Real People Eat Local

Seasonal Recipes & Food Tips

To keep it simple and possible to incorporate local food into everyday meals, we would like to suggest a few basic tips:

• Start with Seasonal Ingredients & Find Recipes Later
• If One Thing Is Gone, Use Another
• Don't Get Bogged Down But Be Creative
• Try New Things
• Make Your Dish Colorful
• When In Doubt, Saute with Garlic and Olive Oil
• Don't Stress About Failed Experiments

We tend to prepare local foods creatively, often spontaneously and without strict guidelines. We offer ideas and tips from the perspective of busy folks who want to eat delicious, nutritious food, but who also need to get meals on the table quickly and without a lot of fanfare. If one thing isn't available, for example, we often just substitute another. We'll also point you to other people's recipes that we think work well.

We do not believe there is only one way to cook. We are not partial to one particular cook book or method. Instead, we think the best way to enjoy local food is to experiment and learn to trust your instincts. We hope you will try new things and feel free to move on if you take a wrong turn, so you will have as much fun in the kitchen as we do. This is the best way to integrate unusual foods into your typical routine. It's also a great way to deal with seasonal variations and the vagaries of the farmers market. 

Our recipes are organized by food item, such as "beets," "persimmons," or "apples," so you can easily figure out what to do with a food, whether you've just returned from the market with something new, or you're looking for a different way to prepare an old standby. As we include more recipes in our "Local Mix" bi-weekly newsletter, we'll add more recipes here.