The meat of the matter.
There are two farmers markets near our home – one on Saturday and another on Sunday. Both offer meat and eggs from ethical farms. After a few visits and a little background research, we decided to join the CSA at North Mountain Pastures. We get a selection of meats that is conveniently delivered to the farmers market once a month. Participation in a CSA typically requires an up-front investment, but we figured out that we are spending about $8 per pound of meat. And wow – is it tasty!
Veggie tales.
We were a bit overwhelmed with our newborn around the time that produce CSAs were getting started, so we didn’t end up joining one. Instead, we’ve been buying some produce at the farmers market and a lot from Whole Foods. There is a large selection of organic produce at WF, but not much of it is local, even during the summer growing season. In fact, I have seen a lot of produce from the same organic farms I used to buy from in California! The main source of local (or at least East Coast) produce is from Lady Moon Farms. I started buying their produce without knowing much about the farm – other than that it is organic. According to their website, Lady Moon was the first farm to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and commit to humane conditions for their farm workers. This is an effort that is dear to my heart (read my post on the topic here), and I am thrilled to be supporting it with my food dollars!
Summer sausage skillet.
This past week, I decided to highlight some of the awesome food from Lady Moon Farms and North Mountain Pastures. However, my husband has been out of town, so it also needed to be something easy!
- 1 lb sausage
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2 medium summer (yellow) squash
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 bunch green onions
- 3 cloves garlic (or garlic powder, to taste)
- 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- Olive oil, as needed
1. Chop the sausage, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Slice the green onions. Mince the garlic. I like to put the zucchini, squash, onions, and garlic into one bowl and the tomatoes in a second bowl. Then I cut up the sausage so I can keep the raw meat away from everything else.
2. In a skillet, cook the sausage over medium heat. If you are using cooked sausage or very lean sausage (like chicken or turkey), you’ll want to add some olive oil to the pat and let it warm up before adding the meat. I use spicy pork sausage and a Teflon pan, so I don’t use any extra oil.
3. Once the sausage is no longer pink (if it started raw) or after a few minutes (if it was cooked), add the zucchini, squash, onions, and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in the tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper. Heat through.
5. Enjoy!
