Vegan MoFo Day 10: Wednesday means Farmer's Market!

Wednesday is my favorite day of the week, it really is. On Wednesday, Santa Cruz has its downtown farmer's market. I used to have a CSA share, and I loved that-- it was absolutely wonderful when I was a busy grad student with no free time. (By the way, just a shout out for Two Small Farms, my former CSA!) But since I'm at home anyway and we are always looking for things to do, the farmer's market is a better bet for us these days.

Which is great, because I feel like a kid in a freaking candy store every time I go there.

On to our day's food!



What it is: crabapple!
My thoughts: I'm still feeling them. I ate four of them today.
Emperor's reaction: He's sort of over them. He carried this one around for a long time, periodically biting it, but I don't think he actually ate any of it.



What it is: large coffee from Peet's with (!!!) peppermint syrup in it
My thoughts: so I am trying to cut back on the number of treats I have. I know. Every other thing I eat is a treat... this blog is really making me realize that.

I like drip coffee with syrup in it. I figure it's marginally healthier for me than a latte with syrup, especially since I don't add soy milk at all if I'm having black coffee with syrup.

This was super tasty. I haven't had one of these since February or so... mmmm, minty.
Emperor's reaction: He obviously didn't drink any of the coffee (though he wanted to), but he carried the empty cup around the playground for close to an hour. Seriously.



What it is: Oatmeal from New Leaf!
My thoughts: Did you know you can get prepared oatmeal from New Leaf for $1.50? Cheap, filling, and delicious. It's the ONLY time I ever put raisins in my oatmeal. I like them in oatmeal, but I don't like them in much else, so I basically never have them in the house.
Emperor's reaction: This is weird. Usually he loves oatmeal... but he absolutely would not touch a bite of this today. I think maybe he's getting his last little kid molar in, so he's been kinda off mouthwise all day.



What it is: RawDaddy Forest and Earth Mushroom Polenta Cone. Seriously, go to their website and read the description, and tell me if you don't want to eat this. I don't even LIKE mushrooms and I still wanted to eat this.
My thoughts: I will say right out that it is VERY rich in the way that raw food sometimes is. They obviously don't scrimp on the good fats. But the cone is not huge-- about the size of my hand-- and even though it was rich, it wasn't overwhelming. It was delicious... outright luscious. Exactly the right size.

You know what the best part was? And I'm surprised to hear myself say this. The flaxseed cone! SO CRUNCHY. So light. Airy, even.

It's a little hard to tell from their website, but ALL of their cones are vegan except the one with honey in it. I am really excited to eat more from them in the future.
Emperor's reaction: He really liked the polenta and the cone. He ate about three bites of each, then carried around another lump of polenta in his hand for about twenty minutes. He wouldn't bite the mushrooms and honestly I didn't push the issue... I wanted them!



What it is: Gala apple!
My thoughts: Yum. We got this from the guys we usually buy garlic and onions from. I can't think of what they're called, but maybe one of my Santa Cruz people can help me out? Sorta middle of the third row, they always have onions, usually garlic, celery, and they have had really gorgeous bell peppers for the past few months.

The Emperor was holding on to this apple, and I went to take it from him to give it to the guy at the stall to weigh... and he waved me off. "No charge," he said, and gestured at the Emperor. "It's for him." D'awww. Those guys are so nice. When I was really pregnant, sometimes they'd slip extra vegetables into my bag or just hand me another bunch of celery. I like to think I've repaid them with my customer loyalty-- I never buy onions or garlic anywhere else these days. But I still think they're really sweet.
Emperor's reaction: I experimented with letting him just tool around the market today, and this apple was a good companion to have... it kept his hands occupied! He ate about four bites of it total, and I ate the rest.



What is it: Scream Sorbet's coconut-Thai basil sorbet.
My thoughts: Oh yum. I've had this flavor before and not really felt it... but today's batch was really superb. I save up my $3 all week so I can get a scoop of this stuff, and this seriously did not disappoint.
Emperor's reaction: He had a bite and made a disdainful face. Really?! J got the almond-licorice root sorbet though, and the Emperor ate about twelve bites of that. To his credit, the licorice root flavor was nice-- it just reminded me TOO much of the Yogi Tea Egyptian licorice root tea.



What is it: Cheezy soupy whole wheat noodles with vegetables and seitan!
My thoughts: This is my standard cheezy noodle recipe with leftover vegetable soup thrown in instead of water. The flavor is really yummy, but the sauce turned out SUPER thick because of the potato in the soup. Oops. Tasty, but not as smooth or silky as the usual sauce. It was nice to have the variety of vegetables though, and boy, sure went together fast.
Emperor's reaction: He ate five or six bites of noodle and a bit of zucchini.



What is it: Theo Chocolate's Nutcracker Toffee bar.
My thoughts: Dark chocolate with vegan toffee? Um, where do I sign up?! This is not as toffee-y as I had hoped, but it is still fantastic. Good crispy crunch. I would not be surprised if I buy another one of these while they're available.
Emperor's reaction: Okay, I gave him a tiny bite of this. Really tiny. I didn't expect him to like it because he has mostly been indifferent about chocolate.

Oh my good word. He kind of FREAKED OUT about this. He hassled me hard to give him more. He pried my mouth open to see if I was eating any. When I showed him the empty wrapper (J and I finished it off, see what I mean about eating fewer treats?) he was pretty dismayed.

I guess that's how you can tell he's my kid though.