Fresh Foods and Tender Greens

I love fresh and simple foods.  One of my favorite places to get fresh, quick grub is a restaurant called Tender Greens.  I got to share it with my parents tonight, and they LOVED it.  My parents are creatures of habit... they don't prefer to eat non-Asian foods, so it is pretty fantastic when I take them to a "Western" restaurant that blows them away.

I wasn't aware that Tender Greens closes their doors at 9PM on weekdays!  We snuck in as the LAST customers as they were closing their doors!  Anyway, the reason why I'm writing about Tender Greens is because of their commitment to fresh and local foods and ingredients.  My dad was in awe of the display of veggies and meats as we approached the front of the line.  He just kept repeating "everything looks SO fresh, I wish we had one of these at home!" 

Fresh Strawberry Pie- Delicious treat all Week

So, last Sunday, after going to the Mar Vista Farmer's Market to pick up some luscious strawberries, I was all pumped to bake my FIRST strawberry pie... but the day just escaped me.  So, it ended up being a Monday night baking mission instead.

I had tips in hand from @yvonneinla from the farmer's market, and looked up recipes to complement her strawberry pie baking tips.  I was particularly inspired by the strawberry page on cookinglight.com... and decided to modify one of the recipes I found there for the filling.

To make my weeknight baking mission a little easier, I used a store-bought mix for the crust this time around.  I decided on a pie crust mix by Gluten-free Pantry, which got many good reviews online.  The BEST part of it was, I still have more dough in the freezer that I can easily breakout for a family celebration planned for next week!

Farmer's Market and Healthy Lunch in Mar Vista

The weekend has been more relaxing than most in the recent past.  I look forward to Sundays more than any other day, because I feel like it really is the day that we allow ourselves to be leisurely, but we're also committed to our routine of running all our food errands for the week.
Most Sundays we'll roll out of bed late, and either fix up some eggs at home, or run over to the local Chinese restaurant to get our fix of Dim Sum.  This morning, we didn't do either of those things... but decided to check out a different farmer's market that we'd been hearing about instead.  It was the Mar Vista Farmer's Market!

                                                                   photo credit marvistafarmersmarket.org

Spring has SPRUNG- Pasta!

For all you east coasters who've had such a rough winter, here's a little veggie pasta to put a spring in your step!  (I know, I'm getting a little ahead of myself, zucchinis don't really arrive until Summer, but I do love them!)  Feel free to substitute any spring veggies from your local farmers market.

A Springtime Inspired Pasta Recipe: