The Tailgate Farmer’s Market was fun!
Since I’ve been gone so many Saturdays, I really haven’t had a chance to check out Charlotte’s markets this summer. But I always forget that there are a handful of them open on Tuesdays. Our Regional Farmer’s Market has parts that are local, but it also has California lettuce and Mexican product. Not exactly local. But the Tailgate is local, and a lot of the produce organic. The trade is the selection is pretty small. I didn’t see ANY fruit!
The veggies were gorgeous thought!
And I was thrilled to find a rather large selection of local meats from at least 3 different vendors. Here was one -
The loot – including a pound of grass-fed ground beef – = about $15.
When it was dinnertime, Matt go to work and I spent the time reading blog posts from the Summit. Thanks for all the kind words and great photos guys!
Soon enough, dinner was on the table and I hadn’t helped!! (With the exception of eating this appetizer he brought me – and photographed!)
Thus, I asked him to write up the post. I was thrilled to find out he even took photos! There are a lot of "That’s what she said" references in here. Heh heh.
Matt’s Food Blog
It’s so tempting to buy huge produce, but it usually doesn’t taste as good as a normal sized veggie. But the allure of giant zucchini won out, so we bought it. The caveat, though, was that we would stuff it – that way we could enhance (or mask) the likely dull flavors of the zucchini.
First I got .25C of millet cooking in some veggie stock. Then I cut the zucchini open – it smelled like a butternut squash or some sort of gourd. The seeds were big and hard, and the inside was getting stringy. I scooped this part out and threw it away.
Then I scooped out some more of the zucchini meat, but held onto it for mixing into the stuffing. I lightly coated the zucchini halves with canola oil and put in the 350* oven for about 15 minutes while I worked on everything else.
I chopped a large globe tomato, the zucchini meat, and a tablespoon of capers and cooked in a little canola oil. Season with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, add oregano and/or basil as desired.
Then I mixed in the cooked millet with a little bit of sherry, and tasted to check the flavors.
The zucchini had cooked a little at this point, and my only regret about this meal is that I didn’t plan earlier to cook it longer. Since it was like a gourd, it should have been cooked like a gourd – a good 30 minutes, possibly in a steamy oven.
Top with some grated cheese, pepper jack in this case, and bake for about 15 minutes (still 350*). Again, it could probably cook in the oven indefinitely and this would help soften up the zucchini some more, but it was still fine to eat.
An excellent summer feast! Might need to keep some toilet paper on hand after this fibrous meal…
***
LOL at fiber!!! Exactly the reason why I didn’t eat my whole boat.
Here’s what he looks like when I take my evening blog photos. Waiting patiently to start eating. A true gentleman.
The filling was awesome – super cheese!!
But the boat was indeed undercooked and sorta crunchy
I saved mine – I plan on cooking it more and eating it for lunch one day!
He ate his like an apple!! Crunch crunch. Toilet paper.
At the advice of Janel at the Summit, I’m going to take my vitamin with dinner. (One A Day Women’s). I don’t have trouble digesting it with breakfast, but I think it takes away the romance of oatmeal to have to remember the vitamin. Dinner seems more laid back.
I had a Bliss for dessert
***
Got an email from Lydia that said: "So good I had to replicate" LOL!
***
BEV says Barney Butter is 3 fer $19.10 at Amazon!!
***
Off to finally relax!!! I haven’t vegged out since Thursday. (Well I guess did veg out at lunch and dinner today 
)
xoxo,
Gossip Girl Kath
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
That zucchini boat looks AMAZING
What a delicious recipe. All that cheese looks soo good and lol at the fiber content! I never knew they were packed with that much. Have a great night ! 
Wow, that dinner looks so filling. I’m stuffed just looking at it. That’s very sweet that Matt waits for you to eat, he is quite the gentledude.
Thank ya’ll for the giggle! Ohhh bathroom jokes…I hope I’m never so mature that they are no longer funny….
Zucchini boats look delish – go Matt!
Have a relaxing evening!
can’t go wrong with a huge zucchini. lol. making “boats” out of it is such a good idea! Nice job matt!!!
What an awesome market! That zucchini looks great!
Question – Do you always bake the zucchini before adding in the filling? Is there any reason to do this? I’m just wondering since I normally don’t bake them when I make my own zucchini boats.
ooh, we got ground beef from the Underwood Family Farm at the big farmer’s market a week and a half ago… it was SO good!
To anyone who hasn’t tried grass-fed local beef, it’s a must! It’s so much better than regular beef
Yum!
Two things:
1. I love your avs! Where did you score those?
2. Matt’s blog = hilarious!
We do need to run soon. Well I guess that was three things. Oh well.
that boat idea is a good idea! you guys are so creative
Mmmm, that looks delicious! What a great dinner!
ha ha gossip girl…..
that dish look nom nom crunch nom
Ohmygosh, that’s a zucchini boat to the extreme!! I bought a giant one over a week ago that I’m still trying to get through!
Looks yummy!
Question about your multi-vitamin. My RD doesn’t really push me to take one. She says if I’m eating right I should get all the vitamins I need. I think that’s mostly because there are issue for people who take excess single supplements (like E for instance). I’d love to know your thoughts on the subject.
That is so nice that he cooks dinner for you! I may have to try a similar recipe some time soon.
Wow, that zuchinni looks enormous!! So does your egglplant too, haha! Anyway, I love all the boats I’m seeing pop up in the blog world. They are so cute, and they all look beyond delicious.
I made zucchini boats a while back with bulgur, canned salmon, and veggies. Tasty! But smaller zukes are usually better.
Farmer’s Market, a guest post and a big dose of fiber? The Perfect Evening Trifecta!
Love the guest post – so funny! The boats look delicious!
LOVE the zucchini boats! My mom is a semi-pro baker, we owned a farm market for 20+ years (and an ice cream stand!). We used to use those mammoth zucchinis for zucchini bread that we sold. A lot of times we’d run it through the food processor and then freeze for later use. We used to grow some HUGE ones, like the size of an arm!
lol
Jenn
What a great looking meal! Matt did a wonderful job
Great meal Matt! Pictures look amazing!
zest!
pretty dinner!
if i let my fiance cook dinner i’d end up with….
noodles. maybe buttered noodles if i was really lucky.
What a great idea for huge zucchini’s!
This actually did make me laugh out loud: “I think it takes away the romance of oatmeal to have to remember the vitamin.”
I love your love of oatmeal!
Wow, that zucchini boat looks great! I love your guys’ creative meal ideas!
I used to take my multivitamin at night (one in the AM and one in the PM) but I quickly realized that I could not sleep well after that. Hopefully it won’t give you the same problem!
you gotta bake the zucchini boats first, then stuff. xoxo
Looks like you had a good outcome at the market even w/o ota.bars
I absolutely love that market. It is local to the extreme..and super down to earth people that know a lot about food! Too bad you didn’t find any fruit. They have had some amazing blueberries and the.best.peaches.ever along with amazing strawberries [in june]. Love all the local grass-fed beef vendors. They rock! =) Aaaand I love the zucchini shell as a bowl!!!
ahaha I love Matt’s plastic cup! I *LOVE* drinking from plastic cups…my fiance thinks I’m nuts. Oh well. Cheers!
haha I thought all the fiber jokes were pretty funny… especially “Crunch, Crunch. Toilet paper”
hahaha nice!
Wow you guys are so creative. Can I come and live with you for a while and be your cooking apprentice? hehehe. seriously though, i need some lessons.
lol love the zuke boats. love how he is waiting to eat!
-muffy
Man, no FRUIT? And it’s the perfect time of year, too? Ah, well. You got some good loot. And I really love your inventive (well, to me) dinner this evening. Hope you had a great night!
Is it weird that I almost squealed when I saw all that beautiful eggplant? I can’t help it. I really like vegetables.
i love large produce. but better to look at than eat, you are right.
today they were doing a taste test of your beloved almond butter (on a piece of toasted wheat bread) at costco, thought of this blog when i tried it haha!
There was fruit, Kath. Carlea Farms had apples.
Nice visit to the Farmer’s Market!
Can I borrow Matt to give my husband a few cooking lessons?
. What a creative, nutritious, and yummy meal!
Every time I get off the phone with PB I say “xoxo, gossip girl” and he cracks up. Happy to see I’m not the only one that does that
That meal looks really good- does a dish like that keep the hubby full? My husband (I LOVE saying that!!) needs a serious protein with every meal but I wonder if serious fiber would do the trick???
Seriously LMAO at the fiber remark. It’s a good thing you have two bathrooms:)
I bought season 2 of GG yesterday. Ahh guilty pleasures!
B
You guys are too cute!
Love zucchini boats!
These look absolutely scrumptious!
The farmers market is gorgeous! The best part of summer, hands down.
Hahaha this post was hilarious! I love using zucchinis as vessels!!! I’ve definietly been missing farmers markets this summer with my hectic schedule!
I love squash and zucchini. A good tip is to microwave the squash or zucchini face down (after scooping) in about a 1/2 inch of water for 15-20 minutes and let it steam. I find that this softens up the zucchini or squash, just like it would if you baked it for an hour!
i love “the office!” i haven’t been to the farmer’s market in weeks now because the 100* plus degree heat is terrible here in dallas. your pictures and dinner definitely inspired me to try to make it this weekend.
That zucchini boat looks delish! I love when zucchini is sort of undercooked and still crunchy!
Whitney ,
Forev 21!!
And what’s your schedule like this week?
Krissy ,
I take my vitamin mostly for the calcium and iron, but also because when I did a diet analysis on myself in an early nutrition class, I wasn’t meeting 100% for everything. Even someone who eats a lot of real food! My calorie needs aren’t high enough to meet my nutritional needs. If you eat a lot of fortified foods like cereal or bars, then I’d skip the multi, but if not (I don’t really) then I’d vote for one over against.
Meg ,
I prefer plastic cups too!!!
kathleen purvis,
A local celebrity!! Welcome! I’m sorry to have missed the apples, but I was really hoping for peaches
rhodeygirl ,
HA!
It kept him fuller than it did me because he ate the entire boat. I just ate mostly filling. Matt’s weird though.
Kath
i love having stuffed zucchini like that. so easy and you can do anything with it.
love all the “TWSS” moments present in that post
Yum! That boat looks huge but delicious! You guys are so funny with your fiber comments
I love eggplant, too–and you look fantabulous in that photo!
I also LOVE farmer’s markets! I usually set up at them with my mom. It’s SO fun to set up and sell–and to walk around and buy healthy goodies to eat!
If you have time, you might enjoy seeing our last booth at an outdoor market. I was wearing a pioneer dress + bonnet! LOL
http://hillbillyheavenherbs.com/blog/2009/08/13/baker-creek-festival-august-2009/
That’s my mom’s blog. Isn’t that crazy that my MOM blogs? LOL
Have a great day, Kath!
*smiles*
Michele
I love stuffing vegetables and have recipes for stuffing zucchini that I have never tried because I never find zucchinis big enough to stuff. That one is huge!
I just purchased my first jar(s) or Barney Butter today on Amazon – thanks for the heads-up!
How lovely to have such a creative husband!
Wow! Looks like a wonderful farmer’s market. I was excited to find local meats at ours this morning as well!
What a good hubby you have.
Yum! Those boats look good! Maybe I can get my meat loving husband to try them….