Farmers Market Dinner Challenge: May Edition

Ever since I moved to Portland I have been told that I have to go to the Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University. Portland has farmers markets just about everyday of the week during the warmer months, but the granddaddy of them all is on Saturday on the PSU campus. I had lived here nine months and failed to go just about every weekend up until a few weeks ago when I mentally committed myself to going. 

I was overwhelmed by it all. Its very similar to the Dane County Farmers Market in Madison, WI. It has a few more stands, with many of them serving ready-to-eat food due to a lack of restaurants on the PSU campus. I didn't see anyone playing a drum, guitar, or recorder for money. There was also no one inside the market selling something that could not be consumed (minus the honey people selling beeswax candles). 

Note: If you're looking for something crafty, your place to be is the Saturday Market. Or if you're looking for a basket, go out on the sidewalk a hundred feet outside the main entrance of the farmers market grounds. That is where I spotted one man selling all sorts of baskets and I overheard a potential customer asking about where they were from. (I felt as though I should have been looking for Portlandia cameras.) 

My first trip to the PSU Farmers Market I made a critical mistake; I did not go in with a plan. I passed over mountains of beautiful produce and arrived too late to find the legendary Hood strawberries. Rather my friend and I sampled sausages and cheeses, including a vegan smoked gouda (I know for certain now that no matter how many times someone swears it tastes just like cheese, it doesn't). That day I managed to pick up a kielbasa from Olympic Provisions, a well-known sausage producer in Portland, and a cow's milk cheese called Juniper from Ancient Heritage Dairy. You can take a girl out of Sconnie, but you take the Sconnie out of the girl. 

The RD side of me was fairly disappointed with myself after my first trip. Then I swore to myself that next time would be different, next time I would have a plan. This week I had decided I was going to make a farmers market dinner for two for under $50. Many local restaurants boast/ warn you that their menu varies based on what they can find at the farmers market. They then charge you an arm and a leg as a reward for them going out there early, planning a menu, and having a sous chef prepare for you what they felt was the best of the market. Considering it was going to be a typical rainy day in Portland on Saturday, why not try to do it myself?

The market opened at 8:30 and I found myself there about 15 minutes after it opened. It was raining lightly as I made my way to the first booth with Hood strawberries. (I have this quirk where I feel pressured at farmers markets, panic, and buy from the first vendor I see selling what I want.) I ended up paying $4 for a pint of strawberries. I then turned around a saw another vendor selling strawberries for $3. I rationalized that I didn't see one other vendor use the word "Hood" by "strawberry" so I continued to allow myself to think that I did not get ripped off. 

The next stand I stopped at had golden beets. I had maybe had beets three times in my life before coming to Portland. Through my co-workers obsession with all things beet-related (mainly beet martinis, beet infused vodkas, and beet salad), I have come to appreciate them. I had never seen golden beets before and decided to actually talk to the vendor. I learned from him that golden beets are sweeter than red ones and don't stain as much. I also learned that beet greens are much like chard, the only difference is that chard was bred not to bulb like beets so the greens grow faster. I picked up bunch ($3.50) and went on my way. 

I walked along and tried a bourbon chicken liver mousse from Chopped. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, but I didn't want to spend $8 of my dinner fund on it so I moved on. I then spotted a stand selling asparagus and I had an idea of making asparagus soup. This time rather than buying something at the first place I saw it, I went along to see if I could find it somewhere else. I then passed by a hard cider stand offering tastings of their award- winning ciders. I considered stopping, but I wanted to see where I ended up before I bought a beverage to go with dinner.

The next task was finding a protein for dinner. Do I go with fish or meat? If I go with meat, what do I want? There is always chicken, beef, and pork. But what about buffalo, yak, rabbit, lamb or duck? Minus the buffalo and lamb, I have no experience cooking the other game meats so those were out. I tend to eat a lot of chicken and that made me less inclined to purchase it there. I also wasn't really feeling a seafood to go with my beet salad, even though it would have went well with the asparagus soup. I ended up consciously committing myself to beef. 

I walked passed a few stands selling grass-fed/ pastured-raised beef. I finally stopped at Sexton Ranches from Haines, OR. They were advertising tenderloin filets for $20 a pound. I was cautious because the first time I bought a grass fed flank steak at a farmers market it was $20 a pound and the smallest this particular vendor had was 1.5 pounds. I ended up spending $30 on a flank steak and blowing over my half my budget there. This time I was going tell the vendor how much I wanted and see if they could make that happen rather than taking what they handed me.  As it turns out, they only had pieces that were about .3 to .4 pounds. Perfect for me and my budget, I picked up two steaks for about $15.  

Sexton Ranches was also one of the first booths where I was getting the hang of the farmer/ rancher/ vendor- customer interaction. She congratulated me on making out in the rain and how she would not be there herself had she not had to work. Really though, Madison has had farmers markets on 30 degree days. If anyone should be congratulated, it should be those market goers. 

If I was going to be making dinner, I really didn't want to put the effort into making dessert. Why even attempt it when someone else at the market has already mastered that skill? I had this idea to have an apple or pear pie topped with melted smoked gouda. I had tried the smoked gouda, non-vegan, a couple weeks prior. On my way to the cheese stand, I stopped at the Packer Orchards stand to pick up a small apple pie sweetened with pears for $5. I then went to Willamette Valley Cheese to get their smoked gouda for $7. 

I only had a couple things left on my list. Onions and asparagus. I stopped at a near by stand where I found sweet onions for $2.50. I asked the vendors there if they had any asparagus, which they did not. However, the woman recommended I stop at Viridian Farms, which had "the best" asparagus at the market. I made my way to where she directed me and low and behold, that was the first stand I spotted with asparagus. The asparagus was $3.00 per bunch there, the same as most other places.

If you are tracking my costs, so far this meal is $36.00. I did not include the cost of strawberries since I'm not planning on using them for dinner. At this point the dinner menu consists of a beet salad, asparagus soup, and steak. For dessert I have an apple pie topped with smoked gouda. Now what to drink... I know!

I meandered over to the cider stand, where the gentleman there ask if I was now ready to try some cider. (He must have seen me pass by earlier.) I told him about what I was doing for dinner and after asking if he could come over, he had me try a few ciders that he thought would go with the meal. A couple others stopped to try what he had and I was able to taste 6 different offerings from Anthem and Wandering Aegnus Ciders. I ended up selecting the Pear Cider from Anthem. It is usually $6 a bottle (or 2 for $10) at the market, but he gave it to me for $5. I now had a complete meal for a grand total of $41.00. Below you can a see a picture of my purchases. (The honeycrisp apple was also not part of dinner, it was part of my breakfast.) 

The before. 

There were only a couple things I needed to make dinner that I did not get at the farmers market and had around the kitchen. Those items were olive oil, lemon, cashews, carrots, garlic, and ground ginger. These items were for the beet salad and the asparagus soup. Here are the recipes I used for these items. 

Beet Salad

What You Need:

4 Medium Beets

1/4 cup Sweet Onions, sliced

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

1 T Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

Salt and Pepper to taste

What to Do:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Wash the beets and cut the greens and tips off of the beets. In a small pan, put down a sheet of aluminum foil. Place the beets in the center of it and fold up the sides to make a pouch. Roast the beets for about one hour (you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork). Remove the beets from the oven and open the pouch to allow them to cool. 

In a small container whisk together the oil, lemon juice, onion, and ginger.

When the beets are cool enough, peel their skin off. Then slice the beets half, then each half into four pieces. The pieces should be about a 1/2 inch long and 1/4 inch wide. Put the beets in the container with the oil mixture. Salt and pepper the salad to taste. Put a lid on the container and give the container a shake to coat the beets. Place the container in the refrigerator to chill and allow the salad to marinate for at least one hour. 

Asparagus Soup

What You Need:

1 bunch of Asparagus

2 cloves of Garlic

1/4 cup of Sweet Onions, sliced

2 cups of Vegetable Broth, warm (I made my own using 3 cups of water, the woody ends of the asparagus, 2 sweet onions, 1/2 cup of chopped carrots, one cup of sliced beet greens, and salt and pepper to taste.)  

1 T of Raw Cashews

1/2 Lemon, zested

Salt and Pepper to taste

What to Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the asparagus well, cut off the woody ends, and place the trimmed asparagus on a lightly greased pan or a pan lined with parchment paper. Roast the asparagus for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip the asparagus, add the onion and garlic, and roast for another 10 minutes. If the asparagus is thinner, you should be able to roast it in about 5 minutes on each side.  

In a blender, add 1 T of cashews to 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth. Blend until smooth. 

After asparagus is done cooking select a few pieces to use as a garnish. Place the rest of the asparagus on a cutting board and cut it into 2 inch long pieces. Place half of the asparagus in the blender with one cup of the vegetable broth and blend until smooth. Continue this process with the rest of the asparagus, onion, garlic, and vegetable broth. Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Pour the soup into bowls. If the soup seems fibrous, feel free to strain it with a sieve. Top each bowl with about a 1/2 a tablespoon of lemon zest. Serve warm. 

The finished meal minus the pie (it didn't last long enough to be pictured). That steak was as tender as it looks. 

 

                        

Nanner Walnut Pancakes

I had been surviving on eggs (in just about every way, shape and form) for the last few months for breakfast. Needless to say, this past Saturday I was craving a change in my morning routine. This meant one of two things. I could either a.) succumb to Voodoo Doughnuts being my backyard and get a ridiculously topped and injected hunk of pure carbohydrates or b.) experiment in the kitchen.

Fortunately I had an overripe banana and an idea.  (A dangerous combination, but not nearly as dangerous as fried dough.) After a little bit of research I made Nanner Walnut Pancakes. This recipe is super quick and the batter was thick enough that it didn't spread and merge into a cell-undergoing-mitosis shape when I dumped (yes "dumped" and not "poured") it in the skillet. 

What You Need:

The ingredients (I made a half batch, the recipe is for 4- 6 pancakes.)

2 Eggs

2 Egg Whites

2 Bananas, overripe

1/4 cup of Walnuts, chopped

3 Tablespoons of Coconut Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Cooking Spray or Coconut Oil

What To Do:

In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Next mix in the vanilla, egg, and egg whites. (If you want to forgo the egg whites, use 3 whole eggs. If you prefer to cut out the egg yolks, use 6 egg whites.) Stir in the coconut flour and baking powder until slightly lumpy. Last, stir in the walnuts.

In the pan it goes!

Spray a medium skillet with cooking spray. (If cooking spray is not your style, you can also melt a 1/2 Tablespoon of coconut oil for cooking.) Heat the pan over medium heat. Pour/ dump a portion of the batter into the pan. Cook the pancake until the top of it is bubbled and looks "dry." Flip and continue cooking on the other side until the bottom side is browned. Remove from pan and put it on a plate. Continue this process until you are out of batter or made all you care to eat.

Once your plate looks like this, grab a fork and get ready for some nutty, nanner goodness! These pancakes are so moist you don't need butter or syrup (especially if you use coconut oil for cooking them). Added bonus: you won't want to nap after eating them!


   

Toothers

A political battle is brewing. The yard signs are up and campaign commercials are on the airwaves. The battle is pitting neighbor against neighbor. It's not over a controversial candidiate or hot button issue.

It's over water. More specifically, adding fluoride to the water. Opponents to fluoridation have been given the nickname "Toothers" (not to be confused with "Birthers" demanding President Obama's birth certificate).

Fluoride is well-known to help strengthen teeth. It can be found naturally in water, but many water  municipalities add it when it isn't naturally found in the water supply. The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for regulating fluoride in drinking water and has established a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 4 milligrams per Liter. It has been shown that some people who drink water for many years with fluoride above this MCL may experience bone disease and children may be at risk for mottled teeth.

In 2010, the Center for Disease Control reported that 73.9% of the drinking water in the United States was fluoridated. Currently, Portland is the largest city water municipality in which the water is not fluoridated. Last September the City Council unanimously voted to fluoridate the water, but a petition with 22,000 signatures took the measure out of the City Council's hands and onto the May 2014 ballot. The council then decided to fast forward this measure and added it to a special election ballot for this May. (For a more in depth look at the history of this issue, take a look at this piece from the Willamette Weekly.)

I had never heard of a city that didn't fluoridate the water until I had moved here. In fact, I was certain fluoridated water was universal. Then I learned from my dentist that the fight for fluoridation was just getting warmed up.

Many Toothers believe that there are health effects that fluoride can have besides bone disease when it consumed in large amounts. Some of these health concerns include dry skin, low thyroid function, and cold hands and feet. Toothers believe that any amount of fluoride in drinking water is hazardous to one's health.  

Putting this in perspective, our bodies are exposed to hundreds of environmental "hazards" daily. It is difficult to tell exactly what in our environment is going to be the cause of any health issue. This is why many studies that suggest people quit smoking/ lose weight/ reduce alcohol consumption add the line that doing any one of those things "may reduce the risk" of developing this, that, or the other thing. However, doing any of those things does not automatically eliminate the chance of you ever being diagnosed with a disease.

I am not by any means saying that fluoridated water is equal to smoking tobacco products or excessive alcohol consumption, but rather there is a good chance that fluoride is not the sole cause of some (if not all) of the health issues described above.

As far as I am concerned, this is a public health issue. It has been shown that many people in Portland have poor dental health. Some of this is by their own choice, but for many it may be the fact they do not have access to the tools for proper care. It has been brought up by Toothers that more should be invested in education programs promoting dental care. One example of the education approach in action is the campaign to wear seatbelts. When you look at the statistics, however, people are still killed due to being involved in car accidents and not wearing their seatbelt. If the education approach worked, wouldn't this have ended?

This is a picture of tooth decay. In line with the Toothers train of thought, if everyone saw this they would take better care of their teeth. I mean, images work so well for cigarette cessation, right?

This May the voters in Portland have the ability to improve the dental situation of many community members. It is my hope that the voters in Portland do not take this opportunity lightly. In the meantime, I'll be investing in a fluoride mouth rinse.