First of all, I LOVE going to the farmer’s market! If you can get your butt out of bed on a Sunday morning and walk over to some park far away from your house, you will get rewarded!!!

I went to my local farmer’s market for the first time the other day, and I was pretty scared at first, because I didn’t really know what to expect. It was really nice though, all these people were there with really really fresh food and they let you BARGAIN over what you were going to pay for it!!! That doesn’t happen at the supermarket lololol. So, I got some cheese and I got this really amazing rabbit and leek and mushroom pie which I’d never had before.  They just tasted soo incredible, I’ve never had food that tasted that fresh and incredible before. And the best thing about it is you get to see the same people over and over every time you go, so you feel like it’s a community thing.

OK, to be honest, I keep meaning to go back and then, come Sunday, I just roll over in bed and go back to sleep. But I definitely recommend the Farmer’s Market at LEAST one time for everyone!

And, I have been thinking about tofu and wanting to cook with tofu for a really long time now, but I want it to be easy. I found a recipe on about.com that I’m gonna try. It looks pretty easy and healthy, which is basically everything I look for in a recipe lololol. I’ll leave you with it. Love to you guys! Naimh.  ^-^)

[image: cauldronfoods.co.uk]

Ingredients:

• 2 cotton tofu
• 1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and cut into 2-inch lengths
• 4 bacon, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 tsp sake
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• *butter and vegetable oil for frying
• *flour for coating

Preparation:

Wrap tofu with paper towels and place it on a cutting board. Put another cutting board or a plate on the tofu to remove liquid from tofu. Leave it for 15 minutes. Dry drained tofu with paper towels and cut each tofu in half horizontally. Dust with flour. Heat oil and some butter in a medium skillet and saute tofu for 2 minutes on medium heat. Turn the tofu over and cook two more minutes. Serve tofu steak on plates. Saute bacon and spinach in the skillet on high heat until spinach is softened. Pour soy sauce and sake and stir quickly. Stop the heat. Place the spinach and bacon on top of tofu steaks.
Makes 4 servings

I had to take some time out to post on fried chicken! It’s incredible, and you can make it healthy if you know how to cook it! So, here is the original, traditional recipe (how-to-cook-gourmet.com/) and here is a recipe that’s a little healthier (taken from womenshealth.about.com). I’m going to try them both and get back to you guys about how I did!!!

It’s mmmm mmm good!!!!

Naimah

Southern Fried Chicken

• 1 cup salt

• 1 quart water

• 1 chicken, 2 ½ to 3 pounds, cut into 8 pieces

• 3 eggs

• 1/3 cup water

• 1 cup hot red pepper sauce

• 2 cups self-rising flour

• 1 tsp. pepper

House seasoning (approx. 1-2 tsp.)

• 1 cup salt
• ¼ cup black pepper
• ¼ cup garlic powder

Dissolve salt in water in a large bowl; add the chicken. Cover; refrigerate 3 to 4 hours. Pour off the brine; rinse the chicken well under running water in the bowl. Drain. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Season the chicken with the house seasoning. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; stir in bacon drippings. Heat to 350 degrees, or until a drop of water spatters when it hits the hot oil. Add drumsticks, wings and thighs, skin side down (the oil should come about halfway up the sides of the pieces of chicken). Cover; cook until tiny bubbles begin to appear in the crust on the side facing up, about 10 minutes. Turn; cook 10 minutes. Uncover the skillet; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until chicken is golden brown, 5-10 minutes. Remove to a rack placed over a cookie sheet.

Raise heat under skillet to medium-high. Heat oil to 350 degrees; add breasts, skin side down. Cook until tiny bubbles begin to appear in the crust, about 10 minutes. Turn; cover. Cook 10 minutes; uncover. Lower heat to medium-low; cook until golden brown, 5-10 minutes.

Healthy Oven-Fried Chicken

• 1/2 cup skim milk or buttermilk
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 cup corn flakes, crushed
• 1 1/2 Tbsps onion powder
• 1 1/2 Tbsps garlic powder
• 2 tsps black pepper
• 2 tsps dried hot pepper, crushed
• 1 tsp ginger, ground
• 8 skinless pieces chicken (4 breasts, 4 drumsticks)
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• paprika to taste

Preheat oven to 350° F. Add 1/2 teaspoon of poultry seasoning to milk. Combine all other spices with cornflake crumbs and place in a plastic bag. Wash chicken and pat dry. Dip chicken into milk, shake to remove excess, then quickly shake in bag with seasoning and crumbs.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and sprinkle lightly with paprika for color.

Evenly space chicken on greased baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 40 minutes.

Remove foil and continue baking for an additional 30 to 40 minutes or until the meat can be easily pulled away from the bone with a fork. The drumsticks may require less baking time than the breasts. Crumbs will form a crispy “skin.” (Do not turn chicken during baking.)