Patch Blog: Do as Your Mom Says and Eat Those Veggies!

By this, I mean eating what is readily available locally. My reasons are plentiful, and if you would like them all just ask, but simply put, fresh is always best!  Let me ask you this, would you prefer an avocado picked and then shipped across the world (think of when it was picked so that it could sit in customs in both countries not to mention the ship-ride nor the time spent at a distribution center as it was prepared to be shipped across the country) or an avocado purchased at your local farmers market which was probably picked locally or at least within the same country and within the past 24 hours?  The choice is yours but I know which I would prefer and that is the only way I shop, cook and eat.

Spring is here and with cherryblossoms in bloom, our spring vegetables are also in full bloom. The best way to discover the season's offerings is by visiting your local farmer's market. Here are some of my favorite spring vegetables:

Beans: 

• Fava Beans
• English Peas
• Snow Peas
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Pea Shoots

Cabbages:

• Broccoli

Leafy Greens: 

• Delicate lettuce
• Arugula
• Spinach
• Chicories

Roots & Tubers:

• Waxy potatoes
• New potatoes
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Celery Root
• Radishes

Squashes:

• Squash Blossom

Stalks, Shoots & Bulbs:

• Asparagus

Onions & Cousins:

• Sweet onions
• Green garlic
• Leeks
• Green onions

Vegetable Fruit:

• Avocados (side note: it is a vegetable fruit because it contains a seed)

Other Vegetables:

• Mushrooms
• Artichokes (look at the recent issue of Food Network Magazine (page 43) for a step-by-step in cooking and preparing the prickly vegetable.

The above list of spring vegetables was retrieved from the cookbook "Cooking from the Farmer's Market" by Williams-Sonoma. For great recipes to accompany the above vegetables, take a meander through this book and you will be pleasantly surprised with new recipes that may become staples within your home. I personally owe a huge thank you to Vicki S. for discovering this book and recognizing that it was a perfect fit for me.

Now with that, have fun discovering what the season's offspring has in store for you! 

Cheers!