I ventured into the city Sunday to check out a new (to me) market, the Bloomingdale Farmers Market. The sister market to the 14th & U Farmers Market, Bloomingdale is open Sundays from 10am-2pm. I was lured in to visit by news of some new cheeses at Keswick Creamery. (Head over to the cheese blog to read about those!) The Bloomingdale market is a small but robust neighborhood market, one block long and featuring a terrific group of vendors.

Keswick Creamery and Copper Pot were perhaps the more well-known vendors from other markets. I picked up strawberries — the most flavorful I’ve had this season, by far — and an heirloom pepper plant from Reid’s Orchard, a Pennsylvania vendor who also appears at some of the Fairfax County markets.

I got arugula and smoked bacon from Truck Patch (who also had lovely strawberries, asparagus and eggs), and a loaf of rustic white bread from Panorama Bakery. In addition to Truck Patch, there were also lamb and goat meat vendors, a vegan baker, and another produce vendor.

And as an added perk, the market is located in front of Big Bear Cafe, so I was able to pick up a Counter Culture latte for my trip home.

Once home, I made a quick lunch of BLTJ’s — last summer’s tomato jam standing in for fresh tomatoes. (Okay, and technically it’s a BATJ, as I used arugula in place of lettuce.) And for dessert, Keswick’s decadent chocolate pudding. I think it’s safe to say the Foodie Tot is a fan.

Bloomingdale Farmers Market
1st and R Streets, NW
Sundays, 10am – 2pm
Get market updates on Facebook

First, some good news: Earlier this week, the DC City Council unanimously approved the “Healthy Schools Act.” The measure creates strong nutrition and exercise standards in a city with one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the country. Among the highlights, the new legislation will:

• Mandate lower-calorie, lower-fat nutrition guidelines be met;
• Triple the amount of exercise school children get in physical ed;
• Provide free breakfast in the classroom for high-poverty schools;
• Establish a farm-to-school program and provide extra funds to encourage schools to source local and organic produce;
• Establish a school garden program.

This is clearly a huge win for all involved (kudos to  Councilmember Mary Cheh, the sponsor, the DC Farm to School Network, and others!) and a good example for other school districts around the country. The only downside is that the legislation did not include an effort to curb sugar. Read more about the sugar-laden DC school meals at the Better DC School Food blog (caution: you may get sugar shock simply from viewing the breakfast pictures), and read Marion Nestle’s take on the issue here.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to sign Jamie Oliver’s petition supporting better school food for kids.

And now, some more links for your weekend reading:

1. On the subject of Jamie Oliver, are you all following 30 Days to a Food Revolution over at the W.H.O.L.E. Gang? Lots of helpful information and tips for anyone looking to clean up their diets.
2. It’s rhubarb season at the farmers market! Check out the drool-worthy assortment of recipes over at food52 for inspiration. On my list: Rhubarb Curd Bars, one of the finalists by local foodie Rivka of Not Derby Pie.
3. Speaking of local foodies, check out the pictures from opening day at the Farmers Market by the White House by Adventures in Shaw. (And no, I didn’t make it over for some of Chef Jose Andres’ legendary giant paella — bummer!)
4. If you needed more enticement to head out to the farmers market for fresh strawberries (here in DC anyway, apologies to those further north!), La Vida Locavore reports that California has given preliminary approval to a pesticide (methyl iodide) that is used to induce cancer in labs, and causes miscarriages. Please, please, buy organic strawberries!
5. On a lighter note, if you’re making strawberry shortcake for a mother in your life this weekend, check out Rick Bayless’ Strawberry Tres Leches Shortcake for a new spin. Yum!

Nearly 1 in 4 children in the US do not have enough food to eat — that’s nearly 17 million kids. This weekend, Share our Strength kicks off their annual “Great American Bake Sale” campaign — where volunteers across the country host bake sales to raise funds for SOS’s efforts to end child hunger. Saturday will be the first-ever National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, to further help raise awareness for this important cause.

The DC bake sale will be held this Saturday, April 17, from 9am-12noon at DC’s Historic Eastern Market. So come on by and look for our table outside near the farmers line.

Some of the local bloggers who will be participating:

• Martha of A Measured Memory
• Jenna of Modern Domestic
• Kenneth of Indoor Garden-er
• Marie-Noelle of Lunching in the DMV
• Cathy of Mrs. Wheelbarow
• Maiy of Beans Rice Life
• Sally of Come to the Table
• Amber of Live Love to Bake
• and yours truly, Colleen of FoodieTots

If you’d like to chip in to help us reach our goal, please visit our team page to make a contribution now. And we hope to see you at Eastern Market on Saturday!

Outside DC, visit What’s Gaby Cooking for a list of food blogger bake sales in other states.

I’m a firm believer in eating, er, cooking for a good cause, so I’m delighted to be helping with the first ever National Food Bloggers Bake Sale to benefit Share our Strength and their work to end childhood hunger. On April 17, food bloggers across the US will unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states. Readers will have the opportunity to taste the baked goods from their favorite food blogs at each state’s bake sale location. The event is being organized by the fabulous Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com.

DC BAKE SALE: The DC bake sale will be held Saturday, April 17, from 9am-12noon at DC’s Historic Eastern Market. So come on by and look for our table outside near the farmers line. There are some great local bloggers participating, stay tuned for a list closer to the date.

Funds raised through Great American Bake Sale support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America.  Nearly 17 million— almost one in four—children in America face hunger. Despite the good efforts of governments, private-sector institutions and everyday Americans, millions of our children still don’t have daily access to the nutritious meals they need to live active, healthy lives. More information on SOS can be found at http://strength.org/.

If you’re in DC and would like to participate, please send me an email at foodietots (at) gmail (dot) com. Outside DC, visit Gaby’s blog for a list of coordinators in other states (and states needing hosts). And wherever you live, please make plans to stop by and purchase some yummy treats that day!

We were very disappointed to lose the mushroom vendor from our neighborhood (Del Ray) market this past year, especially as I had made such great progress the prior year in convincing my previously mushroom-adverse husband that they really weren’t so bad. So now to get our local ’shroom fix I have to head to one of the FreshFarm markets, which means Dupont Circle in the winter months.

The preferred choice of both the husband and my son are these cute, sweet little honey mushrooms. They require little effort to prepare, and for a really easy meal, I whipped up some instant polenta, with a generous touch of cheese, then topped it with leftover tomato sauce and sauteed mushrooms.

Quick and scrumptious, what could be better for a (meatless) Monday night?

Recipe: Polenta al Funghi (Mushroom Polenta)

Ingredients:

• 1 pint honey mushrooms
• 1 box instant polenta
• 4 cups water
• salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup pasta sauce

Instructions:

1. Bring water to a boil.

2. Rinse mushrooms and pat dry. Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring only once or twice, until they begin to darken. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan and remove from heat. Season mushrooms with sea salt and pepper.

3. Prepare polenta as instructed on package. When thickened, stir in 1 tablespoon butter and the cheese. Remove from heat.

4. Warm pasta sauce.

5. Spoon polenta onto plates, shaping a small well in the center. Top with a few spoonfuls of pasta sauce and scatter mushrooms over the top. Enjoy! Makes 4 servings.