Veggies, veggies, veggies

I LOVE my fruit and vegetable stand. I love that it's pouring rain outside with overcast skies and we're in the mid-40s, and I can drive 10 minutes down the road and go to our lovely little fruit stand and for $50, come home with enough fruits and veggies to last us (and we eat a lot of fruits and veggies) for the week and then some.

Today, I was THRILLED to find celery root, golden beets, a new breed of half grapefruit, half navel oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, tomatoes, celery, carrots, asparagus, red bell peppers, sugar snap peas, apples and spinach!!! Now, some of these things come from the other side of our state where it is perpetually (well, not perpetually, but usually) warm and yes, some comes from CA, but most of this stuff is grown in WA by local farmers, which I adore!! I've been waiting to try celery root forever - I found a great recipe that does celery root and apple in a cold salad preparation...YUM! And I want to make a beet salad where I thinly slice the beets on a mandolin - not sure if I'll like it, but I can't wait to find out.

Anyhow, here's what I do with most of veggies when I get them home...







CHOP, CHOP, CHOP!!

I broke down all the carrots, celery, red bell peppers, sugar snap peas and asparagus and put them into separate Ziploc baggies. This makes it SUPER easy for me and all three of my boys to pack veggies in our lunches, have them ready for a quick snack and if I need them for cooking, they are already prepped!! This, coupled with my immediate washing of all lettuces and spinach, has way cut down on my prep time during weekly cooking, and it fosters better eating habits! Yum, yum, yum!!

Can't wait for the spring and summer veggies and fruits to make their appearance! This summer, we're going to try a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), where you get weekly shares of whatever is growing fresh from a local farm!! Can't wait!!!