Ode to the Lancaster County Dutch Market

A stop off at the Dutch Market is usually on the Friday afternoon to-do list, and when we're lucky we get to take multiple trips during the weekend— which makes for very happy Willi bellies.

If you live within a few hours traveling distance of Lancaster County, PA, you probably have one of these little treasures not too far from you. The Dutch farmers travel down and set up shop Thursday-Saturday... then they're gone as quickly as they came.

I pulled in a pretty good haul for the weekend...

Pumpkin swirl cake with cream cheese frosting. I wish I could have shown the full swirly goodness, but the other half of this deliciousness was in my belly before I realized what was going on. It's perfection.

Amwilli has early mornings all weekend for school and baseball-related events, so he requested the sausage and cooper cheese stuffed pretzels for quick breakfasts. The pretzel stand is open so you can see all the pretzels and fixins' being made from scratch, including the sausage!

Next up, Saturday's dinner. Now, I don't really make a lot of sense when it comes to dinner-making. When I have the time (weekend), I don't actually like cooking. See? Zero sense. Anyhoo, I picked up some tasty whole wheat potato rolls— these are so buttery and luscious. I figured I could throw together a turkey burger or something quick.

Then I passed the deli, saw the pulled pork, and knew it was meant to be. It may not look very appetizing here, but it's ridiculously good. I'll whip up some homemade mac n cheese so as not to feel like such a lazy bum (post to follow, of course).

OK, dessert. I should have snapped a pic pre-scooping into this sad little plastic container... but apparently my stomach works a little faster than my brain (not surprising). It's chocolate eclair pudding, which is usually some variation of vanilla pudding folded with whipped cream, with a graham cracker and chocolate shell across the top. Very eclair-like, minus the heaviness and about a bajillion calories.

This looks like mush, but you get the idea.

Last up, and sans photo, was deli meat— roast beef and roast turkey to be exact. Far less expensive and far more flavorful than the grocery store.

All in all a successful trip... hoping for peaches and some other fruit next week. Grilled peaches are mayjah, and I have *not* had them yet this summer. This must be remedied.

Get to your nearest market— google "Dutch markets" and your area. You won't be disappointed... unless of course you try to go Sunday-Wednesday :)

Happy weekend, everyone!