A Look at Farmer's Markets Past

As winter creeps in, I am finding myself missing more and more the lovely farmer's market I was frequenting.  Over the summer we went for lunch and veggie snacks, and through the fall I was getting all my beautiful veggies there.  Now, I am relegated to grocery store produce and frozen veg.  Woe is me.

Now.  Admire my beautiful haul:

Look at those veggies!  The potatoes!  The apples!  The peppers!  And the pretty Japanese Lantern flowers which are now hanging in my kitchen.  Love.

And with that gorgeous collection, I made a delicious, spicy Eggplant dish:

And now that I've shown off a bit, look at my failure:

It should have been good, really!  I was attempting to modify the Potato-Spinach Squares from Vegan Brunch.  I started with the potato layer, and added pepper strips:

Next came slices of Japanese eggplant (or aubergines, is that more vegan?):

Then I topped it with more potato and the spiced bread crumbs.  What could go wrong?

Well, a lot, apparently.  I also made a tomato sauce to top it.  It should have been amazing.  I blended tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, oregano, and soft tofu.  However, when everything was cooked and served, I ended up with this:

Appealing, no?  It tasted about as good as it looks...which definitely left something to be desired.  Do not do this, please.

From a different market haul, I made an amazing salad:

Fresh cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peppers, and tomatoes with a bit of added food from the store, dressed with sesame dressing...yum.

And now, I will require you to admire my cat:

I would also like to blame him for my lack of blogging...he has taken over the computer!