Arugula is wonderful eaten raw in salad or lightly cooked

Our broccoli is a gourmet variety called Nutribud which is quite different than what you see in stores with its bluish green color and very tender stems. Cook and eat the stems! Wonderful eaten raw or sautéed or roasted in olive oil or butter with some onion or garlic and sprinkled with salt.

Red or green butterhead with tender leaves. Tear gently from the base and wash well.

We grow many varieties of carrots during the season. They are wonderful eaten raw. Scrub lightly but don’t peel. A lot of nutrition is in the skin and the flavor is great with the skin! Enjoy eating the carrot with the greens on- it’s fun! But don’t leave the greens hanging out of the bag in your fridge because this will draw the moisture out of the carrot causing wilting.

This is celery root, but it is a different variety than the one that grown the nice celery stalks, as you can easily see by the mini little stalks still attached to these roots. Peel the root before chopping. You can use it sautéed with other veggies, roasted with other veggies, added to stew, or combined with potatoes in a mash or hash. Restaurants often make a celeriac puree to pour over meat. This can store for many weeks in your produce drawer in the fridge.

We grow the “Tango” celery with the leaves attached. This variety is different than grocery store celery which often lacks flavor. Tango is full of vibrant flavor! Sautee with onions as the base for any soup, sauce, or veggie fry. Be sure to eat the greens too. Great in vegetable juice. The leaves you don’t use, can be air dried for a fantastic winter seasoning- so easy and so worth it. Use the outer stalks for cooking and eat the tender inner stalks raw.

We grow several varieties of cucumbers. Cold yogurt cucumber soup with dill is a nice summer treat. You can make quick pickles by slicing with onions and put in a bowl with salt and white vinegar then leave covered in fridge for an hour or more.

Eggplant is great grilled or roasted. Try marinating it first with olive oil, balsamic, and tamari. Because these are so fresh and our varieties are so tender, they don’t need to be “sweated” with salt as many cookbooks recommend. Be sure your eggplant is cooked fully until it is completely tender when poked with a fork. I find a lot of people who say they don’t love eggplant, just haven’t had it prepared well. If you are one of those people, please give it another try.

This is a unique gourmet garlic treat that is only available for a short time each year. Chop from the tip all the way down the whole stem. Eat raw in bread dip, hummus or salad or cook lightly wherever you would use garlic. Enjoy this special garlic flavor. Store in the fridge in a bag. The “scape” is the top part of a hard neck variety of garlic. We cut it off because it is delicious and this also sends the energy back down into the garlic for good root growth.

Kohlrabi is a member of the broccoli family with a similar flavor, but with the consistency of jicama (or apple). Peel and eat raw (sliced into salad, added to coleslaw, or on a sandwich) or chop and cook it anywhere you would cook broccoli (sautéed with butter, on pizza, in a stirfry or soup).

Kale is so versatile and filled with vitamins and minerals. Use raw in massaged kale salad, add to sandwiches and smoothies or “wilt” by cooking lightly with olive oil and salt and pepper. Wonderful with scrambled eggs.

This large Asian cabbage is wonderful sautéed into a stirfry or into eggrolls or springrolls. It is what is traditionally used in “Kimchee” (Vietnamese fermented food that is super yummy and medicinal and super easy to make). Also nice in miso soup or make a coleslaw that will be more tender with Napa. Also great chopped raw into tacos. Great roasted! Slice in half and cover with olive oil and roast until the edges char a bit-yum!

We grow Yukon Gold and Purple Majesty potatoes. Yukons have a nice gold skin with creamy white flesh. Purple Majesty are purple on the inside. These purple potatoes are high in anthocyanins, the pigments in the potato that give it the purple hue. In addition to adding pop to your plate, anthocyanins offer extra health benefits too. The purple pigments are antioxidants that protect your cells from oxidative damage and have even more health benefits. Both are great in soup, roasted or baked.

Great sautéed, added to smoothie, cooked in quiche or use as a leave to wrap rice around rice or meat and cover with tomato sauce.

Spinach Mix has lovely green and purple spinach leaves; use raw in salad and smoothies or sautee with garlic and sea salt or add to quiche.

Snap off the top and eat these sweet summer treats raw because they are so good!

Red and Yellow “Carmen” types. These are just a little bit sweeter than Bell peppers. Great for eating raw or cooking. Wonderful roasted on the grill and then peeled or stuffed and roasted.

Sweet little crisp radishes to be eaten raw in salad or sliced on top of basically any meal.

We grow several varieties of heirloom tomatoes each year. Slice and eat raw with salt or on the best sandwich. If needed, store partial tomatoes in the fridge face down on a plate, but keep full tomatoes on the counter away from direct sun. Be sure they are fully ripe before slicing. Heirlooms should be pretty soft for best flavor, like a good ripe peach.

These salad turnips are the new “carrot”-shaped white and purple type that can be used raw or cooked similar to Hakureis. Turnips are great braised or roasted with other veggies and goes well with tamari and ginger sauce.