Want to eat more locally-grown, seasonal food? Strangely, there can be a steep learning curve to incorporating more local whole foods into your diet. Easy recipes are one solution; learning how to properly store fresh vegetables is another secret weapon.

Here are some handy tips and easy, yummy recipes we’ve collected over the years.

NOTE: we are in the process of adding our recipe collection to this website. Please bookmark this page and stay tuned!

Vegetable Recipes

• Makaria Farm’s storage tips and a recipe for (almost) any leafy green (e.g. kale, chard, beet tops, spinach)
• Roasted Seasonal Vegetables (use whatever veggies you have in your fridge)

Beans

• The Easiest Fresh Bean Recipe Ever

Beets

• Roasted Beets

Cabbage

• lazy cabbage rolls, coleslaw, sauerkraut, and an easy peasy saute

Carrots

• (storage tips)
• Braised Carrots

Cauliflower

• grilled on the BBQ, cauliflower pizza crust & other ideas

Fennel

• general info & encouragement

Garlic

• Garlic Scapes: General Info & Pesto Recipes from Ken and Valerie
• Fresh-pulled Garlic: storage info and how to eat it
• Roasted Garlic Bulbs

Kale

• Clemens and Sheila’s Kale Fry
• Kale Chips
• Wilted Kale Salad

Kohlrabi

• general info & encouragement

Leeks

• Cleaning and storage information, plus general recipe ideas

Lettuce

• (storage tips)
• Lettuce Tacos (inspired by Brian and Erin)

Parsley

• Parsley Soup

Potatoes

• general inspiration & storage information

Stinging Nettles

• Stinging Nettles: Handling Tips & An Easy Recipe

Squash (summer and winter)

• Zucchini: pasta, hummus and baked treats
• Winter Squash: Makaria Farm’s Storage Tips & A Basic Recipe
• Winter Squash: curing & storage guide from the fine folk at Johnny’s Selected Seeds
• Pumpkin Pie (using an actual pumpkin)

Tomatoes

• general info & storage tips
• McLeod family salsa recipe

Fruit Recipes

• Award-Winning Walker Family Pie Crust (possible Cowichan-grown fillings: pumpkin, apple, strawberry, rhubarb, blueberry)
• Strawberries (how to freeze the harvest and make a mean strawberry daiquiri, plus some random info that will make your strawberry experience even better)

More Recipes

Check out these websites for more great recipes from local-food lovers:

• The Sunday Lunch
• Windhorse Farm (certified organic, pasture-raised and finished beef)
• IslandChef.ca
• EAT Magazine
• Vancouver Island Diet
• The Inventive Vegetarian