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Farmers Market Fun
Minneapolis and St. Paul are lucky to have a variety of Farmers Market venues, large and small.  Besides the large Minneapolis and St. Paul Farmers Markets, we have lots of neighborhood markets.  Linden Hills Farmers Market is open on Sunday mornings, and is perfect for a quick (or long) stop after church to pick up some fresh items for dinner.  Our CSA box keeps us satisfied with lots of super fresh produce, but there are fun new things to try in addition, or sometimes we just need something to add to our produce for Sunday dinner at home.

Kitchen in the Market
We love Kitchen in the Market and have taken classes and attended events there.  Our friends from KITM have been providing the food demo’s at Linden Hills Farmers market all season, so we enjoy catching up with them regularly on Sunday mornings.  Today was a special event, commemorating Julia Child’s 102nd birthday.  Special guests Lynne Rosetto Kasper from NPR’s Splendid Table and Amy Thielen from Food Network’s Heartland Table would be at the market to give our KITM chefs a go at a version of the Splendid Table 5 Ingredient Challenge. What fun!  Our KITM friends invited a secret weapon, Bret Bannon, to come and help answer the challenge. (click on any photo to start the slide show)

Lynne and Amy enjoyed searching out the unusual

Lynne and Amy entertaining the crowd at Linden Hills Farmers Market

Lynne and Amy described the challenge: 5 ingredients to turn into something wonderful

A triumphant return with 5 challenge ingredients: Green kraut, unripe heirloom tomatoes, Momo’s, heirloom beans, and ground cherries

Bret prepping unripe heirloom tomatoes

Molly and Bret working hard at the 5 ingredient challenge

Molly is describing her creation

Lynne and Amy answered questions while the KITM chefs worked their magic

Use selective focus to point out the key interest

Molly dishing out a hearty soup

Bret describing his take on fried tomatoes

Molly made a hearty soup and Bret made a version of fried unripe tomatoes, both were fresh and very tasty.  We couldn’t resist trying the Fierce Ferments green kraut, one of the challenge ingredients.   What a fun way to spend an hour on a Sunday morning.  Do you have a farmer’s market in your neighborhood?  In your city?  Give them a visit and try something new!