Fresh Cooking with Farmers Market Finds

Omelet with Fresh Spinach, Feta and Olives

The best recipes start with the freshest ingredients. And what better place to find fresh ingredients than at a farmers’ market?

A trip to the farmers market does more than put some fresh veggies on the table. Farmers’ markets benefit:

• Family farmers: Farmers’ markets offer farmers the opportunity to sell their products directly to consumers which builds strong relationships and ensures that farmers reap a fair price for their products.
• The community: Fresh, nutritious foods are scarce in urban communities, and farmers’ markets provide easy access to food, and promotion of nutrition education, wholesome eating habits and better food preparation.
• You: Citizens gain access to locally grown, organic, farm-fresh produce and other goodies, and the chance to personally interact with the farmer who grows it.

In addition to supporting farmers by shopping at farmers’ markets, there are other ways to vote for family farming with your dollar. For example, you can support the Organic Heroes campaign, a partnership between Organic Valley, the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, and Nature’s Path, North America’s number one maker of organic cereal, benefiting the Rodale Institute. Here’s how it works: when you purchase one Organic Valley product and one Nature’s Path product, and then mail in both proofs-of-purchase, you’ll receive a free, one-year subscription to Organic Gardening magazine and a chance to win a year of free breakfasts (organic milk and cereal). Both companies will contribute $1 each for every proof-of-purchase mailed in (up to $50,000) to the Rodale Institute’s Farmers Can Be Heroes program, an outreach program designed to portray organic family farmers as heroes and offer farmers the resources and tools they need to transition to organic farming.

For farm-fresh recipes and more information, visit www.organicvalley.coop.

Omelet with Fresh Spinach, Feta and Olives

Ingredients

• 12-16 ounces fresh organic spinach
• 2 tablespoons bottled Greek dressing or homemade vinaigrette flavored with oregano
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped black Greek or Kalamata olives
• 8-12 large Organic Valley eggs
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 4 ounces Organic Valley feta cheese, crumbled
• Freshly ground pepper

Preparation

1. Clean spinach, remove stems, and coarsely chop the leaves. Heat Greek dressing in a very large skillet, add chopped spinach, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until wilted. Raise heat to high and cook until nearly all the liquid as evaporated. Turn off heat and stir in black olives. Keep warm.
2. Make omelets one at a time in a small, non-stick (8-inch) skillet with sloping sides.
3. For each omelet, beat two or three eggs in a bowl. Heat a little olive oil over high heat in the skillet. Pour in eggs; they will immediately begin to set on the bottom. With a spatula, pull egg from outer edges of pan towards the center; the uncooked egg will spread and cook. Keep doing this until most of the egg is set - this will only take a moment - then spread any remaining uncooked egg across surface of omelet. Reduce heat to low.
4. The egg will continue to cook as you distribute some of the crumbled feta, spinach filling and pepper over the surface. Holding a plate close to the pan with one hand and shaking the pan slightly with your other hand, slip omelet onto a plate, rolling it into either a cigar shape or folding it over into a half-moon.
5. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200-degree oven while you prepare additional omelets.

Serves
Servings 4

Notes, Tips & Suggestions
Recipe courtesy of Terese Allen, for Organic Valley Family of Farms.

SOURCE:
Organic Valley