Today’s shopper is Lauren Johanson, co-founder of YourDailyThread.com. (She and co-founder Tracy Hepler were also the guests at the Green Booth today.)

Lauren is going to make Tuscan Winter Tomato Soup. She starts by blanching the tomatoes, peeling them, and then coarsely chopping them. Then she sautes chopped garlic (onions are optional) in a generous amount of olive oil. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper, and cook down a little.  To serve, Lauren takes toasted bread and breaks it up on top of the soup (think large croutons), plus shredded basil, and if you like, some grated parmesan or red pepper flakes. Sounds delish!

New at the market this week: Cali Farms Gourmet Meats with grass-fed beef, lamb and goat. This is Timothy Martin and Ibrahim Mesallem, who’ll be here selling in Mar Vista. The farm is outside of Stockton, CA, and I am very excited to have them here in our market. I bought some lamb chops and grilled them very simply, based on something I saw Mario Batali do on TV, and they were fantastic. I highly recommend them.

This is an original post by Sarah Auerswald for MarVistaMom.com.