If you take my advice and plant a few of the easy vegetables mentioned in my last post, you will quickly be overrun with fresh produce.  Now what do you do with it?

First of all, it's essential that you get over the grocery store mentality that a slight blemish means a vegetable gets tossed in the trash.  Your vegetables may have a bug nibble here and there, or even a crack in the side.  Don't worry about it.  I can't for the life of me find a link, but I was recently told about a sect of monks who were quite healthy vegans until they began to buy commercial produce and came down with nutritional deficiencies.  It turned out that the insects they were accidentally ingesting in their previous diet of non-commercial vegetables had been keeping them healthy.  I don't wash our homegrown produce, and we find it delicious, bugs, dirt, blemishes, and all.

Chances are, once you discover how good your homegrown vegetables taste, a good amount of the bounty won't even make it out of the garden.  Eventually, you'll probably want to present the vegetables as part of the meal, which is the purpose of this post.  Tomorrow I'll give you pointers on becoming a bit fancier.

Lettuce - By the time fresh tomatoes and cucumbers reach my plate, lettuce is long gone, which blows my traditional salad out the window.  Here are some in-season salad ideas.

Swiss chard - The easiest way to prepare stellar greens is to cut them into bite-size pieces and steam them for a few minutes until the stems are soft.  Drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and eat.  Once you get bored with that, try sauteing the greens in a large pot in a bit of oil, adding minced garlic for the last minute of cooking.

Tomatoes - Once you get sick of just eating tomato slices (if ever), try our cucumber and tomato salad.  Some people add goat cheese and/or mozarella to the mix for a heartier salad.

Basil - Pesto is the obvious solution to an overdose of basil.  I've posted my recipe for chestnut pesto, but we usually use walnuts in our daily lives.  Pine nuts are the classic pesto component, but are extremely pricey.

Sweet corn - In my opinion, the only way to eat sweet corn is to very lightly cook it.  Bring a big pot of water to a boil while you shuck the corn, then drop the ears in for less than a minute, just until they change color.  Carefully pull them out with a pair of tongs and eat immediately (with salt and/or butter if you prefer.)

Okra - I already mentioned that I prefer steaming okra, and that most people fry it.  What's your favorite way to eat okra?

Whatever you do, remember that freshness is key.  As soon as you pick an ear of corn, the sugars begin to turn to starches and the flavor declines.  Although the difference isn't quite as pronounced with other vegetables, the trend is the same.  For maximum flavor and nutrition, pick produce right before eating it.

* 3 1/2 pounds frying chicken
* 1 onion, cut in chunks
* celery leaves
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 5 cups reserved broth
* 6 slices bacon, diced
* 1 pound smoked andouille or smoked sausage, sliced 1/4" thick
* 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
* 2 green bell peppers, chopped
* 2 celery ribs, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 (14.5 ounces) can diced tomatoes
* 1 can (approx. 15 ounces) tomato puree
* 1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels, thawed
* 1 package (10 ounces) frozen sliced okra, thawed
* 1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme or 1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme