any other Locavores out there?

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Eating local/seasonal/sustainably grown produce is my latest obsession. I'm spending all my time shopping and gardening and finding recipes and cooking them and eating. It's a little overwhelming, but fun, and it seems to have been great for my energy level.

I just wish there was a good cookbook for a beginner, because I'm having to learn how to use all kinds of foods I never touched before. The first time I cooked kale, I didn't know you were supposed to remove the stems.

My new foods:

chard -- really good with the right recipe
kale -- eh, it's food. Very good in soup.
beets - golden are nicest. Good roasted with goat cheese and toasted walnuts
kiwi - one of the few fruits available this time of year
collards - haven't found the right recipe yet, but hope springs eternal
winter squash - makes nummy soup and roasted in olive oil. My husband makes spaghetti squash latkes that are awesome
turnips - okay
parsnips - haven't found the right recipe yet

I definitely aspire to do this. Slowly slowly. The health benefits would obvioously be enormous. I look forward to hearing more about your experiences.

Willaful: Julia Child's Joy of Cooking is the best one you can get. It's expensive, though, and the kind of book that's very hard to find at garage sales.

Also, check out http://allrecipes.com

They have a feature where you can input the various ingredients you have, and it'll match for recipes containing them.

I've long since discovered that the best way to figure out how the hell to use a weird product I find (say, allspice), is to just Google for "how to [product name]" You'll very often find instructions and video tutorials.

Depending on where you live, you should alse be able to find nearby farmer's markets. These are excellent places to force farmers into teaching you how to use and grow stuff.

Oh, I also found this: http://www.umassextension.org/nutrition ... ally-grown

Thanks for the tips. I am getting "surprise" boxes from a CSA-like program, and definitely need help finding recipes. It's an amusing challenge, figuring out how to use everything I get. (Not to mention, *identifying* everything I get!) Avacadoes were a stumbling block -- don't like 'em -- but my husband helped out by making guacamole.

Fresh produce really does taste better. I got heirloom cabbages last week -- have never liked cabbage, but this was so sweet! Also got very sweet carrots. Together they made some excellent cole slaw and a salad with an Asian-style dressing.

I try to eat as much local vegetables and fruit as I can-it's easy,living in the tropics! always at the farmer's market I can get avocados,greens,vegetables such as broccoli,salad kale,apple bananas,papaya,cucumbers,basil,strawberries (the ones from Kula are AMAZING!). I make delicious smoothies with the fruit,mmm,hope to see passion fruit or guava at the market in not too long.
I wish I could say I exclusively eat from the local produce,but I don't.It's quite expensive at the market and I usually supplement my bag of produce with ones from the organic shop. I don't know if I could work my way through a pound of kale!

Oooo, that sounds awesome! I'm very lucky in my climate, but fruit is still a bit scarce here. I've eaten a lot of kiwi and oranges lately.

The price difference can be challenging. In theory I would like to start getting sustainably raised eggs and meat but the cost is astronomical. I know that we're paying for it in other ways but it's hard to get past the sticker shock. I will work my way up gradually.