Jun. 10, 2009 - Issue #712: Hot Summer Guide 2009

You can take it with you

Whatever you're doing this summer, you're going to get hungry

Outdoor eating screams for hearty, healthy and delicious. It demands minimum prep and maximum taste. And it's all about the hands, the ultimate in utensils. Swing by the farmers' market before your next outdoor expedition and immerse yourself in a world of possibilities. Here are a few to get you on your way.

The Happy Camel
Individual Pita Breads - 8/$5.75; 
Hummus - 4 oz/$2.75, 8 oz/$5.75
Downtown, Old Strathcona & St. Albert Farmers' Markets

What could be more picnic-worthy than freshly made pita bread dipped in creamy and garlicky hummus? A stop at The Happy Camel reveals a world of Mediterranean delights, but the mounds of neatly packaged pitas scream picnic—everything from the standard white to healthy whole wheat to exotic spinach/caramelized onion/poppy seed. There are even organic pitas.

These aren't of the mass-produced, slightly dry and impossibly chewy variety. "They're soft, fresh and chewy—chewy in a good way," confides owner Sara Larsen. "You can use them for dipping, you can use them for sandwiches, they're very versatile."

Paired with a tub of hummus, they're perfect—and healthy. "Our hummus is smooth, creamy and loaded with fresh garlic. We don't add any oil, and it's high in protein and calcium." The regular hummus gives you the biggest garlicky/lemony hit, but for something a bit different, you can also pick up a tub of red pepper or red lentil hummus.

Bohdan's Ukrainian Food
Pyrizky, $5/dozen
Callingwood, St. Albert,Downtown & Alberta Avenue Farmers' Markets

Bohdan Pivovarchuk, sporting a traditional Ukrainian-embroidered white tunic and friendly face, is one busy man. Coolers full of frozen cabbage rolls, borscht and multiple varieties of perogies line the floor behind him. He is forever bending down, lifting lids and digging around to retrieve the sought-after packages.

But those will have to wait for another day. Filling the table in front of him are carefully packed plastic bags filled with pyrizky, a perfectly portable Ukrainian delicacy.

Pyrizky may sound exotic and a bit daunting, but Pivovarchuk quickly demystifies them. "They're really just baked perogies. They have the same filling as perogies, but instead of the typical perogy dough, they're wrapped in bread dough."

You can get them in potato, potato/cheese or potato/cheese/dill and, while Pivovarchuk says they are amazing baked with cream, straight out of the bag works just fine too.

Marina's Cuisine
Spicy Carrot Salad, $4.25/8oz
Old Strathcona Farmers' Market

Crunchy, spicy and a little bit exotic might best describe all the neatly stacked containers of Spicy Carrot Salad, sitting in the display case at Marina's Cuisine. The salad looks deceptively simple—a cornucopia of fresh, and freshly grated, carrots. But don't be fooled. One bite and the "spicy"—the cayenne, jalapenos, garlic and coriander—immediately asserts itself.

Marina Medvedeva, who grates each and every carrot by hand, actually sells 15 varieties of Russian-style salads at her market stand, along with other Russian fare. But the carrot salad, along with the Olivier (a potato salad with eggs, German sausage, peas and "love"), are the most popular. "In Russia, we simply can't live without those two salads."

Yes, you would need a cooler-type contraption to keep the salads cold, but all that takes is a little planning. And, as Medvedeva happily explains, "You don't need to go to Russia to get Russian food. You can just stop by my little space."

Mom's Gourmet Cookies
Glorious Cookies, $5/Baker's Dozen
Beverly, Millwoods, Sherwood Park, St. Albert & Callingwood Farmers' Markets

Mom's Gourmet Cookies appears to be just a sweet-smelling table sporting half a dozen huge Tupperware containers. But hiding inside each container, carefully protected from the elements (and little fingers), are row after row of glorious chocolaty, gingery and cinnamon-y cookies.

"These recipes are very, very old. They're actually my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother's recipes," confides Verna Windels, the "Mom" in Mom's Gourmet Cookies. "I took the basic recipes and modified them to make them healthier. They're all low-fat except for the Oatmeal Crunch, and the Soft Raisin Spice has no sugar at all, just the sweetness of the raisins."

Windel makes six different kinds of cookies—everything from Chocolate Xplosion to Koko Kisses to Old Fashioned Ginger Snaps—and you can mix and match flavours. Just don't expect new cookies any time soon. "People want what we have now, and if we added new flavours, we'd have to get a bigger table."

Breads by Baker Bill
Rustic Raisin & Seed Buns, $1/each
Salisbury, Callingwood & Old Strathcona Farmers' Markets

Venture past Breads by Baker Bill and the first thing that catches the eye is the bin full of buns—deep golden ones studded with raisins and speckled with seeds.

Every single one is made by hand and they're mostly whole wheat. "All the pumpkin, sunflower, flax and sesame seeds provide protein, and the raisins are good for energy. And everything's organic," describes Bill O'Gorman, aka Baker Bill.

The whole raisin-and-seed thing came about as an accident. "I just threw together a few things to use up some extra ingredients." A bit of tinkering led to this hearty and healthy creation. "It's so moist it doesn't need anything on it—you can just eat it as it is."

Even better, they're practically squash-proof. "Hikers like these buns. They tell us they throw the buns in their jam-packed backpacks and, by the time they get to camp, they're the only ones with bread that isn't all squished." V