Eating locally - Spring greens for dinner

This seems to be a good time of year for greens. There were tons of them at the farmers market this past weekend and have been for the last couple months. I really had no idea what I was getting into with the eating a local diet and it's been a wonderful learning experience to actually eat with the seasons. Who knew that carrots don't grow year round? Ok, everyone knows that, but it's been a real eye-opener for me to actually eat that way.

I didn't feel like fried eggs last night and with some serious fixings in the fridge, a salad was calling. Dinner was pretty simple, but incredibly tasty. Here's the breakdown of what was local vs. grocery.

I washed up some of the spinach, onion, and tomatoes from Saturday's farmers market, and chopped a boiled egg (also from the farmers market). The dressing, although from the grocery, was made from scratch - a blend of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. The wheat bread, I made myself (flour, salt and yeast from the grocery, but the milk and honey were ingredients obtained locally, as was the spiced pear preserves that topped the bread).

Apple cider vinegar gave the salad a really nice tang. I happened to have it in the cabinet which is why I added it to the dressing. The salad was light and refreshing. I love my bread, but anything with Lois' pear preserves on it would be good (I get all my jellies, jams, and preserves from Lois at the farmers market. She makes everything from scratch from her fruit gardens. YUM!)

As far as bread goes, so far, Dave and I both like the white bread over the wheat bread, although they are both good. All my breads turn out really dense and I like dense bread which is great for me, but I've been experimenting with techniques to see if I can make something more artesian. Sunday's white bread turned out a little lighter. I'll keep trying. Yesterday, I started a no-knead rye bread (the dough is in the refrigerator now). I'll make one of the loaves later today to see how it turns out. I keep hearing good things about the no-knead breads so I thought I would give it a try. Cross your fingers!