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59 results for "peppers"
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RecipeStuffed bell peppers (easy version)
A flexible weeknight main that uses bell peppers as their own container — fill them with whatever cooked grain, protein, and sauce you have on hand, and bake until tender.
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ProduceBell Peppers
Bell peppers are the same fruit at different stages of ripeness — green is unripe, red is fully ripe, and yellow and orange fall in between. That distinction explains nearly everything about how they taste and how to…
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Guide
What to do with bell peppers
Bell peppers are one of the easiest vegetables to work through because they are good raw, cooked, and frozen for later. These ideas help you use a full bag without boredom.
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ProduceWhat is a bell pepper and how to use it
Bell peppers are crisp, sweet, and versatile enough for both raw snacking and cooked meals. They are one of the easiest vegetables to keep in regular rotation.
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Guide
What to Buy From Local Farms in Summer
Summer is peak season for local farms — tomatoes, corn, peppers, berries, and more are at their absolute best right now. Here's what to prioritize and why buying direct from a grower makes all the difference.
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RecipeCacio e pepe
Roman pasta with only three ingredients — pasta, Pecorino Romano, and black pepper — emulsified into a silky, peppery sauce that tastes like it came from a Trastevere trattoria.
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RecipeClassic shakshuka
Eggs poached in a spiced tomato-pepper stew with cumin, paprika, and fresh herbs — a one-skillet Middle Eastern breakfast that works for dinner, too.
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RecipeEasy roasted vegetables
A high-heat sheet pan method that clears the crisper, works with the season, and turns mixed vegetables into a browned, caramelized side that still tastes like an actual dinner.
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Guide
How to Preserve Summer Produce for Later
Summer gives you more great produce than you can eat right now. Here's how to freeze, pickle, and put up the best of the season so you're eating local food all winter long.
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RecipeArugula salad with parmesan
Peppery arugula, shaved Parmesan, lemon, and good olive oil — the four-ingredient Italian salad that earns its place on every dinner table.
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RecipeChimichurri sauce
A punchy Argentine herb sauce with parsley, oregano, garlic, red pepper, and vinegar — the universal green sauce that turns any grilled meat into a special occasion.
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ProduceRadishes
Radishes are crisp, peppery roots that arrive early in the growing season and return in fall. They are excellent raw, quick-pickled, roasted, or served simply with butter and salt.
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RecipeRoasted beet salad with goat cheese
Sweet roasted beets over peppery greens with goat cheese, walnuts, and a honey-dijon vinaigrette — a salad that eats like a small meal.
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Guide
Getting Started with Backyard Growing
Whether you have a sprawling yard or a small patio, you can start growing your own fresh food today. This beginner's guide walks you through everything you need to know.
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CollectiveThe Spring Local Buying Guide
What's actually worth buying local this spring — and what's not ready yet no matter what the sign says. A member's guide to eating well from April through early June.
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Guide
Best pantry staples to pair with seasonal produce
A well-stocked pantry is the secret weapon that turns a farm box into a week of real meals. These are the staples that work with almost any seasonal produce, any time of year.
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Guide
Best winter staples to buy from small farms
Winter local farm buying is less about variety and more about quality staples. These are the items most worth seeking out from small producers during the cold months.
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Guide
Bulk Produce for Canning and Freezing — Is It Economical?
Buying bulk produce from local farms during peak season — for canning, freezing, and preserving — can be one of the best per-pound values in local food. Here's how the math works and where to start.
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Guide
Buying Local Produce vs Growing Your Own — Cost, Time, and Yield
Growing your own food is rewarding and can be cost-effective for specific crops. But for most households, a combination of home growing and buying local delivers the best outcomes on cost, variety, and effort.
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Guide
CSA vs Buying à la Carte: Which Is Better for You?
CSA shares offer commitment and value. Buying à la carte gives you control. Which works better depends on how your household actually eats — not on which model sounds more appealing in theory.
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Guide
Easy meal ideas for a mixed farm box
A mixed farm box full of varied produce and proteins does not have to feel like a puzzle. These practical meal ideas help you turn an assortment of local ingredients into a week of dinners without overcomplicating…
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Guide
Easy summer meals built around farm-fresh ingredients
Farm-fresh summer produce makes cooking easier, not harder. Here are simple, satisfying meal ideas built around what local farms have right now.
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ProduceEggplant
Eggplant is a summer vegetable with tender flesh that becomes silky when cooked well. It loves oil, high heat, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, and smoky flavors.
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Guide
Five quick dinners using fresh local produce
Fresh local produce makes fast weeknight dinners better without adding effort. These five meal ideas come together quickly and let high-quality seasonal ingredients do the heavy lifting.
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Guide
Fresh-Picked vs Supermarket Produce — Does It Really Matter?
Is produce that was picked this morning actually different from what's at the grocery store? Yes — in ways that are measurable, visible, and taste-able. Here's what the evidence shows.
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Guide
Greenhouse-Grown vs Field-Grown Local Produce
Both greenhouse and field-grown produce can be local and high-quality, but they differ in taste, nutrition, season, and environmental footprint. Here's what to know before you choose.
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Guide
Grocery store produce vs farm-fresh produce
Grocery store produce and farm-fresh produce are not the same thing — and understanding the differences can help you make better decisions for your kitchen and your budget.
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Guide
How Much Should You Budget for Local Food Each Month?
There's no fixed premium for buying local — it depends entirely on what you buy and how you buy it. Here's a practical framework for building a local food budget that works for your household.
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Guide
How seasonal eating can encourage more variety
When you shop for what is in season rather than reaching for the same items year-round, you naturally end up cooking with a wider range of vegetables, fruits, and ingredients — often without trying to.
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Guide
How to build a more balanced week with better ingredients
A more balanced week of eating rarely comes from stricter rules — it usually comes from better starting materials and a few practical habits that make good choices easier to follow through on.
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Guide
How to build simple meals around what is in season
Seasonal cooking does not require elaborate planning or specialty skills. Learning a handful of flexible meal templates and pairing them with what is available locally is all it takes to cook well with what is in season.
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Guide
How to cook with squash, apples, sweet potatoes, and greens
Squash, apples, sweet potatoes, and fall greens are the backbone of autumn cooking — but knowing how to handle each one makes the difference between a good meal and a forgettable one.
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ProduceHow to make fresh produce last all week
Most produce spoilage comes down to a handful of avoidable mistakes. These storage habits will get you through a full week of fresh vegetables and fruit with far less waste.
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Guide
How to Meal Plan Around Seasonal Produce
Seasonal eating doesn't have to mean chaos in the kitchen. Learn how to build a flexible meal plan that works with what's fresh, local, and delicious right now.
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Guide
How to shop local through harvest season
Harvest season is one of the richest times to buy from local farms, but the crops and rhythms are different from summer. Here is how to shop it well.
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ProduceHow to use up too much zucchini
Zucchini grows fast and piles up quickly. These practical cooking and preserving strategies will get you through a surplus without eating zucchini bread at every meal.
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Guide
Is Local Food Actually Cheaper Than Grocery Stores?
Local food has a reputation for being expensive, but the real comparison is more complicated. When you factor in waste, nutrition, and what you're actually buying, the math often shifts.
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Guide
Local Food vs Organic Food — Which Matters More?
Local and organic are not the same thing, and choosing between them depends on what you're buying. Here's how to think about both labels and when each one actually matters.
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ProduceMixed Seasonal Vegetables
Cooking with whatever is in season locally — rather than building a recipe and then hunting for ingredients — is how home cooks ate for most of human history. It is also how you get the best-tasting food for the least…
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ProduceMixed Vegetables
Knowing how to cook a mix of vegetables well — whatever you have on hand — is one of the most practical skills in the kitchen. The key is understanding density, heat, and timing, not following a specific recipe.
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Guide
Preserving Local Food — Canning, Fermenting, Drying, and Freezing
The best way to eat well year-round from local farms is to preserve the harvest at peak season. Here's a practical guide to the four main preservation methods with safety guidance from USDA.
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Guide
Seasonal eating vs year-round grocery shopping
Eating seasonally and shopping year-round at a grocery store are two different ways to approach food. Each has real trade-offs worth understanding before you decide how to shop.
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Guide
Summer produce guide: the best fruits and vegetables in season
Summer is the most abundant time of year for local produce. Here is a practical guide to what is in season, what to prioritize, and how to make the most of it.
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ProduceSweet Corn
Sweet corn loses its sugar to starch conversion the moment it is picked — sometimes measured in hours, not days. Local corn bought the day it is harvested is a different vegetable from supermarket corn. No other produce…
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Guide
The best local foods to stock up on in summer
Summer is the best time of year to buy in bulk, freeze, and preserve local food. Here are the items worth stocking up on and how to make them last.
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Guide
The Real Difference Between Local Food and Grocery Store Food
Beyond the marketing, there are genuine and measurable differences between food bought locally and food from a chain grocery store. Here's what they actually are.
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Blog
This week in food and farming: April 18, 2026
As of April 18, 2026, the most useful food-and-farming updates are about mixed cost pressure, planting intentions, and specialty-crop reporting deadlines. Here is what changed and what to do with it this week.
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Guide
What eating better can look like without being extreme
Improving how you eat does not require eliminating food groups, following a named protocol, or overhauling your life. It often starts with simply using better ingredients more consistently.
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Guide
What grows well in small spaces
Small-space growing works best when you choose crops that stay productive, fit containers or tight beds, and match how you actually cook.
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Guide
What questions to ask before buying meat, eggs, or produce locally
Buying from a local farm is different from grocery shopping — you can actually ask questions. Here's what's worth asking and why the answers matter.
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Guide
What to do with extra garden produce
Extra garden produce is easiest to manage when you sort it by urgency, not by category. A little triage turns a pile of mixed produce into a workable plan.
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ProduceWhat's the Shelf Life of Farm-Fresh Produce?
Farm-fresh produce and grocery store produce have different shelf lives — sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Here's what to expect for common crops and how to extend it.
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Guide
Why fall farm shopping feels different
There is something distinct about buying from local farms in fall — the pace, the products, the sense of the season coming together. Here is what makes fall shopping its own kind of experience.
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Guide
Why local produce can make healthy eating easier
Healthy eating is easier when the food you bring home is genuinely good. Local produce, because it tends to be fresher and more flavorful, removes some of the friction that makes eating well feel like work.
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Guide
Why local produce sometimes looks different than grocery store produce
Local produce doesn't always look picture-perfect, and that's not a quality problem. Here's what's actually behind the differences in size, color, and shape.
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Guide
Why seasonal eating can be a more sustainable choice
Eating seasonally aligns your food choices with what the land around you naturally produces, which can reduce energy use and food miles — though the real story has more nuance than simple slogans suggest.
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Guide
Why seasonal eating makes sense
Eating seasonally isn't about following a food trend — it's a practical way to get better flavor, lower prices, and more variety over the course of a year.
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Guide
Why summer is peak season for buying local
Summer is when local food is at its most abundant, affordable, and exceptional. Here is why this season deserves extra attention and how to shop it well.
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Guide
Winter buying tips for eggs, meats, pantry items, and preserved goods
Winter is when knowing how to buy specific farm products makes a real difference. Here is a practical guide to eggs, meats, shelf-stable pantry goods, and preserved foods in the colder months.
