Farmers Market to Table

After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver the family has been very excited about growing and making our own food items. Obviously, we are not perfect, but we do make our effort. Not only is it ecologically responsible and what not, but it's fun. Not to mention, often times cheaper. I gave Ma a cheesemaking kit from New England Cheesemaking for Mother's Day. So, when Sister came home last weekend we made cheese! We got our milk straight from South Mountain Dairy at the Baltimore Farmers Market and made our very own pizza with it that night. It took less than an hour to make a pound of mozzarella!

While my dad took care of composing the pizzas, I composed a salad. Now, not everything was from the market, and the dressing wasn't even homemade. But I just made some cheese, so I get some liberties here. The point is, this could be made entirely from the market if you go on the right day.

Obviously for a salad, the quantities are left to individual tastes. I, of course, go heavy on the cheese. The lettuce is from the market and it's a mix. Next time, it will probably come right from the garden!

Since it's getting close to summer and the salad had fruit in it, I went with Annie's Mango Dressing. I believe a cider or basalmic vinegar type dressing would be excellent as well.

Pear & Cheddar Salad

Lettuce (I used a mix of red leaf bibb and romaine)

Bosc Pears, diced

English Cheddar Cheese, diced

Tomato, seeded and diced

Cucumber, diced