Sweet Italian Lamb Sausages

Yesterday, my hubby and I went to the farmers' market to see what interesting things we could find.  As I said in my first blog, we became pesca-vegetarians a couple years ago, but we've been wanting to broaden our foodie horizons a little bit beyond fish and veggies. 

The main reason we stopped eating meat in the first place was for our love of animals and the disgust we felt at their mistreatment just so we could have a mediocre hamburger on our plates.  Now before you start calling us tree-huggers and hippies and weirdo anti-meat people, let me explain that we are in no way against the eating of meat, for ourselves or anyone else.  Everyone must choose their own path with their own convictions. Our conviction was that we couldn't be a part of an industry that abuses animals and then serves them up on a plate with a cheap quality and a cheap price tag that in the long run has a much greater (even global) cost than you would imagine. So we decided if we did ever eat meat again, it would have to be something special, something unique, from a happy grass-fed, free-range animal that was treated humanely both in life and in death.

At the farmers' market we saw sweet Italian lamb sausages and we wanted to try them. We also picked up some goat chops, peppers, honeycrisp apples, fresh made apple butter, zucchini bread, purple heirloom tomatoes, and a couple small eggplants.  We wanted to get some fresh eggs but they were all sold out.  One of the vendors though told us of a little produce stand not far away that had them.  So we headed down the road, not sure where we were going or what we would find when we got there.

We arrive at this little barn-type building on a gravel country road; so adorable and quaint with beautiful wildflowers everywhere.  We step inside to find fresh apples, pears, pumpkins among so many other yummy fruits and veggies.  We picked up 2 dozen eggs and a few potatoes.


That afternoon we had a lunch of some mammoth cheddar cheese, sliced fuji apple, zucchini bread, and apple butter.  Man, it was so good!  The cheddar wasn't very sharp but still had a nice strong flavor and paired perfectly with the sweet juiciness of the apple.  The apple butter was sweet but not overwhelming, with a taste of cinnamon that went well with the mild flavor of the zucchini bread.  I have to admit I dipped even the apples and the cheese in the apple butter too! I couldn't resist! It was awesome!

This morning we cooked up the lamb sausage, potatoes, and a couple eggs.  The lamb sausages were spicy but not hot, and very sweet...so juicy! It was a real treat as this was only the 2nd time we've eaten meat in 2 or 3 years (the 1st time was one vacation over a week ago but thats for another blog day). The potatoes we pan-fried in a little olive oil until they were slightly brown with a little crisp.  And the eggs...so different than we're used to.  We usually buy organic eggs from the store but even those weren't the same as fresh.  The yolks were almost bright orange and we fried them so we could really see that the yolks were thick and stood up in the pan.  Even the taste was different from any other egg I've ever tasted.  I can't even describe it.  You just have to experience it for yourself.

All in all, our food adventures this weekend were truly Yumma Yumma!