If you live in Central Ohio, you’ve likely had the pleasure of enjoying a stroll through the North Market on a Saturday afternoon, gathering a beautiful assortment of fresh meats, pasta, veggies, bread, wine…. the list goes on and on. The market is a Columbus staple, and despite the recent obstacles that COVID-19 has brought on, it has continued to offer many creative alternatives to serve the community!

One year ago (plus or minus a day or two), my husband and I were celebrating the beginning of summer at their annual Apron Gala. This event is spectacular, offering the opportunity to enjoy dishes prepared by the market’s merchants, awesome music, a live auction, fun cocktails – all while supporting the North Market’s mission of making fresh, local food more accessible, and recognizing the small business owners who get their start as merchants. I’d argue that this is one of the BEST events in Columbus, and I will try my best to not be too dramatic about taking a break from it this year…

However, we thought that we could still honor the tradition by taking advantage of their “bundles” – which are literally bundles of ingredients sold by select North Market vendors so that you can put together your own dish.

One of our favorites was from Momo Ghar, which serves up Tibetan and Nepalese specialties – and was featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives! We purchased the Tibetan Thukpa (Tibetan style fresh Ramen) which came with noodles, broth, stir-fried veggies and seasoned, ground chicken. This came complete with instructions on how to prepare — and it was really simple to prepare (and made our kitchen smell AMAZING).

The finished dish was delicious, friends. Like, really good. I would HIGHLY recommend giving this a try!

We also couldn’t pass up the chance to order their famous MOMOs, which are Himalayan dumplings filled with meat and/or vegetables. Again, delicious.

Another favorite bundle came from Black Radish Creamery, one of our favorite vendors offering delicious cheese and fruit preserves. We went with “Bundle 1” — two different cheeses from weekly rotating selection. It was fun to be surprised with something new that I probably wouldn’t choose from the store — and both cheese selections were perfection! (Photo includes one of our other favorite Hill’s Market cheeses as well 🙂

The Mini-Super bundles are also pretty popular in our house. We’ve definitely ordered the guacamole more than once — which includes five avocados, one yellow onion, three limes, one garlic bulb, one jalapeno, one habanero and a bunch of cilantro.

The finished product was the perfect refreshing snack. They also offer additional bundles like the Citrus Survival Kit and the Exotic Mushroom Kit – check out their website for updated offerings!

And finally, we’ve also enjoyed the Pizza Kit from Pastaria/Sarefino’s — includes frozen dough, pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni, parchment paper and a cardboard round. We had so much fun making this, and it was a perfect family-friendly dinner!

Overall, we would HIGHLY recommend ordering any of these amazing bundles (or trying some of the many that we haven’t yet had the chance to enjoy yet) — check out their weekly offerings on the North Market website!