This answer to this would be yes; yes you can. (Trust me because I have done it.) I know that I have discussed it before, but I am a big fan of Farmers' Markets. The one that I frequented in Berlin this summer was amazingly huge AND only a five minute walk from my house. I also went to Berlin's (in)famous Turkish market once as well. That one was not quite as close to home for me. I had to take a street tram, subway, and walk quite a bit in order to get there. Luckily the unique atmosphere and cheap fruits made up for the trip length.
One problem that I have is that I like to buy too much produce at the market. I don't know what it is about local produce, but it gets me insanely excited. Pictured here is my load from two weeks ago. Yes, I really did buy a large amount of red bell peppers like you see better in the second picture. One booth was having a sale where they sold them by the pound, and, if you bought more than 3 pounds, they were only $2.50 per pound. Not a bad deal at all. Even though I love peppers, I couldn't eat all of those in a week, so I froze them. Peppers freeze surprisingly well, so I stock up in the fall when they are cheap at the market so that I can enjoy them all winter. It is so easy to grab a bag from the freezer and toss a handful or two into a recipe.
With this particular catch, I was also able to get some fresh basil. That huge stalk next to the Mangold, erm chard, was $3. I was worth it because I made a batch of pesto using the recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance. Sooo good. I hadn't enjoyed homemade pesto in a long while.
What did I do with my pesto? Make pizza of course. I love the crust in VwaV so much. I've been making it even healthier recently by substituting 2 of the 3 cups of flour with whole wheat flour. It gives the dough a nice little crunch and makes me feel less guilty when I eat practically half a pizza in one sitting. (This really did happen later in the week when I made the second pizza with the remaining dough. Just in case you were wondering.)
My parents visited me the day after the market, so I put my dad to work making Veganomicon's Cashew Ricotta Tofu. Putting some fresh tomatoes and bell peppers an top, and you have one very satisfying meal. So good that my omnivore parents don't care that their pizza is devoid of cheese, which I consider to be a very good thing.
Coming soon: Gingerbread apple pie because I am going to a dinner/potluck tonight (where sadly, I won't be able to eat most things that others bring), so I decided to make up for it by baking a kick-ass dessert. We'll see how that goes...
7 comments:
Hi Meagan,
Do you chop up the peppers before you freeze them or just freeze them whole? A farm stand near my house is selling them super cheap right now and I would love to stock up but I have no idea how to freeze them.
Hi Zoey,
I chop them up and then spread them out on a piece of paper towel on a cookie sheet. Leave them in overnight, and then you can bag them the next day. I cut up two different sizes, regular chopped and longer strips.
Man that's a freaking lot of Peppers!
But at that price I don't blame you (I had to use a converter - that's 1.65€ - that's a lot of Pepper for 1.65€).
I've frozen them before and they do freeze well if you're gonna use them is sauces, soups, stews etc etc, I wouldn't recommend them in a Salad 'cos they go a bit mushy.
Just read this blog
http://www.kimmykokonut.com/
COOOOL!
you can definitely buy too many vegetables. Sometimes I have to force myself to cook only with what is in the house for a couple days to work through everything so nothing goes bad.
I LOVE pesto on pizza - it's my favorite. I'm actually making pizza tonight, but sadly it will have to be sans pesto since I don't have any basil on hand.
that is a lot of peppers. at first I thought you were taking a picture at the farmers market, not of your haul.
I never thought of freezing them.
I try not to overbuy because I hate having to compost things w/out using them. I used to be very bad about it, I'm much better now.
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