Farmers market finds

Yesterday was a perfect sunny day at the Austin Farmers Market at the Triangle. Funny enough, I ran into Katie again! I need to start bringing my camera to the market. I saw the first signs of green with a few collards at one of the booths. I am totally over the hump of being frustrated with finding things to cook and actually cooking it. I am someone that for years has said that I hate cooking and I just don’t do it and when I went vegan a couple of years ago I told myself I would cook more and I did. But now I am falling in love with it and I look forward to coming home and putting together whatever I have to make incredibly healthy and surprisingly delicious vegan, local meals. I bought arugula and mushrooms from Animal Farm, butternut squash and okra from Ottmars and tomatoes from Engel Farms (none of these guys have websites but are normal vendors at the Austin market).

Tomatoes are one of my favorite things in the universe. I literally have them tattooed on my arm. I bought some smoked salt a few months ago for one recipe and I always forget about it but remembered I had it last night. I sliced up a couple of tomatoes and sprinkled some pepper and smoked salt on them and let me tell you, if you haven’t tried this stuff, run to your local store that carries bulk salt (I got mine at Whole Foods) and buy some and put it on everything. A little goes a long way and has an extremely strong smokey smell and flavor. I also added it to the sauteed arugula and mushrooms. I first learned about it from reading Isa Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch (which is an insanely awesome vegan cookbook).

Here are some photos from dinner:

Black eyed peas with arugula microgreens and tomatoes with smoked salt

Sauteed arugula with grape tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and smoked salt