Healthy Fair Food Remakes
We know what you are thinking – there is no such thing as healthy fair food! Usually, I would agree, but being the farmers market, we thought we should at least try to remake your favorites with a healthy twist. While there’s nothing wrong with a special occasion treat, we’ve come up with some creative alternatives to help you feed your fair food cravings all year long. Enjoy the Chelsea Community Fair, and come visit the farmers market right down the road Wednesday to see some prize winning produce and homemade goods of our own!
Cherry Popcorn Balls
Ingredients:
- 6 cups popcorn or kettlecorn
- 2/3 cups mini marshmallows
- 1 Tbsp. canola oil
- 2 Tbsp. pureed cherries
- 3 Tbsp. dried cherries
- Mixed nuts (we suggest from Janet’s LLC)
Place 6 cups of air-popped popcorn in a large bowl and set aside. In a large saucepan, place 2/3 cup mini marshmallows and 1 tbsp. canola oil. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the marshmallows are melted. Add 2 tbsp. of pureed cherries and 3 tbsp. dried cherries. Pour the liquid over the popcorn and toss gently to coat. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Using greased hands, form the mixture into balls about the size of a baseball. This recipe makes about 6 popcorn balls.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/413816-healthy-popcorn-balls/#ixzz2cWMaN7ft
Baked Corn Dogs
Ingredients:
- 2 boxes corn muffin mix, 8 1/2 ounces each (recommended: Jiffy brand)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon chili powder, eyeball it in your palm
- 2 teaspoons cumin, eyeball it
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper sauce (recommended: Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot
- 2 scallions, finely chopped
- 8 jumbo pork or beef brats
- Sweet Relish Slaw Salad, recipe follows
- 1 bag reduced fat potato chips (recommended: Cape Cod brand or Terra brand Garlic and Onion flavor Yukon chips)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a shallow dish, combine muffin mix with flour, then stir in eggs, milk and melted butter. Season the mix with chili powder, cumin, cayenne and scallions. The batter will be a thick, sticky biscuit dough. Place a hot dog in the bowl of batter and swoosh it around to coat it. Remove coated dog to a nonstick cookie sheet and use your fingers to spread batter on any exposed dog spots. Don’t coat it too thick, just shy of 1/2-inch should do the trick. If it’s too thick it will just slide off the dog while it’s baking, leaving the dog exposed. If that happens don’t sweat it, they will still taste great. Repeat until all 8 are coated. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until evenly deep brown all over.
Sweet Relish Slaw Salad:
- 1 cup sweet pickle relish
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar, eyeball it
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, eyeball it
- 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 bay leaves, dried
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 pound shredded cabbage, sliced thinly (we recommend Marks Farm and Greenhouse cabbage)
- Salt and pepper
- 4 scallions, sliced
In the bottom of a medium, shallow bowl combine relish, vinegar, oil, garlic, bay and cloves. Let stand 5 minutes then fish out the garlic, bay and cloves. Add cabbage salad and toss, let stand 10 to 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Season salad with salt and pepper, toss in the scallions then serve.
Serve the oven baked corn dogs with your favorite hot dog condiments. Serve with Sweet Relish Slaw Salad and with some baked or reduced-fat chips alongside the dogs.
Market Basket Giveaway!
We’ll be giving away a few of the ingredients and more featured in this week’s recipes – come before 5:00 to get entered in the drawing!
We are happy to accept two new programs at the Bushel Basket:
Prescription for Health (starting July 16th), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as Bridge Cards)
The Chelsea Community Fair Parade will be going on Saturday on Main St. – come check us out before the festivities begin!
Festival Food Guide
Most fairs have no shortage of deep-fried foods. Aside from the traditional French fries and fried dough, I’ve heard of deep fried Twinkies, cheesecake, pickles, candy bars, cookies, macaroni and cheese, butter and brownie bites. You don’t have to be a health guru to know that deep fried anything isn’t the healthiest choice Other high-fat foods offered at fairs include gyros, curly fries, corn dogs, caramel apples and corn on the cob (usually smothered in butter). Although utterly delicious, eating more than your share of these foods will lead to calorie and fat overload. Check out the calories on some of these fair faves:
- Giant turkey leg: 1,136 calories, 54 gram fat
- Funnel cake (1 cake): 760 calories, 44 grams fat
- Fried cheesecake (6 ounces): 655 calories, 47 grams fat
- Foot-long hot dog and bun: 470 calories, 26 grams fat
- Fried Snickers (5 ounces): 444 calories, 29 grams fat
- Cotton candy: 171 calories, 0 grams fat
Healthier Options
Most folks who go to a fair want to indulge in some goodies. But if you’re looking for a healthier option, sometimes you just need to settle for the least offensive food. In this case, cotton candy and caramel apples are some of the better choices –as is corn on the cob (sans the mounds of butter). Keep your eyes peeled for fresh fruits and veggies, pickles and lean cuts of meat.
Here are some tips to help you navigate the fair without falling trap to the plethora of heart-clogging foods lining the streets.
- Eat before you go: If you go hungry, you’ll be more likely to grab every deliciously greasy food in site. Better choices are made on a full stomach.
- Go early: Arrive before all the enticing aromas draw you in.
- Avoid grazing: Don’t take a little taste from every booth. Before you know it, you’ll rack up more calories than you need in one day.
- Scout before buying: Walk around and decide which two or three foods you’ll order.
- Share: The portions at most fairs were made for sharing.
- Get a little exercise: Take a stroll around the area during or after the fair. Come prepared by wearing sneakers or other comfortable shoes.
New Vendor Offerings this Week:
Seasonal Vendors
* Ingredient for In-Season Recipe
Beverly’s Crafts and More: Pillows, baked goods, body cream, soap, granola, tarts and pies – newest addition is strawberry cheesecake in a jar!
Frog Hollar Farms: Produce, home-baked breads and cakes, crafts, cut flowers, and more
Kapnick Orchards: Kapnicks will have Red Haven n Flaming Fury peaches. Nectarines, Paula Red Apples, Black berries, Plums and baked goods
Greystone Creamery: feta, possibly ricotta, Man-chel cheese, possibly cow Gouda, Chelsea-cam, Rosy-cam, blue Man-chel, sheep Gouda, butternut, garlic pepper and plain cream cheese.
La Baguette: French breads and baked goods
Janet’s LLC: grilling rubs, jam, flavored nuts, suckers, cajun butter, spices to make flavored butter, U-M and MSU dolls, and greeting cards.
Mama Mo: hummus and seitan. Hummus flavors include ginger squash, tan/cran orange, sesame chive satay, kalamata rosemary, black pepper walnut, roasted pepper, horseradish, roasted garlic, traditional, lemon zest, curry lime, tomato basil, onion dill, roasted beet, wasabi, jalapeno, chipotle. Seitan flavors include: nuggets, traditional, fajita strips, Italian fennel sausage, breakfast sage sausage, vegan BBQ, BBQ, roast.
Merkel Gardens & Greenhouses: Hanging baskets, flats and produce (tomatoes, greens, onions)
Stone Hearth Breads and Bakery: Pumpernickel, German rye and German rye seeded, Italian Milano, honey whole wheat, San Francisco sourdough, assorted cookies and buns, four-cheese pepperoni rolls, spinach feta cheese bread, multi-grain bread, country loaf, cheese bread, rosemary herb and tomato basil bread, four-cheese bread sticks, jalapeno cheese bread and assorted sweet breads — including cinnamon, cinnamon raisin, strawberry white chocolate, peach pecan, wild blueberry cream cheese, Reuben rolls, and bacon cheddar beer bread.
Tantre Farm: Organic Produce: Beans (Tongue of Fire,Green Yellow), Beets (Chioggia – bulls eye, Cylindra- long root, red), Blackberries, Broccoli, *Cabbage (Green) , Canteloupe, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, Cucumbers, Corn (Sweet), Eggplant, *Garlic bulbs, Kale (Green Curly, Lacinato, Red Russian), Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, Melons (Honey Dew), *Onions (Green, Red, Yellow, White), Peaches, Peppers (sweet green bell, hot -mixed, padrom, poblano/ancho, sweet romanian, shishito hot), Potatoes (blue, red, Yukon gold), Summer Squash, Tomatoes (cherry/grape, green, sauce/plum, slicing), Watermelon (red & yellow), Zucchini (green & yellow).
Zatkovich Pastures: Grass fed beef, eggs, poultry
Daily Vendors
Dancy’s Fancy Butter: Sweet and savory flavored butters
Fairview Studios: New Harvest and Expansion wreaths,medicine wheels, Tarot owls, and five types of freshly-bundled smudge
Johnny Secreto: BBQ sauces, tomato sauce, pasta and rubs
M’Lady’s Soaps and Body Balms: Organic bodycare products
Renovatio Woodworks: Furniture and art from salvaged wood
Get to Know Your Vendor – Stone Hearth Breads and Bakery
Stone Hearth is a favorite seasonal vendor at both the Chelsea Farmers Market and the Bushel Basket Market, known for their wide variety of artisan breads, all made without preservatives and in a traditional manner. The busniess is in its eighth year, and started when Adam Ulbin (the son) worked for the former owner of their current bakery business location in Brooklyn for a year and a half. The family leased the building, and eventually bought it to continue making the bakery’s famous breads from scratch, as well as increasing their product line. All the breads are baked on a “stone hearth” oven system, and the Ulbins rebuilt all equipment including a rotisserie style bread machine, which bakes 10 trays of bread at a time. The bread is distributed both wholesale, to store’s like Polly’s County Market, and retail through farmers markets like Wayne, Lansing and the Chelsea Farmers Markets. Each market has a little different spread of breads, featuring what’s most popular at that market. Some Chelsea Farmers Market favorites include an old fashioned recipe for molasses cookies, as well as the pepperoni and rueben rolls, which took over a month to develop and are unique products from anything else sold in the region. One of the local restaurants that carries their product, The Grass Lake Diner, bought their breads for their breakfasts, and won the 2nd best breakfast in the state award! Stone Hearth Breads and Bakery is a family run business, with over 50 types of bread – come say hello to Adam (Sr.) and Cathy at the Chelsea Farmers Market, and Adam (Jr.) at the Bushel Basket Market soon!
For all the best in-season, summertime foods and recipes, stay tuned for the weekly installments of the
Chelsea Farmers Market Newsletter
