My treats this week are a combo of markets…

My local farmers’ market is sadly over for the season, so my produce, and thus my weekly food prep, must come from different places. Luckily, a neighboring community offers a monthly market indoors and I visited it last weekend. It’s always nice to visit new markets; I found some treats I hadn’t had for a few weeks at my own. But of course my favorite farmer is taking care of me, too, by offering a weekly delivery, similar to a CSA. A weekly, pre-made bag of treats is delivered right to uptown; all I had to do was pay and pick up!

So combining all the fantastic produce from these two markets gave me a rich food prep this week. One advantage of buying from local farmers is the fresh, fresh, fresh food – it lasts so much longer than what you get in the grocery store. Everything I bought last Saturday is still looking fresh and tasty; whatever I didn’t used up last week went into my lunches this week! My carrots and potatoes could have lasted much longer, but, yeah…

So about that squash…

If you know me very well, you know that I typically eschew many squashes. Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE my zucchini, spaghetti, and yellow friends. But when the rest of the world starts going nuts over pumpkin this-and-that, well, I pass. So I do enjoy a fresh butternut, but I often look for different ways to prepare. Last week after Zumba my fit friend Lisa mentioned that she just sprinkles chili powder on hers when she bakes it. CHILI POWDER?! So when I got the monster squash from my favorite farmer last week, I thought, what the heck? Today I sliced it up lengthwise, cleaned and scored, then drizzled with a bit of honey (sweet hot, why not?) and sprinkled with chili powder. I roasted at 370 for about an hour, until I could poke pretty easily with a fork. After it cooled just a bit I peeled the skin off. And… YUM!! The more I ate, the more I liked. Lisa is currently my favorite person in the world.

And the rest of my prep…

My proteins this week are chicken sausages and roasted boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I just baked with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, some spinach, red scallions, and a few mushrooms I had left in the fridge.

I roasted a bunch of carrots, cooked broccoli and Brussels sprouts, then put it all together. I can’t wait for lunch this week!

Clockwise from top left:

Chicken with rice and broccoli

Sausage with rice, sprouts, and squash

Sausage with rice, sprouts, carrots, and peppers

Chicken with rice, sprouts, and squash