…plus leftovers and snacks. 😉

My true market excursions these days are limited to once-a-month. As the days grow shorter and colder, I eagerly await the first Saturday of each month as it brings a plethora of fresh treats from local farmers. With any farmers’ market it’s always fun to see what produce they will have that day, but since it’s December, I’m beyond tempted to wonder exactly what will be there.

This month was a real surprise. I figured that there would still be plenty of root veggies and apples, and I was not wrong. But I was really hoping that I would be lucky and one of the farmers would have some beets. As luck would have it one did! Of course I grabbed those perfectly knobby orbs up right away. He said they would probably be the last until next year with the predicted cold weather next weekend, so of course I felt particularly victorious about that find. I got beautiful carrots and even the most perfect red string carrots I think I’ve ever seen – they were almost too pretty to eat! Those carrot tops came in handy, too. I used them the next day with my roasted chicken.

So… six meals, you say?

Whenever I am at the farmers’ market I undoubtedly start thinking of meals to make with the produce that I am purchasing. Obviously I am very fitspired right then and there, but when I think about it, this should be the way I always plan my meals for the week. Start with the produce, the veggies, and build from there. Protein next, then good, filling carbs/fiber. The healthiest meals have the most veggies, so starting there just makes sense. I take the produce and combine, recombine, and add in other foods so that each day is not like the rest. And of course since it’s all fresh it tastes sooo good!

My “six” meals this week included:

roasted chicken with vegetables

cheeseburger soup (recipe below!)

two lunches with chicken, veggies, and wild rice

two lunches with steak, veggies, and wild rice

salad with arugula, chicken, apples, beets, nuts, cottage cheese, and Feta

a smoothie with apple, kale, and some “surprises”

Plus after that we had some soup leftover (a couple lunches), roasted veggies for sides, plenty of salad and lettuce for add-ons, and carrot sticks for lunches/snacks.

Those turnips were another special little treat for me. I don’t know too many people that eat turnips these days, but I get them when I see them. They remind me of my Grandma Whiteamire, to be honest. I don’t remember ever eating them at my own house, but I do remember eating them at hers. You can eat them raw with other veggies (like on a tray of fresh cut vegetables), but I threw mine in my oven bag with my chicken and had them roasted for the week. I also...

put them in my smoothie!

Raw, that is, not cooked. That may be gross. Anyway. This smoothie was SO FREAKING GREAT! Apple, turnips, kale, chia, plain Greek yogurt, and milk. Simple, green, and tasty! Vitamins, protein, good carbs, and a meal in a cup. What’s not to like?

About that soup…

So tbh this meal used the least amount of veggies from this trip, but I could have purchased potatoes if I needed them. But to be fair I also added some veggies to the original recipe specifically because I got them from the market this week. DISCLAIMER!! This recipe is not mine, but I have been making it for so long that I honestly do not remember where I did get it. So if the owner of this deliciousness happens to read this, 1) THANK YOU VERY MUCH FROM ME AND MY FAMILY, and 2) please tag yourself somehow in this post and give yourself all the credit!  I do swap out the sour cream with plain Greek yogurt and use fresh parsley iso dried. Mine usually has more carrots and celery, too. Oh, yeah, it’s “turkeyburger” soup, as well. 😉 This is a great one for a cold night, so enjoy!!

This week I had that kale and microgreens, so in they went!

As always, I hope you enjoy! If nothing else today I hope to plant the seed of fitspiration about meal planning and meal prep for you. So many tell me their frustrations around it, but once you start hopefully you’ll see that in the end it really makes use of your time and your table much more efficiently.