In the Sunday, September 12th edition of the New Albany Tribune there is a ballot for everyone to vote on their favorites. Vote for your favorite Floyd County Businesses, People and Activities. Your votes must be submitted by Friday September 24, 2010. If you didn’t get the paper you can always pick one up at the Tribune office.
You can vote in as many categories as you wish, and there are categories for just about anything and everyone you can think of… from your favorite Antique store to your favorite Fresh Fruit and Veggies. ( I guess you see where this post is going ) Floyd County Reader’s Choice will be announced in a special advertising section on Saturday, October 23, 2010. Vote as often as you like, but only original ballots will be accepted. Ballots can be dropped off at the Tribune or at other various businesses which are advertised on the original ballot.
I think this is a truly unique idea so please take the time to check out this contest. I’m sure our local businesses and people will appreciate you taking a few moments from your day to consider who your favorites will be.
Have fun and enjoy, I look forward to doing a follow up note about this on October 23rd.
Zucchini 500
What an end to a great Going Local Week, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. The rain held off and the people came to enjoy the day. The Farmer’s Market is starting to wind down for the season, but you would have never know that yesterday.
The day started with the kids gathering around to build their “race cars”, each child got to chose their own zucchini to decorate and add wheels to compete in the race. It was so popular that we had to have several different heats before the final race could be ran to award one actual winner.
Watermelon eating contest...dig in!
Then another ever popular event was under way, the watermelon eating contest. The crowd was not as big for this event but those participating had a great time. The picture tells the story.
The grand finale was The Iron Chef competition, four local chefs competed using local farmer’s produce. My favorite chef, Josh Lehman from the Bank Street Brewhouse, has been a regular customer of ours since the Brewhouse opened. Josh visits the market every Wednesday and Saturday to purchase fresh produce for the restaurant (http://www.newalbanian.com/bankstreetbrewhouse.html). He made a salad yesterday with our heirloom tomatoes and fresh watermelon, it was gorgeous. It didn’t win in the appetizer/salad category but his main entree was a winner.
Josh at work, his three prepared dishes (white plates front of picture), and the judges doing their jobs.
The New Albany Tribune had a terrific article today if you didn’t read it, here is the link…http://newsandtribune.com/homepage/x305042110/Iron-Chef-competition-highlights-New-Albany-s-Farmers-Market
Our very own local FOX41 carried a quick video on our Going Local, you can check it out here…http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=13137678
Yesterday was a great day at the market, we’re looking forward to next year’s “Going Local Week”
Tags: Going Local
Trevi Fountain
This is a great recipe I tried when my mom and I went to Rome a few years ago. We got the recipe from a little restaurant we stopped at on the way to the Trevi Fountain (that was a wonderful trip). I brought the recipe home with me because Kenny loves fritters, he is always talking about his mother’s corn fritters and I wanted him to try these. When I fix them we use a variety of different sauces for dipping. Sometimes ranch, sometimes horseradish, honey mustard, sweet and sour, dill, you can use just about and type sauce you choose. They are just as good all by themselves.
Ingredients:
Zucchini Fritters
3 c. coarsely grated zucchini
2 lg. eggs, beaten
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. all purpose flour
1 tbsp. chopped fresh mint or
1 tsp. dried mint leaves
Place zucchini in colander; let drain 1 hour. In a large bowl, with a wire whisk, beat the eggs until they’re frothy. Add remaining ingredients; whisk until blended. Stir in the zucchini, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In large skillet, over medium to high heat, heat 2 tablespoons salad oil. Spoon in fritters batter, using 1 tablespoon butter for each fritter, adding more oil as necessary. Cook 1 minute on each side, until golden brown. Keep warm, covered with aluminum foil, on platter in oven until ready to serve. Makes 6 servings.
Tags: Zucchini
- Poor Man’s Crab Cakes
Ingredients:
2 c. grated zucchini squash
1 c. flavored bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. Old Bay
Mix all ingredients together. Shape into crab cakes or balls for appetizers. Fry until golden brown. These freeze real good.
These are terrific. I have made them several times and they are a proven winner. In fact last year I entered them into a cooking contest and the won. I also make a dipping sauce to go with them, it’s kinda just a trow together thing…a little ketchup, mayo and Old Bay.
Try these they are diffidently worth the time and effort.
Tags: Zucchini
Ten~ Sheila Lukins
I guess Saturday was more than just a good day at the market, it was a lucky day for us too. Early Saturday while Andy Terrell of Destination Booksellers was setting up his book display for the market; Kenny stopped by to see what he was up to, well he saw a book he wanted to purchase. He bought a copy of the 2010 Farmer’s Almanac, with that purchase (like everyone else who purchased that day) he registered for a free cookbook give-a-way. Well to my surprise later that afternoon we got a call from Destinations and we had won. I stopped by today and this is the book we received.
I started looking through the book and boy is it gonna be fun trying her recipes. It has great photos which will make your mouth water. I’ll be sure and share some recipes with you as I begin cooking with her.
If you’re out and about in downtown New Albany be sure and stop by, take a gander through the bookstore, have a cup of tea and check out this hidden gem right here in your own back yard. Destination Booksellers has this book and many more like it that you may wish to add to your personal library. You can also visit them on the web at http://destinationsbooksellers.com/
Thanks Destinations, this book will find a great space among my hundreds of other cookbooks. I have been collecting them since I was in high school…and that’s been a lot of years.
On Saturday we had a welcome sight at the market someone from the Courier Journal was there to do a story on Going Local Week. She talked with several vendors, the assistant market master, Andy, as well as to Susan our market master. After all that… there was a terrific article on the front page of the Indiana edition of the Courier Journal. If you missed the hard copy of the paper you can read it on line here http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010309050063 It was nice to see the market in the paper again. We had some great coverage on our upcoming Going Local Week.
This weekend will be huge with the Going Local activities and the Historic Home Tour happening. Be sure and stop by to get your fresh local fruits and veggies. Here is the line up for Saturday.
The New Albany Farmers Market presents Going Local on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
• 9 a.m. : Registration for Zucchini 500 and watermelon eating competition
• 10 a.m. : Zucchini 500 countdown (ages 5-10)
Watermelon Eating
Zucchini 500
• 10:45 a.m. : Watermelon eating contest (ages 11-100)
• 12:00 p.m. : Iron Chef competition
Tags: Going Local
Jo's Squash Casserole
This recipe was just given to me by my Aunt Jo. The last time she came to the house I sent her home with loads of yellow squash and asked her to give me one of her recipes for using yellow summer squash. I haven’t fixed it yet but she swears it good. It sounds good to me, let me know what you think.
Ingredients:
2 lbs. sliced squash 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup water 2 eggs beaten
2 small onions…diced 1/4 cup Bacon Bits
2 Tbl. butter 1 2 oz. jar pimentos drained
1 cup Ritz cracker crumbs 1/4 tsp salt & pepper
Combine squash & water in saucepan, bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain well and mash, set aside. Sauté onions in butter, combine squash, onions and 3/4 cup Ritz cracker crumbs, cheese and remaining ingredients. Spoon into a lightly greased 2 quart casserole dish, sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Ritz cracker crumbs. Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes.
Tags: Squash
Easy Pesto
This is the easiest pesto recipe I have ever used thought I would pass it on…
- 2 1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup (4 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a blender or food processor chop garlic and pine nuts, add the basil and Parmesan or Romano cheese then showly add olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Makes about 2 cups.
- Fall Display Using Our Antique Apple Boxes
Yesterday was a great day at the market, the weather was perfect and fall was in the air. We had lots of vendors set up and selling their wares and loads of patrons shopping and enjoying the day. It truly is a gathering place for the community, it’s so nice to see familiar faces as well as new ones every week. I especially love looking up and seeing the group of firefighters walking through the market, or the mayor stopping by to say hello and make a purchase. It makes me proud to be a vendor and know that we are all appreciated.
Antique Apple Boxes
If you are a regular at the market I’m sure you noticed the change in our booth this weekend, we have officially changed over to our fall look. I love this time of year and get excited when we bring out our antique apple boxes for our display. They are original boxes used to ship apples accross the country in the 1930’s and 40’s. We were lucky enough to find them some fifteen or so years ago and I finally got to show them off when we started selling at the Farmer’s Market. If you haven’t seen them yet you need to stop by and take a look at them sometime in the next month, they truly are works of art.
- Butternut squash and apples
This is a delicious use of both butternut squash and apples. A family favorite of ours, especially around the holidays. We like using our Mutsu apples which are both crisp and sweet with a little tartness. This is so quick to put together that I enjoy fixing it often and everybody raves over it.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs. butternut squash
- 1/4 c. melted butter
- 1 tbsp. flour
- 4 apples
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. mace
Cut squash in 1/2 inch slices and peel. Peel and core apples and slice as for pie. Arrange squash in a baking dish. Top with apples. Then add the brown sugar, flour, and mace which you have mixed together and the melted butter on top. Cover bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. This recipe fills a 2 quart casserole dish. Serves 8.
Tags: Apples, Butternut Squash
