Locally Grown

Since moving to the desert, I have been on a search for locally grown fresh produce. There are several farmers markets that happen around town and when I first saw this I was very excited. One afternoon I joyfully jumped in my car and drove 20 minutes to the other side of town all in the name of fresh produce, only to discover upon arrival extreme disappointment. Although it's advertised as fresh produce from California it looked more like half ripe tomatoes and damaged produce brought up from Mexico. I did a quick scan . Nothing organic, nothing mouthwatering, nothing that gripped the senses saying fresh! I walked away empty handed and have continued my produce shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's ever since.

Then last week while doing some research on the web I came across this site LocalHarvest.org. This is a great website for finding locally grown food and produce near where you live! While this website also suggested my not-so-great farmers market, it also lead me to some local farms and a site that I'm particularly happy about, Made in Pahrump. Pahrump is a very small town about 45 miles west of Las Vegas. Pahrump is seated in a valley between the Spring Mountains and Mount Charleston. The cooler air that bounces off the mountains keeps the valley cooler than Las Vegas allowing them to grow produce year around. Pahrump also has a winery! I've actually tried their Syrah and it was delicious!

I have yet to make my virgin voyage to Pahrump for fresh veggies and wine, but expect to see them in the near future!

Now for some good eats! Blogger was not uploading my photos yesterday so I wasn't able to finish my post!

Friday after work I met a friend at the sports book for some cocktails and the Ohio game. I had a vodka soda and then we went for some dinner. I only had my iPhone so bear with me on the photos. We had wine and bread some un-pictured calamari.

Then we split the eggplant parmesan. I love eggplant!

When I got home I was still a little hungry so I worked on the left over roasted vegetables. 

 Saturday morning I stayed in bed till late. I got up at some point and had some cottage cheese.

and around noon I finally made this yummy sandwich.

Turkey, Laughing Cow wedge, Wholly Guacamole, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, and arugula with a glass of chocolate almond milk.

Then I think I went back to bed for a nap. :-) Saturday night I went to a baby shower/party. Where there was lots of this.

And some of this...

And more of this....

and even more of this...

Ultimately leading up to some of this...

Flip Cup!

Wow! To act like a college kid again is great fun!

Sunday when I woke up I wanted breakfast! I've been on a huge breakfast kick lately and have been loving it! I made my cheesy potatoes with hash browns, cheese, and greek yogurt.

Made some fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

So yummy!

I had a piece of toast with a Laughing Cow wedge, turkey, and 1 egg + 1 egg white

Super yummy! I headed out to Costco in the afternoon and came home with this.

Pineapple, asparagus, bananas, raspberries, ravioli, smoked salmon, a huge tuna steak, and New Moon! Can you believe that huge bunch of bananas was only $1.32? and the huge bag of asparagus only $2.99! and the giant thing of raspberries $4.99! Costco is great for a lot of things, but sometimes it can become a bit ridiculous. What would a single gal like myself do with 3 cantaloupes!

In the evening I went to meet my friend;s boyfriend who was in town. I had 3 of these.

And two pieces of this delicious pesto & roasted red pepper bruchetta

A bite of this spinach & artichoke dip. It was ehh.

And a slice of this pizza

When I got home I was still a little hungry so I thought I'd finish off these brussel sprouts.

And still hungry I had some asparagus

 And late night I made this smoothie in a bowl. One banana, a handful of raspberries, a scoop of SF Quick, a little bit of almond milk and some ice cubes. Tasty!

And here are Mondays eats since Blogger was having issues yesterday. Breakfast was a whole wheat english muffin with a Laughing Cow wedge and smoked salmon.

It was 82 yesterday so at noon I split from work and ate this wrap on the way to the pool. A whole wheat wrap, turkey, Laughing Cow, a little guac, banana peppers, tomatoes and spinach.

Then we had some of my skinny margaritas. I use to bartend so I tend to free pour all the ingredients but it goes something a little like this. 2 oz tequilla, 3/4 oz Triple Sec, 1 oz fresh lime juice, add Crystal Light Lemonade to your desired sweetness.

We went from skinny margs at the pool to happy hour to meet several friends. I switched over to red wine and had these snacks. Calamari, BBQ shrimp, and beef carpaccio.

It was all very yummy but not all that filling. Our night continued like this...

I'm pretty sure this was what my running coach meant by load up on salt and carbs this week, right?? There was only one fix for me this am.

Egg McMuffins are one of my few guilty pleasures. My cameras been dead since Sunday night hence all the iPhone photos.

Off for now! Looking forward to spending my evening at home and getting some much needed sleep!