I love the farmers market for many reasons, but the best thing about it is that I get introduced to foods I would never see in the grocery store. For example, the garlic scape. The first time I saw these I thought they looked like a pile of green coat hangers and I had no idea what one would do with them. Scapes are basically the stem from the plant flower. I did some reading up and found that garlic scapes are often used to make pesto, but I wanted to find a different way to play with them. They are firm to the bite and have a mellow green garlic flavor, so I thought they would be the perfect addition to something with a fluffy texture: zucchini frittata.

I don’t know about you guys, but I get slightly overwhelmed when I first get to the farmers market. I run around trying to decide who has the best of what and then I get antsy and start making impulse buys. I usually end up buying too much of something and the frittata is a cooking trick I use to get it all eaten up before it goes bad. It’s stupid easy to prepare, and you can make it fancy or keep it simple. I had some leftover prosciutto and some feta in the fridge so I threw that into the mix. You could also add olives or bacon, or any other cheese you have that needs to be used up. The only rule is to make sure you have enough egg to bind everything together. I find that 5-6 eggs will work for a 9-inch round dish full of goodies.

I like the texture the garlic scapes add to the frittata, but if you can’t find them you could always use green onion. The problem with garlic scapes is that they are only around for a few weeks at the beginning of the season, which in Chicago is June. <procrastination>In fact, by the time I get this post written I’m sure they will have disappeared. Sorry about that.</procrastination> Bookmark this one for next year, or just use green onions.

Ugh! I can never make the first slice look good!

Zucchini and Prosciutto Frittata

Loosely adapted from this recipe
Serves 6
Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Unattended time: 55 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

olive oil
1/2 pound green zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound yellow squash, cut into bite-sized pieces
6 garlic scapes or green onions, ends removed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup freshly chopped dill
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
2 ounces prosciutto, torn into bite-sized pieces
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
no-stick spray
2 ounces feta cheese

Prep work: Chop zucchini, squash, garlic scapes or green onions, dill and parsley. Tear up the prosciutto.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine the zucchini, squash, garlic scapes (or green onions), and salt in a large bowl.
2. Heat some olive oil in a very large skillet set over medium heat. Add enough of the zucchini/squash mixture to the skillet to cover the bottom in one layer. You want each piece to have contact with the skillet so it can brown; cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the skillet to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining vegetables if necessary.
3. Let the cooked vegetables cool in the bowl about 10 minutes. Pour off any liquid and add the dill, parsley, prosciutto and eggs.
4. Spray a 9 1/2-inch round baking dish with no-stick spray. Pour the vegetable mixture into the baking dish and sprinkle with the feta. Bake until set, about 45 minutes.

What follows is only in the loosest sense a pizza. I thought about calling it a garden flatbread, but that sounded poncey. Plus my new favorite book, The Recipe Writer’s Handbook, discourages cryptic and silly recipe names. I’m so, so guilty of that.

If you don’t have all of the ingredients I list below, not a big deal. You can use a technique I like to call im-praaaaah-visation. As long as you can cut it into bite-sized pieces and it won’t be ick if you cook it, throw it on the pita. The combo I use below, however, is quite magical and has plenty of iron from the pumpkin seeds, which toast up in the oven. I love the bitterness of the radishes, the sweetness of the squash and pumpkin seeds, and the saltiness of the feta and olives all mingling together.

Garden Pita Pizza

Serves one
Total time: 10 minutes
Cost per serving: $3-5 depending on your toppings

1 whole wheat pita
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup (1 oz) fresh spinach
1/3 cup (1.5 oz) thinly sliced squash
1 radish, thinly sliced
4 green olives, quartered (I used some marinated olives from the olive bar)
2 tablespoons (0.5 oz) raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup (1 oz) feta cheese
Italian seasoning (optional)

1. If you are using a conventional oven, heat it to 350 degrees. I use a toaster oven so I skip this step. If you haven’t already prepped the veggies you could do that while the oven heats.
2. Drizzle the olive oil on the pita, and spread it around with your fingers. Sexy.
3. Spread the spinach out on the pita, then top with the squash and radish slices. Sprinkle on the olives, pumpkin seeds, and feta. Toss a few dashes of Italian seasoning on top, if using.
4. Place in the oven for about 5-8 minutes, or until the pumpkin seeds begin to brown. Serve cut into wedges.

Check out the nutrition information for this meal. The cholesterol should actually be 8%, but for some reason it keeps calculating to 33%. I think it’s just a glitch. More importantly, look at the fiber and vitamin content! You could do a lot worse

I call this Hippie Salad because it contains two grains that hippies love: bulgur and quinoa. How am I privy to the culinary preferences of hippies? I used to be one, a friggin’ vegetarian even, and that’s when I learned how to cook both grains.

See? It's not so scary, is it?

If you aren’t a hippie it would do you good to give bulgur and quinoa a shot. Bulgur is more nutrient-dense than rice and contains wicked amounts of fiber. Quinoa is high in protein, which is why my former veggie self ate it. In fact, it’s one of the only grains that qualifies as a complete protein because it contains all the essential amino acids. That won’t stop me from adding chicken to this dish, though. If anything the chicken takes us down from “This stuff is totally foreign to me” to “Hey, I can recognize some of those ingredients!” Vegetarians can skip the chicken, cuz like I said the grains will provide plenty of protein.

You can buy both bulgur and quinoa in the bulk aisle of Whole Foods or in the health food section of most larger grocery stores.

Hippie Salad with Chicken

(adapted from this recipe)
Serves 2-3 as a main dish
Total time: 30 minutes
Cost per serving $4-5

I'm trying to be more artsy with my food photos

1. Heat the oil over med-high heat in a skillet. Add the chicken to the pan and cook 6-8 minutes per side, until the chicken is cooked through.
2. While the chicken cooks, combine the quinoa and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered about 20 minutes. The quinoa germ, which looks like a curly-Q, will start to separate from the grain when its done. Drain the quinoa in a sieve then dump in a big bowl.
3. While quinoa is doing it’s thing on the stove, nuke or heat about 3 cups of water to close to boiling. Place the bulgur in a separate bowl and cover with the heated water. Cover and let the bulgur soak for about 15 minutes, until it’s tender and chewy. Drain this too and mix in with the quinoa.
4. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it rest a few minutes while you prepare the dressing.
5. For the dressing, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro or mint and pepper in a small bowl. Chop the cooled chicken into bite sized chunks. Stir that into the grains, then add the dressing, olives, radishes, and feta. Serve immediately.

Broccoli Omelet and Spicy Hash Browns

Serves 2
Total time: 30 minutes
Cost per person about $4

1-2 poblano peppers, depending on your heat tolerance
2 tsp olive oil
2 medium yellow or Yukon Gold potatoes (don’t use baking potatoes because they don’t stand up well to cooking in the pan)
salt
No-stick cooking spray
4 eggs
1 cup chopped fresh or frozen broccoli
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
pico de gallo
cherries or whatever fruit you like

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the poblano(s) in a baking dish and put in the oven. We are going to roast these suckers to bring out their flavor.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a non-stick pan. Rinse off the potatoes and dry with a dish towel. Julienne the potatoes into matchsticks. The best way to do this is to use the shredder blade on a mandolin, like the one pictured. It makes short work of matchsticking potatoes. All you do it slide the potato up and down the blade, et voila, matchsticks. The other way to do this would be to use the large holes on a grater or you could chop them by hand. However I think everyone should own a mandolin because it makes short work of all kinds of slicing chores. You can find them in most houseware stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond. Place the potatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, then stir them around to mix. Add them to the pan and let cook for 5 minutes without stirring.
3. Take the poblanos out of the oven, flip them over, and put them back in. The side touching the baking dish should be a little blistered and charred.
4. Heat a smaller pan over medium heat and spray with no-stick spray. Break the eggs into a bowl and scramble with a fork. Dump in the broccoli and feta and mix to combine. You can make two personal omelets or make one big one and cut it in half. I go for the one big one because I’m lazy. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cover with a lid. This is a little trick one of my friends taught me. If you cover the omelet with a lid the top will cook without having to flip the omelet. I always make a pig’s ear of my omelets when I flip them so I like this method. The trick is making sure the egg isn’t too thick, or you will burn the bottom before the top cooks through. You could also just flip it or make scrambled eggs and to hell with all this flipping business.
5. By now the potatoes on the bottom of the pan should be browning. Flip them over and stir them around a bit to get more browning, hence the name hash BROWNS. Let those cook for a few more minutes. Keep an eye on the omelet. You will be able to tell when the top is solid or when you can flip it without it slopping around everywhere.
6. Take the poblano out of the oven. The skin should be charred and blistered. Put the poblano in a plastic bag for a few minutes. This will steam and loosen the skin. After a few minutes you should be able to pull off most of the skin. Chop the poblano into small pieces.
7. Remove the potatoes from the heat and stir in the chopped poblano. If the omelet is done cooking, remove that from the heat as well. Plate the potatoes and top with some pico de gallo (of course). Serve with the omelet and some cherries.

Like I said, if you don’t feel like dealing with omelet making just scramble the eggs. I’ve done it before and it works great with the broccoli and feta. I bet next time I visit my boyfriend he will get me to make these hash browns for him. He loves him some hot peppers.

Omelet on a Pita and Tomato Soup

Total time: 15-20 minutes
Total cost per serving: I didn’t calculate exactly, but I’d be surprised if more than $4-5

2 eggs
1 can of chunky tomato soup (Whole foods makes a tasty one)
1 clove garlic
Italian seasoning
1 whole wheat pita
Olive oil
1/3 cup chopped frozen spinach (eyeball it)
about 1 oz feta cheese
grapes

1. If using an oven (I use a toaster oven) pre-heat to 375 degrees. Hard boil the eggs about 10 minutes. While they are boiling, dump the soup into a pot and squish the garlic clove into the pot with a garlic press. If you don’t have a garlic press then just mince it and add it to the soup. Sprinkle in Italian seasoning to taste. Heat through on med-low heat.
2. Nuke the spinach for 45 seconds. Drizzle a little olive oil on the pita and spread it around with your fingers. Don’t be shy, olive oil is supposed to be good for your skin Squeeze out some of the water from the spinach and spread it around on the pita. Sprinkle the feta on top of the spinach and place in a toaster oven (or a regular oven). Bake at 375-400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to melt a little and the edges of the pita brown.
3. Cool the eggs under cold running water and peel. Mash them up in a bowl with a fork and sprinkle about half on your cooked pita. Cut the pita and serve along side half the the soup with the grapes for dessert.

The cool thing about this “recipe” is that you can serve two by adding another pita and some more spinach and feta, or you can repeat tomorrow night in even less time because the eggs are ready to go.

In case you haven’t noticed, I love chopped frozen spinach. All the work is done for you and there is no worry of the spinach going bad before you can eat it all. I live alone, so bagged fresh spinach often gets all nasty before I can eat the whole bag. In this recipe in particular the chopped frozen spinach works really well, almost like a spinach spread. Is that gross? It sounds a little gross, but it’s really good, I promise! Of course you could use fresh spinach in this recipe, too. I’d tear it up and sprinkle it on the pita with the cheese and put it right into the oven.