didn't like it. I don't think I'll be drinking any beer in the future. Oh well...I tried it at least. I'll stick to my usual glass of water from now on.

So what else did we have? Well, we started our meal with the soup of the day which was a  vegetable and spinach soup. It was tasty.

For the second course, I had the Chicken Supreme which was chicken stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and goat cheese served with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a beer mustard sauce. My husband's dish was the Seared Tilapia which was served with a Thai curry sauce, saffron basmati rice and seasonal vegetables. We both enjoyed our entrees.

Our third course, dessert, was a bit of a let-down unfortunately. My husband chose the chocolate cake and I had the creme brulee. The cake was fine; nothing exceptional but it was good nonetheless. My creme brulee, however, did not have the traditional crisp top and was actually liquidy when it came to the table. Strangely, when I spooned some of it up it pretty much candied immediately and was actually really hard for me to chew and the custard itself was separated, lumpy and flavorless. I was sad about it...

So that was our evening out. I tried a beer (finally), we ate some food, and then we went home.

Conclusion: I don't like beer, I'd rather have water, and there IS such a thing as a bad dessert.

Zucchini Spaghetti

I think zucchini is one of the most versatile vegetables there is. The options are endless with them; you can roast them, bbq them, fry them, shred them, pickle them, bake them, and they're good raw or cooked.

Here are a just a few hints/tips/recipes to get you started:

Roasted: In a bowl, stir together the zucchini, some olive oil, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and salt/pepper. Bake in oven at 450F until tender.

BBQ/Grilled: Slice the zucchini lengthwise and brush the slices with olive oil. Season with your favorite herbs/spices. Grill until zucchini is tender.

Fried: Fritters are a great way to use zucchini - here's a great zucchini fritter recipe from another blog that I follow - Folks Gotta Eat

Shredded: I love shredding my zucchini and adding them to my mashed potatoes, into a spaghetti sauce, or in an omelette. Again, so many uses for shredded zucchini and a great opportunity to increase the nutritonal content of any dish by adding it in.

Pickled: Making relish is another way to use the zucchini. Stay tuned for a future recipe on this one! I'm going to be making some myself in the next week or two..

Baked: I think this is everyone's most popular use for zucchini - making a nice loaf of zucchini bread. Last year, I made Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Recently, however, I tried my hand at using them in the place of traditional pasta. Using my spiraler I made some zucchini spaghetti noodles. I used both green and yellow zucchini.

In the meantime, in a frying pan I cooked down some diced onions, diced red peppers, and finely diced carrots. Once the vegetables had softened I added the zucchini noodles and my tomato sauce and heated until warm. To serve, I seasoned with salt and pepper and shredded some cheese on top.

This is a dish that I will make again and again. You don't miss the pasta and even my daughter was fooled...well, partially fooled...she avoided eating the green pasta noodles because she knew that it was zucchini (she hates zucchini). She did, however, eat the yellow noodles... Sigh....if only she knew...

I think that zucchini noodles would taste great with a pesto or a cream sauce too. And in case you're wondering (cause I know you are!), they don't get mushy. They hold their shape well and have the same consistency as traditional pasta.

What's your favorite zucchini dish?

Food Day Canada Celebrations for my 2-Year Anniversary

Two years ago I started this blog. I'm not really sure where the idea came from initially but it was really a spontaneous decision. I had just started shopping at the farmers markets and was feeling really good about the foods I was purchasing and was interested about finding farms to visit and picking my own fruits/vegetables. One day the family and I had gone to Port Burwell for a day at the beach and on the way back we noticed that there was a home selling garlic at the end of their driveway. We stopped and bought a few heads of garlic. On the drive back home I started thinking...what if I started a blog and could write about different places/farms/markets that I visit to encourage others to do the same? What if I then blogged about recipes using local/seasonal foods that I buy from the farmers?

Well, here we are two years later....and the blog has become much, much more than I ever thought it would be. I've met so many new and interesting people and have been given so many great opportunities. To date I've accumulated 48 direct followers, 99 likes on Facebook, 560 followers on Twitter, and roughly 2300 monthly views. So many people have told me that they've started going to the markets after reading my blog, or going to the farm to pick their own strawberries or cherries; heck, I've even converted a bunch of people from margarine to butter! This has been the most satisfying thing of all - inspiring people to change their habits and to think about where their food is coming from.

To celebrate, we went out to the Food Day Canada All-Local BBQ at the Covent Garden Market on Saturday. Food Day Canada is a yearly event held at different locations throughout the country to encourage people to support agriculture and farmers in Canada. The Covent Garden Market is one of those locations.

This years menu included:

• your choice of a Blanbrook Bison burger, Renecker Elk bratwurst, Fieldgate Organic chicken burger or Eco-Logic marinated portabello burger all served on International Bakery's whole wheat buns
• Dolway Organic garden green bean salad
• Empire Valley garlicky grape tomato salad
• Joyce Farms and Corn Crib corn on the cob
• Purple Hill Farm water buffalo milk ice cream with Blueberry Hill blueberries
• Made-From-Scratch lavender shortbread cookie
• The Tea Haus fruit explosion iced tea

There were lots of people at the event and everyone I spoke to were very impressed with the BBQ and about its price - $5.00!! Can't beat that!

The Tea Haus provided the Fruit Explosion Iced Tea. Located upstairs at the market, they have over 200 blends of loose leaf teas. I haven't been to their store yet, but will have to go and check them out soon.

For dessert, the water buffalo milk ice cream was a hit. We had sampled some at the farmers' market the previous Saturday and were excited to be able to have some again. It tastes similar to cow's ice cream except creamier. It's super yummy! Come to the market and check them out.

Here's a picture of my husband's plate. He had the elk bratwurst, along with my parents and my daughter. I was the only one who chose something different. I tried the chicken burger. Everyone was pleased with their meal.

Not surprisingly, my daughter's favorite part of the meal was the ice cream and cookie. She also liked the sausage and corn but only after we cut everything up into pieces for her. Both of her top teeth are extremely loose right now which has been making it hard for her to enjoy corn this year. Oh well...at least it's easy to cut the corn off the cob and have her eat it with a fork. I can't wait for those darn teeth to come out though!!

Overall, we had a great day at the market and a delicious lunch too. What a great way to celebrate another successful year with the blog. I celebrated my one-year anniversary the same way last year. Check out that post here

I wonder what the next year will bring? Anything that you'd like to see?

You'd think that after two years of blogging that I'd run out of things to write about??!! No such luck,....the list keeps growing and growing. It's amazing what Ontario has to offer - it's endless!! Just think, I haven't even talked about fish yet, or visited a peanut farm, or even a winery. Did you know that there's someone producing Ontario vodka? Or that there are salt mines in Ontario (Windsor Salt is actually from Windsor LOL)? As you can see,...still lots to explore!!

Stay Tuned!! And remember - Eat Fresh, Eat Local, Eat Real Food!!