"How do I fix..........?"

"How do you fix eggplant?" That is one of the most frequent questions that we get right after "When's the corn going to be here?" ( July 15 this year).

It just dawned on me that I have the perfect forum to list how-to guides for preparing vegetables and recipe ideas. So often at a market, someone will ask how to prepare something. Bill and both love to cook and are always looking for more ways to prepare the veggies that we sell and we really enjoy sharing with our customers.

However, a busy Saturday isn't the best time to have your customers memorize multi-step recipes for foods that they have never prepared before! A few years ago, we decided to print recipe cards to have on the tables. Having recipes available has bolstered many a new cook's confidence level! I try to have fairly simple, quick recipes for the produce we have available at the time. The markets have been so popular this year, we can't seem to keep recipes in stock! It really is a good problem to have.

Something that Bill and I educate market goers over and over again is the basic, simple preparation of many veggies. Many people never learned to cook or didn't have the need to learn, but for a variety of reasons (health, economics, sustainability) have decided to start preparing local, fresh foods. When we first started selling produce, we never thought that quite a bit of what we do at each market would be educating folks about produce. I'm just glad that people are curious enough to ask and are willing to learn and that we have answers to their questions.

So, as I get around to it, I'll post basic preparation steps for some of our more popular veggies. If I think about when I'm actually cooking, I'll even take step by step pictures! I'm just going to ask for a few things from you: if you have a favorite recipe for something, send to to me! If you think it's good, others will also; plus, YOU get all the credit. If you know someone who is struggling with learning to cook, send them the link to this site. Finally, if there is a veggie that I haven't covered or you have a question about preparing it--ask away! Leave your questions/queries in the comments or e-mail me directly at pattm1966@comcast.net.