It may sound pathetic, but I’ve been actually looking for women my age to strike up conversations with in Super Wal-Mart.

I don’t care.  I need to talk to middle-age women who aren’t doing it online.  I love you all, but I really need to find my way in real life here in AZ.

The reason I’m telling you this is because I’ve also mentioned how I’m now living in the “country“-where there is no Sprout’s within less than a half hour drive.  Oh sure, we did get a farmer’s market-but I can’t afford %5 a pound for tomatoes.

Anyway, back to my trolling Wal-Mart.  One lady and I started chatting about the fact that we had only the store we were looking at and Safeway.  Then she said I should check out “Market on the Move“.

Basically, they choose a new location-usually a church or school parking lot and for $10 you get to pick up about 60 pounds of produce!

Whoa! I hear you now-of course not even I can eat that many veggies BUT since there’s also our DD and DIL who need to feed themselves-we decided that we will rotate paying the money and the 3 of us will check out this premise.

DD and I went this past  Saturday and were quite happy.  The selection changes with what is available and it’s not organic (I personally don’t care about this fact) but it is local!

This week we came home with:  yellow and orange peppers, cucumbers, green beans, roma tomatoes and yellow squash!

We‘re blanching and freezing the beans.  I made two types of stuffed peppers:  Mexican with salsa and corn to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Italian with sheep’s milk romano cheese and brown rice that will go into the freezer for dinner at another time.

The cucumbers, of which I have a ton will get these applications: One is to use in a Greek salad, another will be in sandwiches and as spears to dip in hummus and the last of them I’m making into a fat-free sweet pickle salad.

This is from a recipe I found when on a diet as a teenager and loved-except for the bitter aftertaste of Sweet and Low.  Now I use Splenda.  Simply peel, thinly slice and salt the cukes.  Let them sit and sweat out the bitterness for about 30 minutes .  Then rinse and towel off with paper towels or a clean tea towel.

Put into a glass jar or bowl.  In a glass measuring cup mix equal parts of white or cider vinegar and Splenda.  How much will depend on how many cukes you’ve used.   You want enough brine to cover the veggies.  Cover and let marinate for at least an hour-but it’s good for at least a week or two.

The woman who told me about the market says the choices change a lot-that she came home with a lot of onions and eggplant at one point and made a great vegetarian pasta sauce-like a ratatouille.  Her family loved it for Meatless Mondays over not just the pasta, but polenta and rice as well.

You might want to Google “Market on the Move” and see if there’s something like it in your area-soon!