Lesson #1: You can never have too many veggies

Shopping at the farmers' market has been a learning experience... but a good one.  I never know how much to get.  I usually think about how much I'll need, and then walk around and buy the stuff that looks really good (unless I need something specific).  Unfortunately that backfired this Saturday.  I already had a lot of veggies, so I decided that I shouldn't buy too much.  I failed to consider the fact that I've been eating 6 or 7 large servings of veggies a day.  So by Monday I was almost out, and had to resort to the grocery store for some back-up supplies.  So now I've learned that I can basically buy unlimited veggies and I'll end up eating them all.  Luckily my grocery store veggies lasted me until today, when I went to the Select Michigan festival on the steps of the capitol.  There was a ton of local produce, honey, maple syrup, cheese, oils, yarns, pickles, etc.  I picked up some olive oil from a local family that has a farm in Lebanon (run by their daughter, an MSU grad), my first honeycrisp apples of the season, more peaches, and some winter squash (a spaghetti and a delicata).  Along with my leftovers, I should be able to last until Saturday morning.

After eating a lot of leftovers from the weekend, I was definitely in the mood to cook tonight, and I ended up making one of the most delicious (and easiest!) dinners I've had in a while.  I finally got around to cooking some of the salmon that I got while Mom was here.  I spritzed it with oil and sprinkled a little bit of salt and pepper on top, then baked it, and it turned out perfectly.  I'm glad I have a freezer full of salmon to enjoy :).  I also made a super easy version of creamed spinach.  You make a little bit of bechamel sauce, boil spinach for about 30 sec., then drain it and add it to the sauce.  It was amazing.  And finally, I tried my delicata squash.  I had never had one of these before, but everyone at the festival was raving about how sweet they are.  I baked it whole and took it out when it was really tender, but I think it could have cooked a little longer.  I added a little butter and some cinnamon, and it was definitely tasty.  I'm looking forward to cooking the spaghetti one this weekend.