As may be expected, food was a huge part of our trip. Every restaurant had vastly different variations of the obligatory Greek salads, using some of the freshest tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers you’ve ever seen. We repeatedly ordered bread with tzatziki (a cucumber-yogurt dip) and aubergine (eggplant) dip  to see how they’d vary, and because we had become addicted. Tzatziki pretty much became my main food group for a few days back in America. But the downside of having such fond memories of the food means that any restaurant-made Greek salad here doesn’t come close to those we had by the Mediterranean. But maybe there’s hope.

This weekend, the Nativity of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church will hold its annual Greek festival. You’ll find authentic homemade Greek lunches and dinners, pastries and desserts. Music and dance troupes, kids activities, and vendors round out the three-day event.

I’ve never been, so I can’t attest to this particular festival, but if it’s like other Greek festivals I’ve been to, I’m sure it’s pretty great. (I’m pretty bummed that an out-of-town graduation will keep me from checking it out. Maybe I’ll try to head over for a late lunch today before hitting the road.)

Here’s more on what you can find at the festival, on the church on Spotswood Furnace Road, off Plank Road:

For more information, check out the church’s website. The festival runs from 3 p.m. to 10 p .m. today, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, and noon-7 p.m. Sunday.

If you spend $10 per week–or more–at the Fredericksburg and Stafford farmers markets, you’ll be entered for various prizes, including a $250-valued gift basket at the end of the season.

The challenge is sponsored by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Virginia Grown division.

At the downtown market at Hurkamp Park, pick up a punch card from the market managers. For every $10 you spend on locally grown items, you get one punch. When you get 14 punches to fill up a card, turn them back in to be entered into monthly drawings on First Saturdays. Prizes can range from gift certificates for local restaurants, to a basket filled with local goods. The grand prize is a Virginia Grown gift basket.

And there’s no limit on the number of entries. Spend more, earn more punches, and fill up more cards. SNAP purchases also count. Punch cards will be offered starting June 1. Questions can be directed to marketmanager@fredericksburgva.gov.

The new North Stafford Farmers market, which opens Sunday, June 2, will also participate. The $10 punch cards will work the same way, and every month, a drawing will be held for a $20 basket of goods.

Every time that I see a particularly lovely bunch (which this spring, has been fairly often), I just have to have it. But, what next?

All day yesterday, I wondered what to do with the huge bunch I purchased at the Braehead Farm market that was sitting in my fridge (along with more strawberries, of course). A simple preparation from Martha Stewart seemed like an ideal side dish to go alongside leftover tomato and artichoke pasta–a favorite Pioneer Woman recipe that comes together in a flash with pantry staples.

The tougher stems get cooked with a little oil and garlic first, then the chopped leaves get added to the pot, with a spoonful of sugar. I really liked how the dish was just a tad sweet, then balanced with salt, pepper and a splash of red wine vinegar. I’d recommend this method for any time you don’t know what to do with some of the greens.

Need more ideas? Try this chard and sausage lasagna from a Front Burner post last year, a fritatta, or any of these recipes from a wire story on our website. What’s your favorite way to prepare chard — or any of the other cool weather greens?

Sauteed Swiss Chard

From Martha Stewart – I used the technique but scaled down the ingredients for just two servings. 

Most of my family’s berries were always destined for jars of jam, to fill our PB&Js throughout the year. But my absolute favorite way to enjoy them (besides dirt-covered, right off the vine) is sliced on top of homemade vanilla ice cream, drizzled with my mom’s rich hot fudge sauce.

When I was growing up in Roanoke, my family would drive about an hour away to a huge strawberry farm, where acres upon acres of fruit waited to be picked. The staff at the entrance would direct us to one of their many fields, where we’d pick up gallon buckets, and start on a row. We’d move the little flag from the beginning of that row and stick it in the earth where we eventually stopped picking. After snacking on a few too many berries, and making sure the buckets held as many as possible without overflowing, we’d settle up and head home. Jam-making and messy kitchens awaited.

A few years back, when my sister and I were both in college and our folks were too busy during the month-long strawberry season, Emma and I picked the berries ourselves. Unsure of how many my mom needed to make her jam, we kept picking and picking and picking, until we ended up with around 5 gallons or so–costing us at least $50, every last dollar bill we had on us. (They cost a flat rate of $10 per overflowing bucket.) My family ended up canning three or four batches of jam the next day, enough for many, many Christmas gifts.

We tried all sorts of recipes that year to use up the rest of the berries–mini pies, strawberry salsa, daiquiris, ice cream, and the ones that remained were frozen on cookie sheets, then bagged and ready to be tossed in smoothies later in the year.

The simplest and maybe the most rewarding use, no matter how many berries you have, is with vanilla ice cream. That’s the first thing I wanted to do with my berries from the city’s new pick-your-own spot at >Brahead Farm (Bill Freehling wrote about the farmback in March).

On Friday, my boyfriend and I drove the two miles from my house to the farm, a family friendly agricultural pocket offering just one acre of berries in its first year. In less than a half-hour, we had filled a $1 bucket with around 5 pounds of berries, at $2.99 per pound. (You can buy pre-picked for $3.99/lb.)

That afternoon, a simple four-ingredient vanilla ice cream came together quickly in my Cuisinart ice cream maker, and I mixed up a decadent Cointreau-laced hot fudge sauce on the stove top. Talk about the best pre-dinner snack there is. Something about the combination of fresh berries, real ice cream and chocolate makes spring feel just right.

As for the rest of the berries, we’ve been eating them with yogurt and granola, muddled in strawberry-mint mojitos, and just straight from the fridge. A small batch of jam could be coming soon–if there are any left after I pull out the hot fudge this evening.

Chocolate Sauce 

In a heavy saucepan, combine 1 cup cocoa, 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar.

Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 stick unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons liqueur (Kahlua and Cointreau are great choices). Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce boils. Then boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat, add 2 more tablespoons liqueur and 1-1/3 teaspoons vanilla extract. Enjoy!

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

From the Cuisinart ice cream-maker instruction booklet

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine 1-1/2 cups whole milk and 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 3 cups heavy cream and 1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract. Pour into your ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer’s instructions. It should take about 20 to 25 minutes for the ice cream to thicken. If you want it firmer, transfer to an airtight container and place in the freezer for 2 hours before serving.

“We have a great array of products including fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese, ice cream, gelato, baked goods, honey, dog treats, ready to eat foods, and plants and flowers,” writes manager Elizabeth Borst in the announcement email this morning.

It’ll be open every Wednesday until Oct. 9, from 3-7 p.m. at 4600 Spotsylvania Parkway. SNAP and credit cards are welcome. (Here’s your guide to other markets in the region.)

What vendors can you expect this season?

Stallard Road Farm, of Rixeyville — Beef and honey

The Floure Shoppe, of Dumfries — baked goods 

Roberto’s Produce, of Montross — vegetables and fruit

Glenburnie Farm, of Spotsylvania — vegetables and microgreens 

Roberto Rodriguez, of Colonial Beach — flowers and orchids

Mt. Olympus Farm, of Ruther Glen — vegetables and fruit 

Luis Guitierrez, of Spotsylvania — vegetables and fruits

Aretusa Pasta, of Fredericksburg – Italian Foods Mobile Kitchen

C&T Produce, of Stafford — vegetables and fruit 

Knick-Knack Paddy-Whack, of Stafford — gourmet dog treats

Finchville Dairy, of Spotsylvania — gelato, eggs and cheese 

Diaz Berries, of Colonial Beach — berries and vegetables

Ochoa Produce, of Warsaw — vegetables and fruit 

Bees ‘n Blossoms, of Providence Forge — honey and bee products 

Hillside Perennials, of Spotsylvania — plants 

Abner Butterfield, of Stafford — ice cream truck 

Eggs, vegetables, cheese–healthy and a great way to clean out the fridge, especially for a vegetarian. Add a salad and maybe bread, and you’re set for dinner. And leftovers can be breakfast or lunch. Eggs are a staple in my diet, so I’m constantly looking for ways to change them up.

But I feel that I’m not alone in the struggle to make a frittata that’s both moist and flavorful. They’re certainly well intentioned, but it always seems like no matter how many herbs you toss into the eggs, their flavors just don’t come through in the finished dish. Or the eggs get overcooked and the resulting dish is dry, with a burnt bottom. I’ve tried all sorts of recipes, and also attempted just tossing the ingredients into a pan and hoping for the best.

Last night though, I made what’s probably been my best frittata yet, from the Sprouted Kitchen cookbook, one of several books that I’ve bought recently and have obsessed over. Sweet potatoes formed a protective crust on the bottom of the cast-iron pan, preventing the bottom of the eggs from burning before the middle of the frittata had set up. Then the spiced potatoes were topped with some green onion, chopped spinach, parsley, then the beaten eggs and some cheese. Into the oven the pan went, until the eggs were still wet, but had just set up. Carryover heat finished them off.

While these ingredients worked well for early spring, with what’s available at the farmers market, you could use the same technique with other potatoes and/or root vegetable, and paired with another softer vegetable. (You can add meat too, if you’d like.)

(In fact, if you use regular potatoes, you’re on your way to a Tortilla Espanola, a Spanish omelet filled with slightly fried potatoes and flipped to cook both sides evenly; variations may have peppers or peas. I’d be curious to do this simpler technique by pan frying some potato cubes, adding peas and green onions, pour in the eggs (and cheese, of course) and finish in the oven. Tortilla Espanola’s have been a staple on my trips to Spain, and are everywhere, from inside crusty bread to form bocadillos, or as small slices and eaten as tapas.)

The Sprouted Kitchen recipe stood out in the new book, but when my housemate made a failed frittata last week, I knew it was time to try this one. She had spent longer than she had planned chopping up just-bought vegetables, cooking them together , adding the eggs and cooking her large frittata in the oven. After all her work though, she wasn’t happy with the end product, which she hoped would make for good lunches at school everyday that week. But it lacked flavor, she said, and just sat in the fridge. When she saw this recipe last night, she was also inspired and plans to try again.

What also may have helped last night was that there weren’t too many different vegetables. I’ve gotten carried away in the produce section, but perhaps that just overwhelms the egg dish. Simplicity could be key.

And the sweet potatoes–they make just about everything better, in my opinion.  

Baby Spinach Frittata with Sweet Potato Hash Crust

From The Sprouted Kitchen

Note: I easily halved this recipe and made it in a smaller cast-iron pan, enough for two meals for me–and for my dog to steal a slice off the table when I walked away. 

• 8 eggs 
• 1/2 cup whole milk (make do with what you have - I used 1% with a dash of heavy cream)
• salt and pepper
• 2 small sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
• 2 cups baby spinach (I used mature spinach, stems removed, and roughly chopped)
• 1/3 cup (3 oz.) herbed fresh goat cheese (I used plain goat cheese and some fresh ricotta mixed together)
• chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley)
• hot sauce, optional

Arrange a rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat the oven to 425F.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together until uniform in color. Add the milk, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, whisk, and set aside.  

Peel the sweet potatoes (or scrub well and leave peel on) and cut them into 1/4-inch cubes. Warm the oil in a 10- or 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add the potatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle the cumin, 1/2 tsp. salt, and the thyme and stir again. Cook the sweet potatoes, tossing occasionally, until they are cooked through and have brown marks, about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the green onions on top of the potatoes, followed by the spinach. Let the spinach wilt, about 1 minute, putting a lid on the pan to help things along if you have one. (Add parsley/cilantro here, if you’d like.) Turn the heat down to low. Give the eggs one last whisk and pour them over the spinach. Break up the cheese with your fingers and distribute it over the top. Put the pan in the oven and bake until you can shake the pan and see that the middle is just barely set, 10 to 12 minutes. The handle will be very hot.

Put the frittata aside to set for a couple minutes before slicing it. Sprinkle with more pepper and garnish with the cilantro. Serve with hot sauce on the side.

Recipe note from author Sarah Forte: Layers of flavor and only two dirty dishes–this is a dream breakfast. It’s the perfect weekend dish to leave on the stove so you take off little bites as the morning lingers. I learn things each time I make a frittata, which is often, as it’s the perfect dish for using up leftover roasted vegetables or other produce. They are typically started on the stove and finished in the oven, which is less hassle than it sounds like as long as you keep an eye on the heat level. If you add the egg mixture to a scalding hot pan, you’ll end up with burnt edges. Keep the burner on low when you pour in the eggs and gently warm everything up before putting it in the oven. It’ll finish setting in the oven’s heat and you won’t end up with a burnt egg crust. The sweet potato has protects the filling here, but it’s worth noting anyway. I recommend using a nonstick or castiron pan to ensure it comes out of the pan cleanly. The timing is based on a 10-inch pan. If you double the recipe, use something larger and adjust the cooking time as needed. 

I didn’t plan to make double the dessert yesterday. I didn’t want to, either. But when it’s your friend’s 25th birthday, you do what you’ve gotta do.

Finally, a cake worthy for a party. Though my icing piping still needs some practice. More cake for the newsroom soon?

A quick recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor was my goal–a two-layer yellow cake mix spruced up with bananas, and a chocolate-pudding middle. And doing the frosting would be good practice after my last Wilton Cake Decorating lesson at A.C. Moore.

But, as is bound to happen when you share a kitchen, we ran out of counter space for the cooling racks. The nearby washing machine seemed like a good alternative–a flat, clean surface.

Except, it was just resting between wash and rinse cycles.

The poor cake, only 5 minutes from the oven, was thrown to the floor while I was mixing up the icing. I never even considered that the washer, frozen just moments earlier, would shake the cooling rack so much that the cake pan would wiggle off and end up upside down, 3-feet below.

Of course, the dog got the blame at first. And she loved the treat, now mixed in with dirty towels on the floor and not salvageable in any way at all.

I probably should have called it quits, but I was set on surprising my friend with a cake. And the evening didn’t get any better. I had to steal a roommate’s eggs and cream cheese, make one trip to 7-Eleven down the street for an overly priced 4-pound bag of sugar (desperate times call for desperate measures), and wait for what seemed like forever for it to finish baking, long after everyone else was in bed.

But this morning, finally, a white cake studded with chocolate chips, and topped with a strawberry cream cheese icing (the Neapolitan recipe from “Piece of Cake“) was decorated and done.

And I hope my friend appreciated it even more than the first cake.

Maybe you haven’t tried to cool a cake on a washer, but what other unintentional lessons have you picked up in the kitchen? 

Those selling fresh fruits and vegetables include: Gerardo Flores Produce, Barajas Produce, C&T Produce, Sergio Lopez Produce, The Green Thumb and Walnut Hill Farm (Colonial Beach). 

Other vendors are: Fieldcrest Farms with plants and flowers; Walnut Hill Farm of Falmouth with meats and eggs; Knick-Knack Paddy-Whack with dog treats; Harvest Bread Co. with baked goods; Abner Butterfield Ice Cream Company; and Walnut Hollow Workshop with honey and wooden products.

Here’s the full list of vendors–returning and new ones–at the Fredericksburg market. Check next week’s paper for more details on local markets.

Not the microwave stuff that’s full of chemicals and no real flavor. And not that once-a-year treat at the movie theater that leaves you with a stomachache from overindulging.

I’m talking about freshly popped popcorn with an ever-changing array of toppings, everything from basil salt to maple syrup.

This naked popcorn is crying out for flavors!

Popcorn can actually be a healthy snack if it’s air-popped and not completely doused in fats and salts. Since it’s a whole grain, there’s fiber too. A study last year found that popcorn (primarily the hulls) may also have similar amounts of healthy antioxidants as fruits and vegetables. 

In college, air-popped popcorn stood in for dinner on many late nights. It filled us up, but never did my roommate and I think to add some creativity to the white fluffy food.

Lately though, I’ve rummaged through spices and Googled for some inspiration. I’ll drizzle on a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil or melted butter (for sweet flavors) and sprinkle on other toppings. Nutritional yeast (with vitamins and protein) paired well with basil salt leftover from last summer. Other combinations I’ve tried: shavings of dark chocolate, unsweetened coconut and sprinkling of salt; pure maple syrup with a little melted butter; cinnamon and sugar; and lemon zest, chopped parsley, garlic-infused oil and parmesan.

Here are some other ideas I’ve found that I want to try soon, including a sweet curry topping, a lemon-herb seasoning salt, coconut curry, salt and pepper, or even dried fruits and nuts.

(I’m not the only one in my house with a popcorn addiction. It’s a special treat that my dog and a housemate also frequently share. She’ll make a batch on the stovetop with a mix of butter, oil and salt, and when kernels fly out onto the floor, the dog thinks it’s the best day in her entire life. For every few pieces my roommate eats, the dog gets gifted with a few more, and cleans up all the crumbs. I’m actually not sure who snacks on more!)

Tell me, do you like to make popcorn at home? What’s your preferred method? Do you keep it simple or punch up the flavors? 

- Shop -

The King George Farmers Market opens its season on Saturday, April 27, and the North Stafford Farmers Market will officially open Sunday, June 2. Stay tuned for a round-up on what to expect this year at the area’s markets.

“Girls with Crabs,” a new cookbook by the owners of Capt. Jack’s Seafood Shack, will come out this spring. Another seafood restaurant will fill the closing Thornburg location. Here’s the story.

- Dine -

The Happy Clam’s pastry chef makes pies that keep customers coming back. (Have you tried them? The restaurant just topped my list of places to check out!) Here is Charlotte Rodina’s Food story.

Aretusa Pasta Mobile Kitchen often parks on Stafford’s International Parkway during lunchtime, and Owner Mario Bianca is looking for other spots to take his food truck. Read Cathy Jett’s story.

Castiglia’s has been a fixture downtown for quite a long time — and recently, reviewer Kurt Rabin checked out their new tapas bar. Find out what he thought here.

Shawn’s Smokehouse BBQ Company opened in Culpeper at the beginning of March, offering meat that’s “fall-off-the-bone tender and permeated with flavor.” Here’s Cathy Jett’s business story.

Doc’s Pizza will be the region’s first locally owned drive-through pizza restaurant. Employees will wear medical scrubs at the Garrisonville Road location, and Dr. Chris Neibauer plans to open dozens more over five years. Read more here.

- Cook -

On Easter, I made an angel food cake, topped with homemade lemon curd and sliced strawberries, to celebrate my grandfather’s 94th birthday. It’s also a perfect treat for early spring.  Read about my first (unsuccessful) attempt last year, and how I finally mastered the finicky recipe.

- Live -

How does color influence flavor? Dietitian Jennifer Motl explains in her Sunday column.