Turkey, turkey everywhere and way too much to eat...

Is this your annual dilemma? Well, we challenge you to put on your chef hats and come up with a creative turkey casserole dish to turn the standard Thanksgiving leftover into something delicious. Or maybe you already have a favorite leftover turkey casserole recipe. This year, the Camellia City Market is holding its first ever Turkey Day Leftover Casserole Contest.

Interested? Well, here is the what you need to know. Participants are asked to create a casserole recipe to use up their anticipated leftovers from Thanksgiving with turkey as the anchor of the dish. Recipes should then be submitted by email to Danny Blackburn, our Market Coordinator, at ccmdirector@yahoo.com no later than 3pm on November 22 (the Monday BEFORE Thanksgiving). Or recipes can be hand delivered to Danny Blackburn at the Camellia City Market on Saturday, November 20.

Eight finalists will be selected by a group of celebrity chefs and notified by email on November 23. On Saturday, November 27th (the Saturday following Thanksgiving), the eight finalists will deliver their potential winning dish, ready to eat, by 11am to the Camellia City Market for tasting and judging. Samples will also be given away to market-goers.

We think that we have the most creative market-goers around and we can't wait to taste all of your delicious culinary treats. After all, we are going to have leftovers, too, but we're not nearly as creative as you!

Camellia City Market Artist Row

This Saturday is the second Saturday of the month and you know what that means - the Camellia City Market Artist Row. Come down to the market and browse the wares of our talented local artists as well as the goodies from our local farmers, bakers and cooks.

Blueberries - Possibly the World's Most Powerful Fruit

I have always loved blueberries. In fact, I don't know many people who don't. And it seems that I have always known they were good for me, but, until recently, I didn't know just HOW good they are for me.

Did you know that they are good for heart, eyes and brain? They help with digestion, lower your cholesterol, promote a healthy urinary tract and offer protection against colon and ovarian cancer. Whew. That's a lot for a little, bitty berry.

So, add more blueberries to your diet and live healthier. And remember, blueberries are not just for breakfast or dessert. Here is a popular recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Blueberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach, torn
1 (4 ounce) package blue cheese, crumbled
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Directions
In a jar with tight-fitting lid, combine the first five ingredients and shake well. In a large salad bowl, toss the spinach, blue cheese, blueberries and pecans. Add dressing and toss gently; serve immediately.

Hattip: Suite101.com and Allrecipes.com

It's finally here!

After many frustrating hours, I can finally, proudly announce that our new, updated website is here. Some of the new features:

• -Easier to navigate and read
• -Menu link to photo album
• -Menu link to blog
• -Easy to change and update (this probably only pertains to me, but I'm really excited about it)
• -Calendar of events
• -and more

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Weeds, weeds, everywhere and oh so much to eat?

Every summer, my husband and I are faced with the same problems with our yard. It's a nasty problem that seems to start small and literally grows out of control. Our problem? Weeds! We have tried everything, or so I thought. It seems that we overlooked a very interesting, very simple and not to mention, tasty, solution. We can eat them!

Weeds offer the palate a delight of flavours that can be rarely imitated by conventional greens. So rather than looking upon an entire field of cheerful yellow as a testing ground for mass annihilation, why not consider it a garden replete with salad greens free for the taking?

Dandelion is indeed tasty, but it is also bitter, an acquired taste that is either immediately refused or becomes an addiction. Usually, the larger the leaf, the more bitter the taste and the more cooking it requires to temper the flavour. Dandelion leaves are at their best until the plant flowers.

A classic recipe is to serve dandelion with bacon. A modern take replaces the bacon fat with extra virgin olive oil and is instead sprinkled with bacon crumbles.

Sauté a clove of garlic that has been sliced in some olive oil until it begins to golden.
Add a handful of washed, tender, young dandelion leaves that are still a little wet to the pan and cover for a couple of minutes to steam.
Check frequently. When the leaves are wilted, transfer everything to a bowl.
Top with crumbled cooked bacon, parmesan or feta cheese and a little lemon juice, salt and pepper.

So, I no longer dread the first appearance of the weeds that have plagued my lawn. Now, I eagerly await their appearance with a fork in my hand, a smile on my face and a growl in my stomach. Bon appetit!

Be sure to read the whole article before preparing.

hattip: suite101.com

What's in Season?

I'm sure you all have heard the advice to eat seasonally, that is, eat fruits and vegetables that are ripe and ready to eat during the current season. But visiting the modern grocery store makes that really difficult since they are able to get most fruits and vegetables year round. Of course, even though you can get them year round doesn't always mean that they taste the best or are at their healthiest. For the best tasting, most nutritious produce, you should strive to get the them at the peak of their natural, local growing season.

To help you figure that out, here is a general list:

Winter: Carrots, chicories, chard, oranges/citrus, turnips, greens (kale, turnip, mustard and collard)

Spring: Carrots, cauliflower, greens (kale, turnip, mustard and collard), lettuces, radishes, rhubarb, strawberries, turnips

Summer: Asparagus, basil, beets, blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, figs, beans, lettuce, peaches, summer squash, corn

Fall: Basil, carrots, chicories, chard, greens (kale, turnip, mustard and collard), green beans

This is by no means a complete list, however, it is a good general list. Make friends with the produce manager at you local grocery store, or even better, make friends with your local farmers. They will be able to tell you when and where your produce was picked. Your taste buds and body will thank you!

Here Comes the Produce!

As we all remember, it was a long and very cold winter. Remember, too, how it affected us? Well, it affected our area produce, too. Our farmers found that their fruits and vegetables are taking a lot longer to ripen this year. Consequently, they haven't had any produce to sell at our market... until now. Starting this weekend, our farmers are starting to come back to the market with delicious, RIPE produce.

So, if you don't see your favorite vegetable this weekend, be patient and don't give up on us. We are trying to bring you the best produce that we can, but we want it to be local. I guess we could ship in fruits and vegetables from around the world, but that would defeat our purpose. Believe us when we say, we are doing everything we can to bring in every local farmers we can find to provide you with the best, freshest produce in town.

Thanks for understanding and for your patience. Unlike the grocery store, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Come out this weekend to the Camellia City Market and help us celebrate our 2nd birthday! We are very excited that not only is Cajun Chef John Folse coming out to celebrate with us, but we also are welcoming back several produce vendors selling mushrooms, peaches, honey, etc. And even more produce will be coming to the market over the next few weeks (fruits and veggies have been very slow growing this year due to the long, cold winter).

It should be a lot of fun this weekend, but it won't be the same without you. Make plans now to visit us on Saturday!

Welcome Back

The Latino Farmers Cooperative of Louisiana will be back at the market this Saturday with all kinds of fresh veggies. According to Kathia Duran, the Executive Director, We will have everything but the kitchen sink. We have lettuces coming out our ears!

Come on out to the Camellia City Market, Slidell's first and only true farmer's market, and become a locavore.

Don't Miss the Brown Bag Concert Series at the Market

This Saturday, May 15

Those Oliviers

Busy Weekend at the Market!

Wow! What a busy weekend we have, both at the market and around Slidell. This weekend, we are having the 2nd annual Slidell Memorial Health Fair at the Camellia City Market and that coincides with the Olde Towne Antique Street Fair. Luckily, it is going to be a gorgeous weekend to be outside!

So, what is this health fair, you might ask? Well, I'll tell ya. It's from 8:30-Noon in Griffith Park. Slidell Memorial Hospital will have respresentatives there from the Imaging & Cancer Services, the Sleep Disorder Center, the Maternal Child & Parenting Center, Nutrition & Diabetes Education as well as others. They will be performing all kinds of tests such as a grip strength test, body mass index screening, blood pressure screening and cholestoral screening. Of course, if you want to test your cholestoral, make sure you don't eat anything for 8 hours! We want to make sure it's accurate, right.

And once you find out how healthy you are, you can continue to stroll around the market or through all of Olde Towne and enjoy all of the goodies, including fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade baked goods and of course, antiques at the street fair.

If you are still looking for something to do after all of that, you can enjoy Slidell's annual Crawfish Cook-off at Fritchie Park.

Whew, that's a lot! But don't worry, with some careful planning, you can do it ALL!!

Why Should You Grow Your Own Garden?

April is National Garden Month so I decided to use this time to encourage you to grow your own vegetable garden. Why, you might ask? My, oh my there are so many reasons why…

1. Flavor. There is nothing like the taste of a fresh from the ground vegetable. Carrots, for example, will never taste as sweet as when they are first plucked from the ground. I’ll never forget how delicious my grandmother’s eggplant tasted straight from her garden. I’ve never been able to match it with store bought eggplant. The longer the time from the ground to your mouth, the less flavor it will have.

2. Nutrition. Not only will your vegetables taste better, but they will also healthier for you. According to GardenGuides.com:

Fresh vegetables from the garden will typically contain more vitamins and minerals than their counterparts sold at the supermarket. Commercially grown produce is usually harvested when it is still immature, especially when it is being transported from one state to another. Without fully maturing, the vegetables do not develop their full nutrition potential. Vegetables also begin to lose some of their nutrients immediately after picking. Frozen and canned foods tend to retain more of their nutrients than fresh vegetables sold in the store, because they are processed immediately after harvesting.

3. Healthy Living. If your vegetables taste better, guess what…you will want to eat more. And we all know we need to get more fruits and vegetables into our diets. This is especially true for our kids. Teaching our kids healthy eating habits when they are young will set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating.

4. Safety. When you purchase commercially grown fruits and vegetables, you have no idea what is being used to control garden pests. When you are the gardener, you get to decide what you use.

5. Saves Money. As fuel and other costs rise, so too do the price of fruits and vegetables. By growing your own, you are no longer a slave to the grocery store prices. You can enjoy your homegrown goodies year round (if you can or freeze your surplus) and knock down the cost of your grocery budget.

Convincing, right? So, why are you still sitting there? Go grab your shovel and start digging. Oh, and happy growing!

Of course, if you aren’t able to grow your own vegetables, visit the Camellia City Market every Saturday and buy your produce straight from our local farmers. Who knows, you could be buying your neighbor’s extra home grown vegetables.

Either way, your body and taste buds will thank you!

hattip:www.gardenguides.com

Show Off Your Most Creative Easter Eggs

Does your family have an Easter tradition of decorating Easter eggs? I know that we do and they are some of the most beautiful and creative works of art that my children have ever produced. Well, we at the market want to see YOUR works of art. Simply upload a picture on our Facebook page and show us your creativity. Not a member of facebook, well, email your pictures to us and we will post them on our blog and our Facebook fan page so that we can show the world what creative friends we have. We can't wait to see your pictures!

Here Come Peter Cottontail...

Calling all kids - Saturday, April 3rd, the Easter Bunny will be making a special appearance at the Camellia City Market to hide some Easter eggs for 2 very fun Easter egg hunts. At 10:00am, the hunt begins for the older kids and at 11:00am, the younger kids begin their hunt. So, bring your kids, your grandkids, your neighbor's kids and come to the Camellia City Market and celebrate Easter with us.

This Weekend at the Market - March 20

This weekend's cooking demonstration will be with Joyce and Darnell's Casual Dining. They will be cooking a shrimp and pasta dish. Yum!

Overboard is back at the market playing entertaining the folks with their toe-tapping, fun music. Always a crowd favorite. We've missed them during the cold winter.

Don't forget our Gardening Seminar from 9:00-10:00am taught by Mr. JB Anders with the LSU Ag Center. He will also be doing soil analysis for only $10.00, so make sure you bring a soil sample from your garden.

Do you want to sign up for our weekly newsletter? Click here.

Mary, Mary... How does your garden grow?

So, with spring right around the corner, now is the time to start planning your summer garden.

Don't know where to start? Well, come to the Market on March 20th at 9:00am and attend our 1 hour seminar on "How to Start a Garden" taught by JB Anders with the LSU Ag Center. You can also bring a soil sample from home and have it analyzed for only $10.00. Mr. Anders will be able to tell you the dirt on your dirt.

Dull, Dangerous Knives - BEWARE!

Your days of mayhem in the kitchen are numbered. HELP MY KNIFE will be at the Camellia City Market this Saturday (March 6th) putting an end to the blunt-edge reign of terror. Bring your dull knives to the heroes at HELP MY KNIFE and give your old knives a new lease on life by having them professionally sharpened. Your knives and your fingers will thank you!

Gardening in March

Believe it or not, spring is just around the corner. And along with the return of warmer temperatures comes the time to plan for that summer garden. Imagine having fresh veggies all summer long. Imagine having delicious blueberries on top of homemade vanilla ice cream. Imagine sharing your ripe, juicy home grown tomatoes with your family and friends. Well, now is the time to start!

Don't know where to start? Well there are a ton of resources online. First start at the LSU Ag Center website. The experts there will be able to help you get the most out of you South Louisiana garden. Next, check out BackyardGardener.com for more advice regarding your backyard garden.

And, of course, the Camellia City Market is an excellent resource. Our wonderful farmers are always willing to help out a fellow locavore.

Now you have no excuses...so get planting. Well, ok, if you have a brown thumb, you can always get your fresh produce from the Camellia City Market. We always have the season's best!

Talk to Us

The Camellia City Market was created by Slidell residents who responded to the needs and wants of their fellow residents and we couldn't be prouder of the results. Of course, our work is far from over. We recognize that we are in partnership with you, our friends and fellow Slidellians, to make the Camellia City Market the best farmers market possible. So please, let us know what we are doing right and let us know how we can improve. You can contact us through Facebook , Twitter or by email. And if you have some pictures or stories or recipes that you want to share, by all means - SHARE AWAY!! We are all part of the community of Slidell!

February is Creative Romance Month

The Chocolate Gourmet will be selling 1lb. box of chocolates or 1lb box of chocolate-covered strawberries, a mylar Valentine balloon and a stuffed animal - all for $30.00. Also available, for only $5.00, is a single chocolate-covered strawberry rose with a small stuffed animal (The perfect Valentine's gift for Mom from her little hearts). And check out her beautiful and delicious chocolate-covered strawberry roses bouquet - a great Valentine's Day gift your sweetheart will savor!

Greens are Back at the Market This Weekend!!

I love greens and I am very excited that Mr. Edward Lenoir will be back this weekend with greens picked fresh from his garden - beautiful greens. But, I have always wondered - what is the difference between collard greens, turnip greens and mustard greens? Of course, I guess that I could just get a bunch of each, cook them and then eat for a "side-by-side" comparison, but, honestly, I don't want to do all the cooking and, inevitably, the cleaning that would involve. So, I decided to do the next best thing - go to the Internet.

First came the technical info:

Collard greens are members of the cabbage family, turnip greens are the tops of the turnip plant and mustard greens, surprise, are the leaves of the mustard plant.

OK, but that didn't help me figure out the difference in flavor. So, back to the search button.

Then I stumbled upon this:

Collard greens: It's a little bitter. Eat the light green leaves for the best flavor.

Mustard greens: Usually peppery. Look for newer leaves.

Turnip greens: A little sweeter.

I also found this great information which encourages supporting your local farmer's market:

A note about nutrient density - food grown on today's commodity farms are not as nutritious as they were 25 years ago. The soil has been drained by years of use and the addition of petroleum based fertilizers. If you can buy locally you have a better chance at improving nutritional quality for a couple of reasons. Nutrition declines from the moment a plant food is harvested. It continues to decline until eaten. Also, small farms are learning about remineralizing their fields along with adding typical amendments. Food should do more than fill our stomachs and satisfy our taste buds - it should be giving us the nutrition we need to stay healthy.

And then there was this great recipe that made me hungry just reading it:

Mustard Greens Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup thinly sliced onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 pound mustard greens, washed and torn into large pieces

2 to 3 Tbsp chicken broth or vegetable broth (vegetarian option)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil

In a large sauté pan, sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until the onions begin to brown and caramelize, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook a minute more, until fragrant. Add the mustard greens and broth and cook until the mustard greens are just barely wilted. Toss with sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 4.

So with all of this information, I can't wait to go to the market this weekend and get me some delicious, fresh, beautiful mustard greens.

Do you have a favorite greens recipe? Share it with us.

hattip: Simply Recipes and City-Data

Are you having a party for the Big Game?

Come to the Camellia City Market for all of your pre-game food. We have baked treats, savory goods and fresh fruits and veggies. There is nothing better than eating delicious LOCAL food while watching our LOCAL team win the Super Bowl!

Take pictures of your family and friends enjoying the good food and the good game and send them to us. Or let us know about your special Super Bowl recipe? We love to hear from you!

Thank you for supporting the Camellia City Market and Geaux Saints!

Whooooo Daaaaaat!!!

January is National Egg Month. Tell us your favorite dish!

To celebrate, we at the Camellia City Market want to know - what is your favorite way to cook eggs? Have you tried Clyde Farm's goose or duck eggs? If so, let us know how you liked them. Send us pictures or even video. We love to hear from you! Send your stories, pictures or video to ddfatic@camelliacitymarket.org or link to them through Facebook or Twitter. Or send us your recipe and we'll post it on our website.

Have you tried our recipes?

Have you tried one of the recipes on our website? Did you modify it or cook it "as is?" Let us know how it turned out. And if you send us a picture (ddfatic@camelliacitymarket), we will post it on our blog and on Facebook.

If not, what's stopping you from picking up some delicious fresh produce this Saturday and trying something new. Send us your stories. We love hearing from our Market guests!

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy at the Market

EGGS, EGGS & MORE EGGS
Come see Bonnie with Clyde's Farm. She has goose eggs, duck eggs and Araucana eggs, which are naturally lower in cholesterol. To discover more about these unique eggs, click here.

DELICIOUS BAKED GOODS

Cricket is back with her homemade King Cakes and blueberry plants and a variety of jams and jellies from her blueberry crop from Blue Tara Farms where she grows all organic berries.
Maw Maws Creole Delights sells pralines, chess pies, pumpkin pies, sweet potato pies, amaretto pecan and pecan pies.

SAVORY DISHES
We have bacon wrapped shrimp hot off the grill, crawfish pies stuffed crabs, crabmeat au gratin and crab and asparagus soup - all made with fresh Louisiana seafood from The Kitchen Fairy. Stuffed french breads are a real winner - bacon cheeseburger, muffaletta, bbq briskit, pulled pork, bbq brisket and a stuffed club sandwich to die for! Take some home for the freezer.

AND MORE...
Serious Breads has fresh baked cinnamon raisin whole wheat bread which makes the best french toast ever. They also have huge french loafs, whole grain loafs and great cranberry scones.

Fresh local honey, creamed honey, honey sticks from Twisted Pines Apiary.

Fresh made biscuits, scones, Italian cookies, biscotti, Goat milk soap, organic dog treats, herbs and plants from Slidell Nursery, smoked ribs, pulled pork sandwichs,rib tips,smoked meatloaf, baked potatoes, half and whole smoked chickens, smoked turkey legs, tamales, all hot off the smoker. Chocolate and peanut butter fudge, pralines with whiskey sauce, Frenchy's Gourmet Apples, gourmet chocolates, chocolate covered strawberrys, cookie cakes.Fresh herbs of almost every kind are available weekly and a wide variet of plants and flowers. The Mental Health Association of St. Tammany Parish is selling hot chocolate (nothing better on a cool Saturday morning!), as well as iced teas and fresh baked banana nut bread. Stop by and support them.

DON'T FORGET

We also recycle old cell phones and eyeglasses. Bring them to the information tent. Hot coffee every Saturday at the information tent. $1.00 donation to the Market.

SEE YOU AT THE MARKET!

The Incredible, Edible Egg

According to Dr. William Campbell Douglass:

Did you know that cholesterol is not a terrifying toxin, but a life-saving nutrient. Your own body makes it when your food don't provide it. And studies now show that if you're cholesterol-starved, you will raise your risk of massive strokes.

EGG LOVERS LIVE LONGER. Not only are eggs not guilty of causing heart disease, they've been proven to prevent it. That's right - an enormous study of 800,000 people has shown that egg-eaters have a much lower rate of heart attacks and strokes than egg-avoiders.

And on that note, we are pleased to announce that Clydes Farm is now a vendor at the Camellia City Market. Clydes Farms sells Bonnie's Farm Fresh Eggs. Bonnie's Farm Fresh Eggs include brown eggs, duck* and goose eggs* and lower cholesterol Araucana eggs.

*in season

So, just what exactly are Araucana eggs?

In 1914, fowl were discovered in the forests of Chile, South America. These fowl were different from all other known chickens in that they laid a bluish-grey colored egg. Until this time, it was believed that all domestic chickens were descended from the wild Jungle Fowl of southeast Asia and had come by explorers and traders to the Orient, Europe, Africa, and the New World. But the knowledge of this strange South American chicken suggests the possibility of an entirely different species of wild Jungle Fowl, which was indigenous to the Western Hemisphere.

The name, Araucana, comes from a large territory in Chile and the Araucanian Indian people there. It is thought that their ancestors had developed and domesticated this colored egg layer long before the Spanish conquest of South America. The disruption of Indian life and culture by this conquest led to what was, for 400 years, believed to be the extinction of these chickens. But since their re-discovery in 1914, they have gradually become known in both England and the United States.

It is known that Spanish conquistadores of the 16th century reported finding chickens in South and Central America that laid blue eggs and had no tails, and which were different from those of Castile in Spain. Also Chilean Indians had words for hen, rooster, and egg which were totally unrelated to corresponding Spanish terms. These pieces of evidence support the theory that there were chickens in South America before the Europeans came.

The original Araucanas, judging from a color plate appearing in the National Geographic Magazine of April 1927 and probably painted from a specimen in the Washington, DC Zoo was tail-less, clean legged, and with small tufts of feathers over each ear. Crossing with other breeds has pretty well eliminated the tailless feature, has reduced the number of birds with eartufts, although some are still present, and has introduced a great variety of plumage colors. The blue-green egg color trait seems to be dominant, however, and so far as is known will persist indefinitely in subsequent generations. This fascinating and colorful breed has not yet been standardized as to plumage color or body type, but the unusual egg color is an identifying feature and attracts intense interest and surprise wherever seen.

hattip: Murray McMurray Hatchery and Douglass Report

Make a New Year's Resolution - Become a Locavore!

There is nothing better for your body or your tastebuds than locally grown, fresh foods.

Guidelines for Eating Well

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic. This is one of the most readily available alternatives in the market and making this choice protects the environment and your body from harsh chemicals and hormones.

If not ORGANIC, then Family farm. When faced with Kraft or Cabot cheeses, Cabot, a dairy co-op in Vermont, is the better choice. Supporting family farms helps to keep food processing decisions out of the hands of corporate conglomeration.

If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business. Basics like coffee and bread make buying local difficult. Try a local coffee shop or bakery to keep your food dollar close to home.

If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Terroir, which means 'taste of the Earth'. Purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in and support the agriculture that produces your favorite non-local foods such as Brie cheese from Brie, France or parmesan cheese from Parma, Italy.

Hit the farmers' market before the supermarket. Plan your meal around local ingredients you find at the market.

Branch out. Maybe your usual food repertoire could use some fresh ideas. The farmers' market provides a perfect chance to try a new ingredient when it's in season, and lets you talk to its grower to find out the best way to prepare your new food. Flirt with your food producer!

Feed the freezer. Can't cook every night? Worried about your fresh produce going bad? It's easy. Make lasagna with local tomatoes or a soup packed with fresh veggies and freeze it! You can also make personal size meals for a brown bag lunch.

Go out! Many restaurants emphasize local foods in their dishes. Ask around, you might be surprised how many options you find that serve up local flavor.

hattip: Locavore.com