{houston readers} New Farmer's Market In Town

Fellow Houstonians, there is a new Farmer's Market coming to town and I wanted to share the info I have about it so far.  Highland Village will now have a farmer's market on Saturday mornings from 8 am to 12 pm starting tomorrow, Saturday, October 31.   If you are unfamiliar with the farmers markets in Houston, there are a couple on Saturday mornings and a few during the week, but in my opinion, there is definitely room for more.  Here is a little blurb about the new market!

A permanent covered structure (next to Jos. A Banks and across the street from Escalante’s Mexican Restaurant) will house up to 24 vendors. Seasonal growers will rotate throughout the year bringing the freshest goods of each season to Houston such as blueberries, figs, strawberries and peaches. A baker will bring fresh baked breads, desserts, brownies and pastries that will pair nicely with the organic coffee vendor. One unit will supply free-range beef, lamb, pork, goat, chicken and wild boar while several vendors will have a variety of free-range eggs. A soap maker will provide lotions and handmade goat’s milk soaps.
Unusual and anticipated features at the market include Queen Bee Marshmallows, a vendor selling 20 different varieties of handmade marshmallows, and Texas Wild, a vendor who owns his own shrimp boat bringing peeled and whole shrimp to the market.

Just thought I would share, and maybe I will see some of you there this Saturday (probably not though if you plan on going at 8).

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Tis the season to carve pumpkins and the saying, "One's man trash is another man's treasure," has quite possibly never been more true.  I am sure the majority of pumpkin carvers dig all that pumpkin goo out of the pumpkin, discard, and go on to carving the pumpkin.  Well, those precious little seeds can be quite the tasty snack if you are willing to deal with that pumpkin goo a little bit longer and clean them up. Enjoy.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

Pumpkin seeds, cleaned with all pumpkin pulp discarded

Olive oil

Sea Salt

Step by Step

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  Pat seeds dry.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.

3.  Lightly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

4.  Roast seeds for about 25 minutes until lightly browned.  After 10 minutes of browning, shake pan to toss seeds and make sure are sticking to the pan.

5.  Let cool.  Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Marathon Cookies

I have a new motto... If you can't do something yourself (or not crazy enough to try), bake for those who can.  My boss ran a marathon last weekend and my coworkers and I did our best to support her since we could not fathom doing anything like that ourselves.  I found these little energy cookies at 101 Cookbooks.  If you have not been there, you definitely should go.  Heidi focuses on all natural, healthy cooking and has been doing so for years.  She has a cookbook that is sold at Anthropologie... what a dream.  I saw that she came up with this little cookie (if you can call something that contains kidney beans a cookie) when she was also cheering someone on during a marathon and wanted to give them a few bursts of energy.   So if you find yourself with a marathon runner that you need to give some energy to, try these cookies.  You will not truly appreciate that these cookies are pretty tasty until you take a look at the ingredients list... chopped dates, kidney beans, anise seeds.... but trust me, they are pretty darn good.

Click here for the recipe at 101 Cookbooks.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These cookies really need no introduction.  If you have the love that I do for Reese's peanut butter cups, you are probably not reading this because you have already left for the store to buy the ingredients.  And yes, they are that good.  I put my own little twist on them with the second batch.  I used the new dark chocolate Reese's cups and it's hard to say which one is better.  I loved the dark chocolate ones and they were the favorite among most of the tasters, but Mr. Hungry preferred the ones made with regular Reese's.  So my advice is to try both... you will be glad you did.

• Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
• Adapted from Real Simple, October 2009
• Makes about 24 cookies
• Recipe Notes
• As I mentioned earlier, I made two batches of these.  I made one with regular peanut butter cups, but I used dark chocolate peanut butter cups for the second batch.  Both were delicious.  I have also found a new love for parchment paper.  They have made perfect cookies for me lately, and I have to admit I was notorious for burnt edges in the past.  But if you are one of those master bakers, you might have your own method for perfect cookies.  And in general, everyone's oven can be a little bit different so find what suits you best.  
• Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 12-ounce package small peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped (regular or dark chocolate)

Step by Step

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3.  Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.  

4.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter and the sugar until creamy.

5.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine until creamy.
6.  Gradually add flour mixture until just combined.
7.  Fold in the peanut butter cups.
8.  Using a tablespoon, drop mounds of dough about 2 inches apart. 
9.  Bake until edges become slightly brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
10.  Transfer to a baking rack to cool.

Cranberry & Fig Breakfast Cookie

So I am not silly enough to think that I have enticed all of you with this post, but I do know if you are a lover of figs like I am, you are very interested.  There is not a real fine line with figs... you usually love them or are scared of them, at least in their raw form.  I myself very much look forward to this time of year when figs are in the grocery stores and are reasonably priced.  I found this recipe a long time ago in some sort of health magazine.  They pitched these little breakfast cookies as a great snack or breakfast after a good run or workout.  Now I have to admit I made these for breakfast this week and I have no intention of going on a good long run before I have one.  However, they are a healthier version of one of my favorite muffins.  And back to those of you who are not a fan of figs, I would still encourage you to try this cookie because they are not overly figgy (yes, I said figgy), but the fruit adds great natural sugar.  The bites of sweet fig and tangy cranberry make this cookie such a perfect breakfast treat.

Cranberry & Fig Breakfast Cookie
Recipe Notes
If you cannot find figs, feel free to substitute more cranberries.
Ingredients
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped figs
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unprocessed bran OR old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Step by Step
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir in chopped figs, cranberries and vanilla.
3.  Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  In a separate bowl, combine flours, bran, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice, stirring with a whisk.
4.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring just until moist.  Gently fold in almonds.
5.  Drop a 1/4 cup of batter 4 inches apart on 2 nonstick baking sheets.  Bake in two batches for 12 minutes each or until almost set.  Cool 2 minutes on pans.  Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Can you tell I'm ready for the cold weather?  One day last week, there was about an hour of cool breezes here in Houston and with all this talk of the first days of fall I had to make soup. Sure, the cool breeze had dissipated by the time I had even bought the ingredients from the store, but that didn't stop me.  I simply cranked down the air conditioning and enjoyed this wonderful soup.

Before I had ever made chicken noodle soup, I had quite the misconception that you must slave over the stove all day to produce a great batch.  Quite the contrary with this recipe I adapted from Rachael Ray.   I know she is quite the controversial topic in the food world, but you can't argue with her good recipes such as this one.  I did a little adapting, but have to say I might have already found my favorite chicken noodle soup recipe on the first try! You can put it together very quickly and the addition of the fresh herbs at the end, makes this a hearty yet fresh soup. Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Adapted from Rachel Ray, Food Network

Servings: 4 large bowls, 6 regular bowls

Recipe Notes

If you have not heard me say this before, I am quite the salter.  I will just say I added quite a bit of salt to this and leave it at that.  My suggestion is that you wait till the soup is almost finished and taste and add salt slowly till it is to your taste.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 parsnip, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 bay leaves, fresh or dried

3 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

10 cups good quality chicken stock (2 boxes)
1 pound (the average weight of 1 package) chicken breast tenders, diced
1/2 pound wide egg noodles
A handful fresh parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped

salt and pepper

Step by Step

1.  Place a large pot over moderate heat and add extra-virgin olive oil. 
2.  Work close to the stove and add vegetables to the pot as you chop, in the order they are listed.

3.  Add bay leaves and salt and pepper. 

4.  Add stock to the pot and and raise heat till soup comes to a boil. 

5.  Add diced chicken tenderloins, return soup to a boil, and reduce heat back to moderate. Cook chicken 

two minutes and add noodles. 

6.  Cook soup an additional 6 minutes or until noodles are tender and remove soup from the heat.

7. Stir in parsley and dill, remove bay leaves and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

8. This is a thick soup. Add up to 2 cups of water if you like chicken soup with lots of broth.

Ever seen one of these before?

I hadn't... It's a parsnip.  I was worried I was going to have to search the ends of the earth for what I thought was some fancy schmancy ingredient, but there it was at my local grocery store... amongst all the other produce I buy daily. If for some reason it is not at yours, I wouldn't sweat it... just add an extra carrot.

This went perfectly with mini cheese toasts.