Brined pickles are easy to make, delicious, and good for you. The fermentation process increases vitamins and healthful enzymes, and they're probiotic, too!

Cucumbers with dill are the most traditional pickle in the US, but nearly any vegetable and herb mixture will work. (Ripe tomatoes are too soft, and I wouldn't try raw potatoes, but we've had good success with every other veggie we've tried so far.)

I threw this together this week when the fridge was nearly bare and bellies were growling. I think it would work with various leftover meats, though Brussels sprouts do pair particularly well with strongly-flavored cured pork products - pepperoni in this case, though a kielbasa or other sausage would probably do well, as would some bacon. You could probably incorporate other leftovers into the mix - roasted potatoes, for instance. As is, it's a quick and tasty lunch or side dish. Slicing the sprouts into thirds or fourths across the equator (parallel to the stem end, rather than through it) lets some of the leaves fall apart and makes them cook quickly (and also helps them not look like Brussels sprouts, if you have any skeptics in your household). This recipe is also great for the larger, looser Brussels sprouts tops.

This dish is brightly colored and warmly flavored; a great soup for a cold, gray day.

This dead-simple recipe goes into the category of "dishes that cause you to eat more of a given vegetable than you would have thought possible." One good-sized head of cauliflower will probably cover two people. Don't blame me if there's not enough; I warned you.

This dish is perfect for the end of summer, when all the bounty of the season is still available, but evenings are beginning to cool and a big, hot bowl of dinner is something to be welcomed. Shell beans are really just immature dry beans, and can be cooked like dry beans that have been soaked. There is a bit of a spectrum between the "shell" and the "dry" stages for beans, and just how long they take to cook can vary a lot based on just where they are on that line. So we recommend cooking the beans separately from the rest of the vegetables in this dish in order to make sure the beans get cooked all the way through without endangering the rest to overcooking.

This is adapted from Shannon Hayes' great book Long Way on a Little, which is about making the most of local and organic meat - if you're a meat-eater, I can't recommend it enough. We roast a chicken every week or so, and this is a great recipe for leftovers, especially in the summer when you may not want to make soup. Of course, you could cook up some chicken (or turkey) especially for the purpose - it's good enough to warrant that. This tastes best if it has a chance to sit for half an hour or so to let the juices mingle.

Serves 4 as a main dish

1-2 heads of garlic (yes, heads - stay with me)
4 medium fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup diced olives (we use a Greek mix, kalamatas or green olives would work well also)
3 cups diced leftover chicken
1 zucchini or summer squash, diced
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, parsley, basil or a mix (or 2 tsp dried Italian herbs)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
salt to taste
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (optional)

Peel the garlic and blanch in boiling water for about 5 minutes, until tender. This tames the bite and makes it sweet and nutty.

Combine everything except cheese in a salad bowl and mix together. Let sit in the fridge for half an hour, stirring once or twice. The tomatoes and zucchini should release enough juice to make a nice dressing; if it seems dry, add some olive oil. Enjoy!

June is what we call "mandatory salad season" - we eat a salad with or for at least two out of three meals a day. Usually a pile of mixed salad green and pea shoots with a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar is plenty, but sometimes one craves a bit more. This dressing is a great use for big bunch of cilantro, especially before the tomatoes come in and you can't make salsa yet.

Some variation of this is a fall and winter staple in our house – this is the current version. It’s very adaptable – adjust to the proportions and ingredients that suit you. It's a wonderful side with roast chicken. Or, to make a meal of it, add some sausage (we like the kielbasa from Pine Woods Farm or pepperoni from VT Smoke & Cure), or sauté some onion and chickpeas and put them on top. Put it on a bed of greens (arugula or kale work well), with a mustard vinaigrette, and you've got one great dinner.

Pea shoots are great raw, but they're also nice cooked. We like to saute some garlic in olive oil (scapes are great for this), then add the soots and cook until they're wilted and just tender. Then, you can add them to all sorts of things, like:

• Scrambled eggs or omelets
  
• Potato salad
  
• Egg salad
  
• Tuna salad
  
• Any salad, really
  
• Lentils
  
• Mashed potatoes
  
• Macaroni and cheese
  

Scapes are the flower stalk of the garlic plant. We snip them off because that helps the garlic bulb develop better - and, conveniently, they're also delicious! You can use them in just about any place you'd use garlic or onions - just chop them up, excluding the long flower bud on the end, which usually isn't very tasty. This pesto is one of the best ways to use this short-lived treat.