Cooking With Local Produce from Safeway

"Buying Local" means different things to different people.  To me, it means anything that is grown in our sunny state of California.  Just recently, Safeway delivered a farm basket full of locally grown fruits and veggies as a gift.  It was like Christmas in September!  

A new survey by Harris Interactive found that only 30% of Americans incorporate local produce in their meals daily.  I'm a Safeway shopper, always have been and I like that Safeway makes it a little easier for us to support our local farmers.

Before I had a chance to bake the pear crisp I had in store for the gorgeous red pears grown at Scotts Valley Ranch in Lakeport, CA, my kids devoured them as an after school snack.  Not to worry, pear crisp recipe coming soon.  

The heirloom tomatoes were so beautiful and very sweet.  I bought some mozzarella, sliced it along with the tomatoes and arranged the slices on a plate as a light and fresh side for dinner one night.

After arranging the slices on a platter, I combined balsamic vinegar and olive oil, sea salt and pepper and drizzled it over the top.  Once drizzled, I dropped some baby basil leaves on top and ground some more fresh pepper over the dish and then drizzled more balsamic and olive oil dressing.

The tomatoes are from Capay Organics out of West Sacramento, CA.

According to Wikipedia, the eggplant fruit is botanically classified as a berry and contains numerous small, soft seeds which are edible, but have a bitter taste because they contain nicotinoid alkaloids (being a relative of tobacco).  Many recipes advise salting, rinsing and draining of the sliced fruit (known as "degorging"), to soften it and to reduce the amount of fat absorbed during cooking, but mainly to remove the bitterness.

Eggplants found at my local Safeway are from Valhalla Produce with the eggplant being grown in Kingsburg, CA.

I cubed the eggplant along with the green bell pepper to add to some cubed chicken for our Moroccan dinner of Spiced Lemon Chicken.

 I cubed the chicken, rolled it in Italian Style breadcrumbs and browned it in a skillet with olive oil.

I then added all the cubed eggplant and peppers and added a Moroccan Lemon Spiced pre-made simmer sauce, which I also found at Safeway and wanted to try.

Fruit, veggies and meat all in one dish. 

 My favorite type of dinner.  Easy and nutritious.

Click here to read about the Safeway Farm Field Trip I experienced last summer, where I met and learned all about the Perry family and their family farm who provides Safeway with the many seedless watermelons and pumpkins throughout the year.

Special thanks to Safeway for providing the basket of local fruits and vegetables and for also providing a $50 gift card to purchase additional ingredients to complete my meals above.  Though fruits and vegetables were provided complimentary, I was not monetarily compensated for this post or any other Safeway related post I've written.  All opinions above are my own.

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Al Pastor Pork Mexican Hash

I am a huge lover of hash.  For breakfast or dinner, it's a one-dish meal in my house any time of the year.

I had the chance, just recently, to try out Marcela Valladolid's new "Real Taste of Mexico"  line of food available at Safeway.  Marcela Valladolid is the host of the Food Network show, Mexican Made Easy.  I love flavorful Mexican food and easy to prepare is always a bonus in my busy household, especially on a school night.

As soon as I got my hands on this Al Pastor Pork, marinated and seasoned ready to cook package, I knew it would be PERFECT for a Mexican Hash dish that I could easily whip up on a weeknight for dinner.

I sliced open the package and pulled apart the thinly sliced Al Pastor pork and laid it in an oiled skillet, stove top.  Eight minutes later, I had perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned Al Pastor pork.  SO easy.

I set aside the Al Pastor pork and got busy preparing the rest of the dish.  Par-boiled {or microwaved} Yukon Gold potatoes.  Chopped parsley, green onion, yellow and orange bell pepper and I poached two eggs. {full printable recipe below}

The seasoning of the Al Pastor pork paired very well with the Yukon Gold potatoes, onions and peppers and eggs....it  was delightful!

Al Pastor Pork Mexican Hash

Ingredients:

1 Marcela Valladolid Al Pastor Pork ready to cook package {Safeway}

4 Yukon Gold potatoes

4 green onions, chopped

1/2 of a yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

3 T butter

1/2 tsp Kosher salt 

freshly ground pepper to taste

2 poached eggs

Directions:

Grill the Al Pastor pork or cook in an oiled skillet, stove top for about 8 minutes.  Set aside.  Par-boil or microwave 4 Yukon gold potatoes until half-way cooked {about 6 minutes in the microwave}.  Slice the potatoes into thin slices.  Add butter to a skillet, add potatoes, salt and pepper.  Cook on medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes.  Add in the bell pepper, green onions, 3/4 of the parsley and cook for another 7 or so minutes or until potatoes begin to brown nicely.  Add the shredded cheese, stir until melted.

Slice the Al Pastor pork and add to the mixture.  Remove from heat.  Finish by adding the two poached eggs and top with the remaining parsley.

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Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins for Fall

With fall, comes one of my very favorite flavors....pumpkin.  Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin custards, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin ice cream....not to get side-tracked but have you ever tasted pumpkin ice cream?  It is now one of my favorite flavors.  Ever since finding it at Safeway by accident  over near their gelato counter, I love it.  I don't shop at Safeway all that often, maybe three times a month or so, but when I was at a brand new Safeway in our town, I found this creamy pumpkin ice cream in a pint container over in the deli section near the gelato bar.  I think I ate the entire thing all myself.  I would actually try to eat it when the kids weren't around because I didn't want to share!  Isn't that just horrible!  But it is that good.

So, I was craving pumpkin.  I came up with these little, mini muffins of joy.

Here's what you need....

Whisk the sugar, salt, oil, eggs and water all together.

So it looks like this.....

Add the remaining ingredients {see below for recipe}.

Fill a mini muffin baking tray with the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes.

Enjoy!

Okay, here's the recipe:

Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup chocolate chips {or nuts}

Mix sugar, salt, oil, eggs, water all together in a bowl.  Then add spices, baking soda, flour , pumpkin and chocolate chips.  Grease a mini-muffin pan with Pam, fill with batter and bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes.  These can be made ahead of time if you're having a party and frozen until you're ready to serve them.

Happy Saturday!

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