Maria's Market

Now that things are more settled inside my new home, I have begun looking more carefully at my surroundings outside. I've had some good finds, but also some disappointments. Finding new grocery stores (easy, peasy), new malls (a partial fail here: you really can't beat Town Center in Boca Raton and the drive is worth it), finding new locations for my old favorites (like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, which I thought I'd have to drive more than 45 minutes back to visit my old stores, only to find both 15 minutes away, newer too.), searching for good restaurants in the neighborhood (unfortunately, there are none. Boo, hiss!), but as if to make up for that: the discovery of a wonderful farmers market chock full of fresh fruits and vegetables....... only 5 minutes away! The green market I frequented before was open only on Saturdays, but this market is open every day, year round and trust me, a different kettle of fish entirely.

Now I was told when someone heard where I was moving to look for Maria's Market. They referred to it as Maria's Barn because it's red but I nearly missed it as the market really isn't very red (although there IS a red house next door, where I imagine the owners live), but if there was a barn, I didn't see it. Never mind, after my first visit, I was totally hooked.

So today, I'm going to take you on a pictorial journey of Maria's. You'll see barrels of beans, rice in bulk....veggies and fruits you've never heard of (and we had to ask), a fabulous display of herbs and every kind of pepper and banana known to man! I also don't think I've ever seen so many different kinds, colors and shapes of eggplant. Outside in front, melons, and in the back, citrus, apples and pineapples. There was a entire room, refrigerated, for veggies and also a refrigerator display in the main room filled with even more veggies; a separate room filled to the brim with all kinds of onions and potatoes. It's a gem of a market (it opened two years ago) and while some of you in bigger cities may be accustomed to markets like this, it's new for me. Look at those two kinds of guavas in the third photo. Guava jam anyone? I think I still have my mother's recipe. She used to pick them on the golf course. :)  
Ya gotta love Florida.
(The photo below on the right is their hydroponic garden.)
Enjoy.

I adore apple bananas!!

Got rice?

(All photos were taken with my iPhone, so not as clear as they could/should be. Sorry about that!)

Meyer Lemon Loves

Happy Easter!

Lemon always seems to be such a spring flavor and color, doesn't it? I thought these bars would be a perfect Easter post. Lemon bar recipes abound but I normally stick with two basics. One is the triple layered version my kids adore that's been around for ages...it has coconut and nuts in it and I remember making it the first cooking class I ever took (a gazillion years ago). Frankly, I'm astounded I've never posted it, but then it's a pretty common recipe. We made an unusual chocolate bar in that class as well, which was one of my first blog posts. When he comes to visit, one of my sons insists the freezer contain bags of each...the coconut/nut bars with lemon glaze and the chocolate bars.

Anyway...back to my second lemon bar of choice, which is the recipe for this post. I'm quite certain it came from the Boston Junior League Cookbook, long missing from my shelf. They were called Lemon Loves and now that I make them with some Meyer lemons, I altered the name just a bit. Meyer lemons are sweeter and more floral than regular lemons so I used half Meyer lemon juice and half regular so that perky, tart flavor is still there. Then I took a closeup of the bar because I wanted you to see this is not your usual lemon bar. It's more like a lemon pie bar. If you're a lemon addict like my sister, you're gonna love these.

Meyer Lemon Loves

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 Tablespoons lemon juice (half Meyer lemon, half regular)
1 lemon, rind only (regular lemon)
pinch salt

Method:
Blend flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press into a well greased and floured 9 by 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Watch closely. Beat eggs until frothy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour onto the crust and bake 20 to 25 minutes more at 350. Dust with powdered sugar, cut into squares (if you don't do it before refrigerating, they're difficult to cut; I'd forgotten, hence the irregularity of my squares below) and then refrigerate.

This charming video was emailed to me by my friend Janie...let's hope spring arrives soon for you in the north.

Asian Fried Rice

During our Air Force years in the 50's, we became friends with a Chinese couple. She taught me lots of quick, easy tricks to cooking Chinese....and this fried rice was one of the recipes. Although I don't know if you can call it a recipe exactly, it's more of a guide. Use what's in your fridge. If you have leftover chicken or shrimp, use it. Ditto with vegetables. I remember she often started with chopped bacon and used the bacon grease to scramble her eggs; she also used onion instead of shallot.....I just prefer the milder taste of shallot. Your choice. Edamame was not available back then (I doubt I even knew what it was), that's been a more recent addition; I always have some in my freezer. This is one of those quick meals that I loved when I was a busy mother, a refrigerator with lots of leftovers and an added bonus: my family was crazy about it.

Asian Fried Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups leftover cooked brown rice (or any rice you have left over)

2 or 3 eggs

1 tablespoon oil for cooking

1 large shallot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced  

6 scallions, chopped (reserve some of the greens for the top) 

1/2 cup shredded carrots 

1/2 cup water chestnuts, sliced 

1 cup ready-to-eat edamame 

2 tablespoons soy sauce

salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Method:

Beat the eggs and scramble them (I used Pam in the pan). If you have a wok, that's perfect, but I do it in a largish frying pan. Remove the cooked eggs from the pan and put aside.

Reheat the pan until hot, add the oil, then the shallots, scallion whites, carrots and garlic. Cook, stirring, for about a minute until soft. Add brown rice and stir for several minutes to heat through. Add your cooked eggs, soy sauce, water chestnuts, scallion greens and edamame, and fry together for a few minutes. Garnish with some scallion greens.  

                                                              ***************************************

Much as I think word verification is annoying AND time consuming for my followers, I've been getting way too much spam (and some of it not very nice). So starting with this post, I'm adding word verification. Sorry everyone!

Update: Susan's comment above suggested turning off the anonymous comments might be enough, so I'll try that first. (Can't read those numbers and letters anyway half the time!)