It’s a funny thing, how our food tastes evolve. When I was little, I developed a love for toast and jam. My mom has a knack for placing the triangles of butter just so, in the corners and a dot in the middle, where the result is pillowy pockets of butter hugged by golden brown crunch. Topped with sweet jam of almost any variety (strawberry, apple and raspberry top the list), it’s a love I haven’t outgrown. During my teenage years, it took form as that ready-to-go breakfast sensation, the Pop-Tart. Not nearly as delicious to me as fresh toast, Pop-Tarts were appealing mainly as a go-to vessel for something sweet, be it jam or chocolate. The fact that they’re glazed didn’t hurt, either. In college, I even savored cold Pop-Tarts after long camping trip hikes. So when I recently saw Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery on The Today Show making home-made Pop-Tarts, maybe I didn’t think of it as my carbohydrate + sweet quick-treat maturing into adulthood. That might be a stretch. But I did think that making my own breakfast pastries sounded pretty darn good. Check out the recipe for yourself. A few disclaimers based on my experience: making the dough a day ahead is awesome; rolling it out can be tricky—I found that my Silpat worked best as a surface; DON”T OVER-FILL—I think 2 tablespoons was a bit much for each tart and I will definitely cut back the next time I make these, maybe to 1 tablespoon; if you do over-fill and don’t seal the dough together enough, like me, prepare to mop up jam from your sheet at 5 minute intervals during baking; don’t worry, you’ll get through it, and the leaking jam doesn’t cause the Pop-Tarts to taste any less delicious; USE SPRINKLES, for crying out loud, they’re pretty and yummy. Despite my minor pop-tastrophe with over-filling, I’m totally going to make these again. The pastry is buttery and flaky. There are endless possibilities to fillings. And sprinkles rock. 

John likes sprinkles, too. Well, he likes salt sprinkles better than any rainbow variety. He loved butter from a young age, also. As in, he ate sticks of butter. Luckily, like kids who ate Crayolas and Play-Doh, he grew out of it. But what this habit grew into, I’m convinced, is his love of caramels. Those sticky sweets’ main ingredients are cream and butter. And he must’ve eaten salted butter because salted caramels are John’s favorite. It’s pretty easy and quick to make this treat yourself, as long as you pay careful attention and have a candy thermometer. Try Ina Garten’s Fleur De Sel Caramels. I made a few adjustments: I used a 9 x 9 pan and chose not to roll the caramels. I cut them directly into squares instead—by turning the 9 x 9 pan out onto a cutting board, cutting the square in half and then into smaller squares. I also chose not to individually wrap the caramels, but to store them in a single layer in an air tight container in the fridge. Last, I didn’t have any fleur de sel on hand, so I ground up kosher salt in my mortar and pestle for a finer texture and that worked just fine. It’s really up to your tastes, so you can get creative with the salts. I tried Bella Cucina’s Tuscan Rose & Pink Peppercorn salt to tasty effect as well. I’ll never outgrow a good sprinkle.

If you don’t feel like getting in the kitchen yourself…
Find locally homemade Pop-Tarts by Atlanta’s Red Queen Tarts
Find locally handmade caramels (salted or chocolatey) by Atlanta’s Cacao

If there’s a hole in your corn, there’s probably a worm in there, too. And that’s okay. I overheard a woman at the farmers’ market last week gasp at a little green worm that greeted her upon corn inspection. She plopped the produce down and walked away. Here’s the thing…if you like organic (good) things and you dislike pesticide (nasty) things, you’re going to come upon a few worms in your corn from time to time. The food chain is equal opportunity, y’all. 

Growing up south of Atlanta, in Henry County, my friend Jessica and I would pick corn in her dad’s field and sell it on the roadside. It was hot, sticky work. And the bugs waiting for us in between those rows of corn were a lot meaner than the ones just trying to get by inside the husks. I picked corn there because I had fun laughing with Jessica and because, at the end of the day, I got sent home with as much sweet cobs as my family could stand. We’d boil it, butter it, salt it, enjoy it, and repeat.

A few corn tips that I’ve learned along the way: Pick up corn with bright green husks and silky dark brown tops. You can sometimes tell if a worm’s in there because you’ll see a little hole in the husk. If it’s near the top, you’re ok. If it’s towards the middle or you notice brownish stains on the husks, the worm has won that battle and you can move on. Refrigerate the corn immediately when you get home. When it’s time to shuck, I pull back the husk gently and, if a worm’s been snacking up top, I just use the husk to break off that bit. A final tip, if you’re looking to remove the kernels for a recipe, cut the cob in half first. This gives you a shorter distance for the kernels to fall (all over the place) and a more even surface to balance on your cutting board.

Last week, we made a delicious corn side dish for our neighborhood diners group. The Barefoot Contessa’s Confetti Corn was quick, easy, and as pretty to look at as it was to eat. We picked up the corn, orange bell pepper, and herbs at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market. I omitted onions since someone in our group is allergic and I couldn’t find any chives, so just went with parsley and basil. It was a sweet taste of summer and John even ate the peppers! For those of you that don’t like peppers, check out the orange ones. They’re sweeter and not as aggressive on the palate as green can be. 

Since spring has sprung, we've been enjoying weekly trips to Atlanta's local farmer's markets. Our favorites are the Peachtree Road Farmer's Market (a large selection of veggies, meats, cheeses, and breakfast/lunch goodies), Morningside (a little more low-key, smaller, but across from Alon's!), and the Piedmont Park Green Market (closest to home). All three offer pretty sweet chef demos and great dog-watching to boot (the latter, I'm convinced, is my husband's favorite part of market-ing). I always loved visiting the markets for sensory delights and chef/people watching, but it was Food Inc. that convinced me to rely heavily on local farmers for our main source of groceries. I had always known local/organic was best for many reasons (health, environment, supporting local farmers and artisans), but seeing what waste and corruption truly exists in corporate food culture really put me over the edge. SO here we are, trying to do our small part by buying as much local/organic/humanely raised products as we can. Since we both work for non-profits, we're having to get creative with stretching the greens, as it were...

This is where the basil comes in! Basil is just awesome right now - you can't help but smell it if you walk into any of the vendor tents at the markets. It's bright, beautiful, and brings back memories of incredible caprese salads in Italy (and a few at home in the States, too). It doesn't hurt that it's also pretty inexpensive - the going rate seems to be $2, but you need to walk around the market before buying. I got a significantly bigger bunch at one farmer's stand than the other's, for the same price. And with a few key ingredients, basil will provide you with at least 8 meals, no joke!

Enter pesto. It's super-simple to make; you can make a ton of it out of few raw materials; and it freezes well. I am in love with the Barefoot Contessa (and her kitchen...and her garden...), so my favorite recipe is hers (below). I mixed about 3/4 cup pesto with a pound of pasta for a quick supper this weekend (if we weren't pinching pennies, it would have been grand with shrimp involved...) Pesto is also great as a pizza sauce, over chicken with a nice piece of provolone on top, caprese style with a thick slice of buffalo mozzarella and juicy tomato, over an omelet, in any number of Asian dishes, and you could even use it in a cold noodle salad with sun-dried tomatoes and your other favorite veggies - it's a great go-to!

I truly can't wait to go back to the market next time and see what we come up with. I like the spontaneity of trying a new recipe based on what's good at the market, but I also advise taking a list (for a cheat sheet of what's in season when, the Peachtree Road FM has a great pdf online). Having a list helps with the pennies! And the more pennies you have, the more lobster rolls you can buy from Souper Jenny or pizza from Moto Bene or bread/pastry from H&F or cookies from The Cookie Studio...Ok, maybe my husband's favorite part is the puppy-watching, but his real goal at the market is to keep me from spending all our pennies...

Here are a few shots of our pesto pasta - note that if you use the pesto as a pasta sauce, you'll probably want to add a bit of salt to taste to your finished dish.

My pesto pasta

John's pesto pasta (he adds red pepper flakes for an extra kick)