Local food doesn't have to be fussy, and this farmers market pizza recipe proves it. Simply pick up your favorite local ingredients from the farmers market, throw them on a pizza crust with cheese and sauce, and BAM, you've got dinner. Luckily, we have a cottage food vendor at our farmers market that makes pizza dough at the Old Capitol Farmer Market, but if you can't find dough at your market, ju...

A couple years ago when Blue Apron and Sun Basket and all of the meal kit services were hitting the Market, Buy Fresh Buy Local teamed up with Chef Ryan Lewis to see if we could make a local meal kit. The concept was the same: pre-portion everything, include a recipe, and make it all as simple as possible-- but we sourced as many ingredients as we could from farmers at the Old Capitol Farmers Mark...

I have this weird brain thing going on where I associate months and colors. December is green like pine forests, August is red like tomatoes, October is orange like pumpkins, and September is yellow, Yellow like the last warm rays of summer. Yellow like sweet corn, like summer squash, like peaches, and yellow peppers. Yellow just like this punchy little succotash and ribs recipe made of almost ent...

I'm not a huge fan of Illinois autumns-- which dip all too suddenly into freezing winter for my liking-- but my one consolation for cold-weather blues are blue potatoes....and purple carrots, and golden beets, and butternut squash, and dinosaur kale, and all of the other beautiful fall produce that makes its way to the market at the turn of the season. And while I might grump about the dropping te...

These seasonal meal prep bowls feature all the good stuff you need to stay healthy and happy this fall: bright and crunchy kale, hearty sweet potatoes, punchy cilantro, quinoa, black beans, chicken, feta and guac.  Easily adaptable, these little beauties can be served cold like a salad, or warmed in the office microwave-- the greens will steam and soften and the choose will get all melty for a per...

When winter gives you loads of parsnips, 4 giant bunches of mustard greens, green onions, and garlic....you get creative. Eating with the seasons is a challenge, but it's one that I've grown to love. Not only is it more affordable (seasonal food grown locally often costs less than out-of-season tomatoes and produce grown in Mexico our South America and shipped in from thousands of miles away!), bu...

Tis the season for holiday parties and family gatherings. And for food. Lots of food. Cocktail weenies, and barbecued meatballs, and cheese plates piled high with a million varieties that all MUST be sampled-- for comparison's sake you know? What if I missed out on trying the most perfect and best cheese ever just because my plate was too full? That would be tragedy and I will not stand for it. Th...

My friend Holly will tell you the perfect turkey starts with two things, a good bird and a good brine. She's been cooking up the annual turkey for our Friendsgiving shenanigans since 2008 and has almost 10 years of turkey baking excellence to her name. All of our friends agree, that while our family's put up a good holiday meal, Friendsgiving is the real deal meal we most look forward to during th...

Curry doesn't exactly scream "Midwest." And it's probably not what comes to mind when you think "seasonal ingredients." But surprisingly, the key ingredients of a good curry: turmeric, ginger, garlic, onion, cilantro, and lemongrass can all be grown right here in our Illinois soils, and they're in season now! Just in time for a cozy fall meal. 

Check out these tips for Growing Ginger and Turme...

Beautiful, hardy, affordable, savory, sweet, delicious, decorative-- and now, adorable! The little beauties below are called honeynut squash and they are the baby cousins of the much beloved butternut squash. All the same loveliness, half the size! But butternuts and honeynuts are just a few of the winter squash varieties you'll find at your farmers market in September and October--- acorn squash,...

When you stumble upon beautiful peppers that look like THIS at your farmers market, you plan every meal for the next week around them-- you just do! This stunning photo was taken at Small Axe Market Gardens at the Old Capitol Farmers Market in Springfield. Those beets are looking fab too, but as a root vegetable, they'll be hanging around for a while. Peppers though, you've got to get them while t...

One vegetable starring in three different dishes! I have to admit, I haven't always been an eggplant fan. I liked it at restaurants, but I could never cook it quite right at home. My eggplant parm always turned out watery, my grilled eggplants rubbery, my sauteed eggplants mushy. But eggplant has so many redeeming qualities-- it's hearty and meaty, but much more affordable than meat if you're on a...

Check it out! Illinois Stewardship Alliance has partnered with Copper Pot Cooking Studio to bring Farmers Market Meal Kits to the Old Capitol Farmers Market in downtown Springfield. The kits, in the style of Blue Apron, Sun Basket, and other popular meal kit delivery services, will feature perfectly-portioned, fresh, seasonal ingredients with a simple recipe; however, unlike the competition, all o...

Check it out! Illinois Stewardship Alliance has partnered with Copper Pot Cooking Studio to bring Farmers Market Meal Kits to the Old Capitol Farmers Market in downtown Springfield. The kits, in the style of Blue Apron, Sun Basket, and other popular meal kit delivery services, will feature perfectly-portioned, fresh, seasonal ingredients with a simple recipe; however, unlike the competition, all o...

Trust me it works. This simple recipe from one of our favorite local chefs, Denise Perry of Copper Pot Cooking Studio, perfectly pairs sweet with salty. In-season melons like watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey dew, fresh herbs, and crispy bacon all work together to bring the flavors of summer to your dinner table....or breakfast table. This could be your new favorite twist on a breakfast fruit cup!...