Pre-Cookout Snacks

Today is the second in a series of cookout recipes. Not really a recipe here, except to source fresh foods from your local farmers market!

Easy Snacks Sourced from the Local Farmers Market

Cheeseboard, Hummus and Veggie Slices for Dipping

It’s springtime and I am loving it! Farmers markets are springing open along with all the lovely spring flowers!

At our cookout on Saturday, I whipped up a lovely cheese board with goat cheese, and assorted raw milk cheeses. At our new smartmarkets.org farmers market, I purchased hummus from one of the vendors who specializes in Mediterranean prepared foods. My favorite items are her hummus and avocado salad. At this cookout I served the hummus with fresh fruit and veggie slices, which I also purchased at the farmers market.

Another option would be to add a liver pate to your cheese board. Here is a recipe for homemade liver pate from my friend Kimi at theNourishingGourmet.com. If you want to serve a crunchy snack, here is a low carb substitute for chips, I found on the Organic and Thrifty blog:  krispy kale.

I love the ease and simplicity of serving a cheese board. I often use crispy pancakes as crackers, or Mary’s Gone Crackers gluten free, wheat free crackers, which are made from brown rice and assorted seeds. I buy them at Whole Foods Market. One of our realfoodmedia.com sponsors sells sprouted wheat flour (look for her ad on my sidebar), here is her recipe for making crackers on the Cheeseslave.com blog, homemade sprouted wheat crackers.

If you are a little more ambitious, try making this wonderful potted cheese spread with bacon and shallots to go on your cheese board. This recipe is by Jenny McGruther of Nourished Kitchen blog. She is launching an online cooking course, and if you are new to real foods cooked from scratch, I highly recommend this Real Food cooking class. She is emphasizing cooking this way on a budget, which for all of us is important these days!

For a snack at my next cookout, I am going to try this spinach and artichoke dip I just found on the Health, Home and Happiness blog which uses homemade mayo (the topic of  yesterday’s post).

Entertaining can be easy with high quality foods bought locally!

As a service to their Reston, Virginia community, Kimberly and her husband Keith Hartke host the non-profit smartmarkets.org farmers market at their real estate office parking lot, every Wednesday from 3:30pm-6:30pm. Come and see what all the local foods excitement is about!