Eating seasonally is one of the fastest, easiest, and healthiest ways to not only improve your health, but also drop your grocery bills. People often mistakenly equate fresh produce with expensive food, but this is not the truth. Shopping farmers markets mean finding the freshest food available, supporting small, locally-owned farms, and making new friends … Read more
Ah! it’s the time of year that I affectionately call “Lettuce Days”! For a vegan, like me, that spells nirvana! Fresh greens, lettuce, kale, and arugula are abundant and ready to eat. However, the volume can be a little overwhelming, because greens can wilt in a heartbeat if they are not prepped properly. I’ll show … Read more
Radishes: It seems that folks love them or hate them. There are not too many “in between” people. If you’ve not been a fan, I hope to change your mind about this amazing, colorful root vegetable. Plentiful in both spring and late fall, radishes are a powerful source of potassium, which is responsible for lowering … Read more
In days past, every home had a “kitchen garden”. No matter how small your yard, you dedicated a space to growing some herbs and a vegetable or two. When cooking, it allowed you to gather ingredients that would add flavor and nutrition, by just stepping outside your back door. Here in the Midwest, we are … Read more
If you cringe when you think about beets, then you’re in for a treat, which may just change your mind. For years, I hated beets. I had only tried the pickled variety, which my grandmother passed around at holiday dinners/ I obediently took one and then tried to hide it under my napkin when I … Read more
When it comes to a vegetable that can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, it’s hard to beat broccoli. This tree-like vegetable is actually a flower, belonging to the same botanical family as cabbage. It is most prominently grown in early spring and late summer. Large heads can be found very inexpensively at farmers … Read more
One of the easiest and most effective ways to lower your grocery bills is to buy items from the farmers market. The price of oversized zucchini often drops to under $1.00 each at the height of the season. I have seen huge heads of cabbage and cauliflower for a couple of dollars. Likewise, pumpkins and … Read more
Brrrrrr! We are quickly headed toward our first frost in Illinois. The good thing about it is that while most other produce is too tender to weather colder temperatures, squash is a vegetable that is actually known for getting sweeter when it has been “frost kissed.” Squash tends to be pretty hardy, despite falling temperatures. … Read more
Last year, I got a ridiculously good deal on a huge box of kuri squash. There were about thirty small squash in a box for $10! I cooked and experimented with kuri squash for weeks. One night, I needed something quick for supper. I had some cooked squash in the fridge and a few other … Read more
Peter Piper may have picked a peck of pickled peppers, but he has nothing on you! You, too, can master the art of finding the perfect pepper (and knowing how to use it). Although thought of as a vegetable, botanically peppers are a fruit. Peppers supply a huge amount of vitamin C and are packed … Read more
