Clean Eating: Hit the Farmers’ Market and Plan a Week of Healthy Meals
A trip to the farmers’ market is all about making a commitment to ourselves to eat the cleanest foods.
After my day of less than clean eating last Saturday, I got right back into action on Sunday afternoon when I visited by local farmers’ market, City Seed. I love planning meals based on what’s fresh and available and strikes my fancy, instead of solely based on what I think I should make. Plus it feels like a little burst of inspiration when I see some appealing fruits and veggies yet I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with them. It puts some adventure into prepping and eating that too often we overlook.
Check out the video and you’ll get a feel for what’s inspiring me this week. Even though I had a few ideas beforehand, they changed somewhat based on what I saw at the market.
In a nutshell, here’s a window into some of what we’re eating this week — bear in mind that I’m a big fan of cooking once to eat at least twice. Everything is fresh, all-natural, mostly organic and locally grown. And because it’s so warm out, I’ve chosen meals that need minimal prep and cooking time, if any at all. Even better, everything I’ve made this week is wheat and gluten-free, a big plus for me.
Here’s what we’re eating:
- Fish tacos with mango salsa
- Curried chicken salad with an orange-yogurt dressing
- Black bean and brown rice salad
- Basil pesto over brown rice pasta
- Tomato and cucumber salad
- Fresh greens for salad with lunch and dinner
- Blueberries for morning smoothies
- Swiss chard and kale for juicing
How to you plan weekly meals that focus on clean eating and locally grown food? What have you done in the last week to get more fresh food into your diet?
Filed under: Farmers' market, Healthy Meals, Locally Grown Food, Meal Planning, clean eating
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Wonderful ideas! I’ll add kale to my smoothie tomorrow. I recommend freezing chunks of summer squash or zucchini to blend in a smoothie for a wonderful “ice cream texture”.
If eating lots of veggies pushes food through your system too fast, try cooking up some applesauce with agar flakes or powder – about 1+ teaspoon per cup, or a bit more. Agar, unlike gelatin, remains firm even at body temperature, making it a great “normalizer”.
I love this video! I’ve become a huge fan of my local farmer’s market. Just love coming away with sacks of things and menus swirling in my head. And the idea of supporting the local economy. This week, spurred on my a colleague who is challenging herself to cook completely from scratch for a year, I made my own salsa with only ingredients I bought at the farmer’s market or made from scratch (except for the spices.) Thank you, Wendy, for all of your work to get the message out there! (And do you juice the kale or just add chopped kale to your smoothies?)
Readers, you may also check out the Farmer’s Market in East Rock, New Haven this Saturday, August 15 10am-2pm.
Located on State Street next to Chestnut Foods, yum!
Love the tomato and cucumber salad. I like to skin the cucumbers (better for digestion). Then I like to add white balsamic vinegar, fresh parsely, EVOO, a dash of cracked pepper and sea salt.
Thanks for the healthy inspiration, Wendy! Happy cooking!
Best,
Renee
Alison, I love your idea of putting frozen squash in a smoothie, nice way to get in some more veggies! And love your idea of the agar and applesauce.
Laurie, good for you making your own salsa this week. Yum! I added chopped kale (I like lacinato the best) to the smoothie, no juicing required. This is the beauty of a Vitamix blender to make it smooth as could be.
Renee, I’m so with you about skinning the cucumbers, I prefer them that way too. I love your recipe, so easy.
For those of you in New Haven, you should definitely check out the new farmers’ market on State St. I’m headed there on Saturday for my first visit.
Thanks for all your comments!