First day of the Farmer's Market and CSA pickings!

Today was the first day of this year's farmers market.  My friend BW and I look forward to this every week and really miss it when it closes.  We make a morning of it by arriving at the market about 7:30am, shopping and then having a slow breakfast afterwards.  It's a day of new choices as we try to select something new from the market and we like to find new breakfast places each week.

This year BW and I decided to split a CSA membership.  I had purchased a membership last year for $200 and ended up donating $100 to a local orphanage and then letting BW pick up some produce and still ended up with money left over.  This year we've split it and I'm determined to eat all of my share!!

Today I picked up the following (items I've never tried before are marked as new):

1. Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard (new)
2. Pea Shoots (new)
3. Baby Lettuce
4. Carrots
5. Green Onions
6. Snap Pea Leaves (new)
7. Cilantro
8. Peppered Bacon
9. Ham Slices
10. Nice salad mix of arugula, sliced green onions, sliced kumquats, walnuts, blanched almonds, sliced pears and strawberries with a cream cheese pepper filling (new)

I decided to eat the salad mix with a grilled chicken breast for lunch.  It was absolutely delicious!  I'm so glad I picked this up.  The peppered cream cheese filling the strawberries though very sharp was balanced by the sweetness of the pears and the strawberries.  The sliced kumquats were bittersweet and gave the entire salad a nice sharpness.  I cooked two chicken breasts and the salad mix will definitely make another salad and I think I have lunch for Monday now!  One less meal to eat out!