A Trip to the Farmers' Market

Hi, my name is Lori and I am addicted to Farmers' Markets....whew....that is a load off!  Hubby knows me a little too well so Saturday morning when he was still snoozing, the words "No worries, I can go to Lac du Bonnet by myself" got him out of bed and dressed so fast, you'd never know it was before 9:00am!  Apparently I am not to be trusted at the farmers' market alone. Even a small scale one such as the Lac du Bonnet market. I tend to get over excited, spend more money than I should on things we don't need.....I like having a 3kg tub of honey to use for baking!!  Now I wonder what would happen if I attempted the St. Norbert Farmers' Market....

 
Produce is finally starting to pop up at the local farmers' markets and I couldn't be happier!  While my garden is doing fairly well, especially the tomato plants which have become too heavy for the cages, I don't have room to plant everything I wanted. On the same note, not everything I planted is thriving.  Luckily we have some amazing markets to help pick up the slack!

Last weekend, the only thing I really wanted from the market was some local honey as I was all out! I found a vendor selling honey and honey products (YES!) They didn't have the 3kg buckets yet but I am happy with my 1kg jar of unpasteurized honey!! ($7.50).  We also purchased a small jar of habanero pepper jelly.  This stuff is sweet with a big kick!

This sounds like the makings of a marinade.....hmmmmm.  I have since used this on both a whole chicken and on chicken pieces!!





Habanero Honey Dijon Marinade

Equal amounts of:

• runny honey
• habanero pepper jelly
• Dijon mustard
• olive oil

So if you use 1 tbsp each of everything, you will have a 1/4 cup of marinade

Mix in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Pour it all into a zip top bag, add your meat (I used chicken for this one and I had no zip top bags so I mixed it in a bowl!)

Pop it into the fridge to rest for at least 4 hours or overnight.
(Alternatively, you can rub this all over a whole chicken and pop it into the oven to roast....make sure to get some of this goodness under the skin as well)

Chicken pieces doused in this marinade grill up perfectly on the BBQ!

Some more sights of the the Lac du Bonnet Farmers' market

Pickles, relishes, mustard....

More fantastic honey products!

Tree saplings

Of course the Car B Cue was there!

 Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Honey Dijon Chicken

So I had a slight panic attack tonight....it all started with an afternoon snack with the Boy.  We noshed on some fabulous garlic sausage (from HMG Meats and Deli), cheese, and pickles....oh those pickles.  The pickles were in a bowl....somehow the bowl wound up upside down on my laptop with pickles and pickle juice all over the keyboard.  Ack!!  The Boy should just be kept away from electronics!! It was a complete accident.  What to do, what to do??  First I turned the power off (I am told to take the battery out but I couldn't get the battery out) then put the keyboard portion in rice.  That's right, rice.

Things seem to be working well.  There was one moment of panic when I first turned it on and every now and then the keys won't move too easily but then a piece of rice pops out.  I am still finding some pieces of rice here and there but all is working!!  Whew!!

FYI, this rice trick also worked when my Blackberry fell in a puddle!!

Tonight's easy peasy dinner involved minimal dishes and the BBQ again!

Honey Dijon Chicken, adapted from Food Network.  You will need:

• Dijon mustard
• Runny honey
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• zip top freezer bag for marinating

First:  In a zip top freezer bag mix equal parts Dijon mustard and honey.  Add some salt and pepper and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Mix it all up and add some chicken pieces, seal up the bag and move everything around so the chicken gets all covered in saucy goodness.

Make a foil pouch and drizzle in some olive oil.  Toss in some veggies.  Tonight I had some baby potatoes so I used those.  You can use carrots, beans, asparagus....whatever you have.   Add a pat of butter for good flavour and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Toss it all on the grill.

I do love a Monday night BBQ....it means I can get my toes in the grass and enjoy some time outside.

It's a new BBQ so I am still learning the hot spots.

Yummy!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!