The farmers’ market is one of my favorite destinations. I can throw down some serious cash on fresh veggies and local, organic meats. So today at the Morganton market was no different. It’s still early in the season, but I was able to pick up some beautiful lettuce and red and white radishes.
Then I stopped by the booth of my favorite local meat purveyor, Rock House Farm. Seriously, these folks are the bomb! They were pretty well stocked today, and I walked away with a roast, some bratwurst (for Memorial Day), ground lamb, and 4 filet mignon to base tonight’s family dinner party around.

Tonight’s dinner menu, courtesy of (in large part, although not entirely, unfortunately) our local farms is:
Filet mignon
Sweet potato crisps
Roasted radishes
Butter lettuce salad with blackberry vinaigrette
Berry-Rhubard Crisp
Here is the recipe for the crisp, which I came up with by combining about 8 different recipes and improvising. There is no added sweetener, but instead I pureed several medjool dates to add some sweetness.
Berry-Rhubarb Crisp
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Filling:
4 stalks rhubarb, chopped
3 cups mixed berries, chopped (I used strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries)
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. arrowroot powder
1 t. vanilla extract or paste
6 medjool dates (3 will be used for topping) – Make sure you remove pits, if they have them! I may or may not have forgotten this step….
3 T. boiling water
Combine berries in mixing bowl with lemon juice, arrowroot powder, and vanilla. Put dates and boiling water into food processor and mix until it is a paste. Add 1/2 of the date puree to the fruit and mix will. Pour into a baking dish.
Bake fruit for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add topping.
Topping:
1 c. ground pecans
1/2 c. almond meal
1/2 t. sea salt
(3 medjool dates that are already listed above, pureed)
2 T. coconut oil (or butter, although that is not Whole30 approved)
Combine first 4 ingredients, and then cut in coconut oil. Make sure it is mixed well. Then “crumble” on top of the fruit and put back in the oven for about 10 more minutes until it crisps up.
Let sit a few minutes before serving. Voila!

Today’s food:
Breakfast: 1 T. coconut butter, double espresso
Lunch: leftover ribs (meat only) over salad (romaine, olive oil, apple cider vinegar)
Snack: too many nibbles off the crisp topping (messed it up the first time)
Dinner: filet mignon, sweet potato crisps, roasted radishes, butter lettuce salad with blackberry vinaigrette, Berry-Rhubard Crisp