Farmer's Markets

This morning I woke up to the dreary, damp, gray weather that can be common as Fall transitions to Winter in Minnesota and I was reminded of a beautiful Saturday morning that we spent at the Mill City Farmer's Market this Summer.






Unfortunately, this coming weekend marks the end to most of the regular Farmer's Markets in Minnesota. We love attending the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Sunday mornings and I am always saddened by the end of the season.

Here is a glimpse into the wonderful day that we spent as a family at our favorite Farmer's Market.

Kingfield Farmer's Market

Compared to other areas of the country, Minnesota has a relatively short growing season with most crops being available between the months of July and September. During the summer months, we enjoy shopping at local farmer's markets as a family. Fortunately there is an abundance of nearby markets to visit.

This past weekend we felt like visiting a small farmer's market that offers a bunch of organic produce, live music and yummy sustainable eats from a food truck. The Kingfield Farmer's Market is my favorite farmer's market. This week we picked up tomatoes, sweet corn, spaghetti squash, plums and pears.

We also shared watermelon tomato gazpacho and a greek salad from Chef Shack.

Celebrate Eat Local Month

August just so happens to be Eat Local Month. So, in honor of this wonderful occasion Allan and I enjoyed the following delightful salads for supper. Not all of the ingredients were local to MN, but some of the veggies were grown by our friends and in our own backyard.

A yummy summer salad

This salad was a mixture of baby lettuce, japanese cucumber, orange bell pepper, red onion, baby carrots, tomatoes, avocado, grilled chicken breast and long grain brown rice all drizzled with Annie's Lite Raspberry dressing (Maria) and Drew's All Natural Rosemary Balsamic dressing (Allan).

If you enjoyed my What It Means to Eat Clean post from earlier this week, you should check out my guest blog post on Wellness Daily: 5 Simple Ways to Clean Up Your Diet.

Are you participating in the Eat Local Challenge? If so, what fun things have you been eating lately?

Have a fabulous weekend!

What does it mean to eat clean?

I am often asked what I did to lose weight successfully. When I answer that the secret to my body transformation is simply clean eating and vigorous exercise I am greeted by three distinct reactions:

The honest and inquisitive, What exactly is clean eating?

The judgmental and know-it-all, Really? That’s it.

The well-intentioned and interested, I would really like to eat clean, but don’t know how to start. Do you have any advice?

Today I will address the question, What does it mean to eat clean?

Cantaloupe and Blueberries

Clean eating is a thoughtful way of nourishing your body. Our bodies are designed to consume foods that are whole, natural and bursting with nutrients; however, most of us do not consume foods that respect these needs. Clean eating replaces processed, refined, toxic and nutritionally devoid foods with those that are as close to nature as possible. This creates a diet that will transform you into your best self: healthy, vibrant and lean.

By combining natural, whole foods into 5-6 small meals a day, each consisting of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats, clean eating will transform your body into an energetic powerhouse.

Grilled Chicken on Bibb Lettuce topped with Almond Butter

Eating clean is also good for the World. It is a preservationist approach to making smart food choices that respect the land, animals and your health. The core values of clean eating focus on making local, sustainable, eco-friendly choices that minimize waste and conserve resources.

Eating close to nature translates to shopping the outer aisles at the supermarket, especially the produce, bulk bin, dairy and meat departments, visiting farmer’s markets and making contact with local farmers and suppliers using sites like localharvest.org.

Quinoa Mango Salad

The following are some examples of easy swaps that you can make to clean up your diet, please note that this is not a comprehensive list:

Category of food	Conventional choice	Clean choice
Sweetener	Refined, white sugar Corn Syrup High Fructose Corn Syrup Dextrose Artificial Sweeteners (Splenda, Aspartame, etc.) Sugar Alcohols (Xylitol, sorbitol, etc.)	SuCaNat (Sugar Cane Natural) Agave Nectar Raw Honey Maple Syrup Maple Sugar Flakes Dates
Grains/Flour	Enriched White Flour White Rice Flour Unbleached white flour White Rice Quick Cooking Oats Semolina (white) Pasta	Whole Wheat Flour White Whole Wheat Flour Brown Rice Flour Kamut Flour Spelt Flour Brown Rice Wild Rice Rolled Oats Steel Cut Oats Whole Grain Malt O Meal Whole Wheat Pasta Brown Rice Pasta Multi-grain Pasta
Produce	Conventionally Grown Produce	Organic Produce, specifically those you intend to eat the skin of and the “Dirty Dozen”: Apples Cherries Imported Grapes Nectarines Peaches Berries Peppers Celery Spinach Kale Potatoes
Dairy and Eggs	Milk from cows treated with rBST Conventional Cheese Conventional Yogurt Conventional Eggs	Organic Milk Cheese that is free of hormones and antibiotics Organic Yogurt Cage-free or Organic Eggs
Meat	Conventional meat from animals treated with hormones and antibiotics Processed, cured and preserved meats (bacon, hot dogs, brats, deli meat)	Meat from animals not treated with hormones and antibiotics, preferably allowed to roam in their natural environment Uncured meats that do not contain added nitrates, nitrites, preservatives and sodium

In future posts I will explore the topics of how to start eating clean, the importance of reading nutrition labels, and how to shop each grocery store department. Also, check out a previous post that gave you a glimpse into my Simply Clean Fridge.

Summer Cravings

When summer rolls around I crave giant Farmer's Market salads topped with canned tuna.

Romaine and spinach topped with tuna, cucumbers, red peppers 

and Annie's Light Raspberry Vinaigrette

Unfortunately due to the mercury content, I cannot enjoy tuna every day. So, some days I swap out the tuna for canned wild caught salmon, grilled chicken, hummus or slivered almonds. Other days I simply accompany my salad with a vanilla or chocolate whey protein shake.

Kale massaged with 1/2 avocado, EVOO, sea salt and lemon juice 

topped with baby carrots, cucumbers, red peppers, salmon and balsamic vinegar

Which summer foods do you crave?

Cool Cucumber Salad

The Farmer's Markets in our area are finally in full swing! Our growing season is significantly shorter than what many of you may experience where you live because I live in the Northern part of the midwest. During the spring months the farmer's markets are filled with produce from Central America (think pineapples, mango, etc.) then as the local crops mature the foreign produce is swapped out for genuine MN delights like lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, beans, and my favorite: cucumbers.

When I see the first of these refreshing beauties I instantly think of the "refrigerator pickles" from my childhood. My family always enjoyed both a creamy and a simple vinegar version of these refreshingly Cool Cucumber Salads. Now, I am not referring to the cute little Kirby cucumbers that many of you use for canning and pickling or the delightful English cucumber. No... no... no... I am talking about the large, bright green, water-filled gems known as the North American slicing cucumber. 

At last week's farmer's market I picked up a few perfectly shaped cucumbers and made this quick, simple and clean version of the refrigerator pickles from my childhood.

Cool Cucumber Salad (aka Refrigerator Pickles)

1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tsp sucanat
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
2 cucumbers, skin on and very thinly sliced
1 small white onion, thinly sliced

In a large bowl with a tight fitting lid, combine vinegar, sucanat, sea salt and dill until sucanat and sea salt are dissolved.

Add cucumbers and white onion to the bowl and stir to evenly distribute cucumber and onion. Secure the lid onto the bowl and shake vigorously.

Chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours before serving. Enjoy!

For a creamy version of this recipe reduce white vinegar to 1/3 cup and add 3/4 cup plain nonfat or lowfat greek yogurt to the dressing before adding the cucumbers and onion.

Spring Fever: Spring Has Sprung!

The Minnesota winters are so long (Oct-Mar) that by the time April rolls around and the weather starts to get nice (50°-60° daily highs), I long for fresh farmer's market produce, perfectly grilled meats, blooming flowers, green grass, trees with leaves, and warm, sunny summer evenings biking with Allan. It's days like today that bring me back to reality. In typical Minnesota Spring fashion, it is rainy and 53°. Quite a shock from the above average sunny weather that we have been experiencing lately - one day last week it topped out above 80°!

As many of my longtime followers know, one of my favorite pastimes is biking with Allan. We spent a fair amount of last Spring and Summer on our bikes. Since most morning lows have been in the 40°s, Allan has begun commuting by bike to work, which made me yearn to feel the wind on my face. However, being the cautionary pregnant mama that I am, I figured it would be best to ask before riding down the parkway with AP. At my last midwife appointment, I was told that even though I could physically handle biking, it was probably not a good idea because if something happened and I fell off of the bike or hit my pregnant belly on the handlebars it could do some pretty significant damage to my little one. So, the Trek Lime will just have to wait until June to come out of storage.

One of the other Spring activities that I get really excited about is the annual Spring opening of the many local Farmer's Markets. My favorite Farmer's Market, the Eagan Market Fest, does not open until June; however, there are several Farmer's Markets that open the first week of May with cold-weather crops like asparagus, onions, spinach and rhubarb. A handful of the Farmer's Markets do stay open all year long offering local artisan creations, honey, maple syrup, and meats; and if I get antsy enough, we may visit one of these in April - just for fun. However, I love the Farmer's Market for the produce and flowers, most of which will not be available until May.

Here is a glimpse into the MN growing season, compliments of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Minnesota Grown website:

As the weather gets nicer, which Spring activities do you look forward to the most? Have you been able to indulge your Spring fever yet?