Going to the farmers market every Saturday and Sunday morning is one of our favorite activities. We look forward to it every week and have tried to replace the majority of our grocery shopping with our farmers market hauls. We love knowing that we are supporting our local farmer and getting fresh produce. It’s also such a fun activity to wander the farmers market stalls and see what our favorite farmers have brought that week. One of the vendors sells coconut water in a coconut, which we usually get as a nice refreshment afterwards. One of the best things about shopping the farmers market is that you never know what they will have. We try to experiment with new things all the time to add variety to our cooking and learn new cooking techniques. Here’s our September farmers market haul, as well as what we did with our finds.

Recommended reading: How To Shop the Farmers Market Like a Pro

September Farmers Market Haul + What We Made

September Farmers Market Haul:

Vegetable September Farmers Market Haul

Romaine leaves

We found a beautiful basket of large romaine leaves the other day and couldn’t resist picking some up!

How we ate them:

We grilled them on our stove top grill (you can also use a griddle or maybe a pan if you don’t have a grill or griddle), added shrimp, and topped it all with this vegan ceasar dressing. SO good!

Salad greens

We love getting salad greens from our salad lady. We fill up a big bag with a variety of greens like spinich, baby kale, chard, mixed greens, and mesclun and eat it all week. I swear it tastes better than regular greens from the supermarket!

How we ate them:

In a salad, duh. Haha, just kidding. Here’s been our fave salad: salad greens, figs, blue cheese, hard boiled eggs, walnuts, avocado, baby heirloom tomatoes, lime juice + olive oil for the dressing.

Micro greens

Did you know microgreens have over 5x the nutritional value of regular greens? Ever since we learned that we’ve made sure to add microgreens to our diet!

How we ate them:

Topped on salads and sandwiches.

Mung bean sprouts

We stumbled across these when looking for micro greens and decided to try them. They are a great source of protein, fiber, and tons of vitamins, while being low in fat and calories. They are crunchy, which makes them great to snack on. They have a slightly tangy taste. Bassam thinks they taste like edamame but I’m not sure I agree.

How we ate them:

Just by themselves, by the handful. Also topped on salads.

Heirloom baby tomatoes

Ah, these beauties. If you watch our Instagram Stories you know my love for heirlooms.

How we ate them:

How didn’t we eat them?! My fave: sliced, roasted, added to farro + chopped basil + drizzled with olive oil. All the heart eyes.

Heirloom tomatoes

Please see above. 😆

How we ate them:

Thinly sliced, drizzled with a good olive oil, topped with pine nuts. Also amazing with burrata and balsamic. SO GOOD in this soup.

Herbs (cilantro, thyme, rosemary, basil)

I love getting a diff combo of things and keeping them on our kitchen counter in mason jars of water {one jar for each one}. If you wash them and spin dry them first {use a salad spinner}, they last longer!

How we ate them:

Throughout the week in whatever we were eating! Having them on the counter reminds me to add them when I’m cooking. I’ve especially been loving cilantro in a zucchini soup I’ve been making and basil in my farro salad {recipes to come!}

Squash blossoms 

Aren’t these just so pretty?! We always get them when we go out to eat and thought we should try making them ourselves!

How we ate them:

We looked up how to cook and prep them; watch a video it’s really helpful. We filled them with ricotta, drizzled with tomato sauce, and baked for a few minute. Baking them was a great way to prepare them a bit healthier than we normally order them and were still so delicious!

Oyster mushrooms:

Bassam has been dabbling in being vegetarian and we’ve been substituting different meat recipes with mushrooms. We love picking up a new mushroom to experiment with every few weeks.

How we ate them:

Bassam pan fried it and ate it like it’s “bacon”! He said it tasted surprisingly similar.

Fruit September Farmers Market Haul:

Figs

Ah my love. Figs are only for a short time {late August – early October} and I look forward to that season all year. I actually didn’t used to like figs, but they were my mom’s favorite and I’ve been eating them since she passed.

How we ate them:

Just plain. I’m so obsessed I eat them by the bucket. Also amazing in salads or as a dessert: slice thinly, top with some blue cheese, drizzle with honey.

Dried figs

One of our favorite stands offers a variety of unsweetened unsulfured dried fruits that taste amazing. The figs have been my current fave!

How we ate them:

Such an amazing addition on a cheese board!

Peaches & Nectarines

It’s the end of the season for peaches and we’ve been savoring every last one. They are just so insanely sweet!

How we ate them:

Plain. Thinly sliced and drizzled with a good olive oil as a light dessert. In a salad. With burrata.

Asian pear

Just picked these up! They started to show up at our farmers market about mid-September.

How we ate them:

Will eat these just plain!

Fuji apples

My fave kind of apples! These started to pop up mid-September at our farmers market.

How we ate them:

LOVE apples in salad with dates and blue cheese. Also amazing sliced and sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice and served as a healthy dessert.

Grapes

September is peak time for grapes! We loved trying a different variety each week. Our fave variety were apple grapes. If you ever stumble upon them, definitely try them!

How we ate them:

Just plain! With wine and cheese {our favorite kind of dinner!}

Jujubes

Jujubes are Chinese dates. We’ve had them dried before, but this was the first time we’ve tried them fresh. I really liked them, but Bassam is a bit undecided.

How we ate them:

Just plain!

Coffee cake persimmon 

I don’t usually like persimmon, but I loved the coffee cake variety! Don’t be alarm when you slice one open, they are supposed to be brown inside.

How we ate them:

Just plain, but I also want to try baking these into a coffee cake!

Other Items:

Eggs

Omg, fresh eggs from the farmers market are SO good! Once you try them, it’s really hard to go back to the supermarket variety. I usually hate yolks, but I like them in the market fresh eggs!

How we ate them:

All different ways, but mainly hard boiled. We also started experimenting with poached eggs and these make AMAZING poached eggs since they are so fresh!

Olive bread

We’ve been obsessed with picking up a loaf of olive bread each week. So fresh and delicious!

How we ate it:

Toasted and lightly spread with a good butter. Avocado toast. Sandwiches.

Bone broth

Bone broth is said to have a TON of health benefits, so we got a chicken one for me and beef one for Bassam.

How we ate it:

We intend to each drink 8 ounces a day, but that hasn’t totally happened. Bassam tried his and found it to be really meaty and then I was scared to try mine. It has a slightly gelatinous texture which freaked me out. We will try using it as the broth base for the next soup we make until we are get accustomed to the taste and drink it plain.

Jam

One of our farmers makes really unique jam flavor combinations. I picked up plum/chamomile/nutmeg.

How we use it:

I’ve been including it on our cheese boards and it has been a big hit!

Flowers

One of our vendors sells a bouquet of roses for $5 and usually gives it to me for $4! I buy a bouquet each week!

How we use it:

I split it into multiple bouquets and sprinkle throughout the house. Well worth $4!

Fresh pasta

Yummm, is there anything quite as delightful as fresh pasta?

How we ate it:

My fave way was with a lemony sauce and topped with a poached egg!

Burrata

Our pasta guy also carries fresh burrata. Clearly he knows the way to our hearts.

How we ate it:

With sliced peaches or heirloom tomatoes and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic.

What are your favorite things you bought at the farmers market this month? We’d love to get new ideas from you!

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