I have a very vivid memory from my childhood involving mint. My aunt walked my siblings and me through her garden and had all of us try a fresh mint leaf. At the time, it tasted like nothing but toothpaste with an odd, chewy texture. Let’s just say I didn’t love it, and that unpleasant taste stayed on my tongue for quite some time afterwards. 

Now that I’m older – with a small, city-size garden of my own – I have much more appreciation for the bright, refreshing herb. Which is a good thing, considering it grows with a vengeance. This time of year, there’s so much of it that there is no guilt in plucking up several roots in order to make use of the aromatic herb in every recipe possible.

A typical go-to for mint in this gardener’s kitchen is cocktails. But sometimes, testing liquor-based recipes in the middle of the workday just doesn’t seem appropriate. And since most other herbs grown around this kitchen get turned into pesto, the only logical idea was to use this mint in its own pesto creation.

I love the crisp, peppery bite of a raw radish, and I honestly never thought to cook them. It turns out they completely transform when cooked, becoming sweeter and a bit earthier. My new favorite way to enjoy them is to simply sauté them in a little butter until they’re mostly tender but retain a little bite. 

I also don’t like to forget about the often tossed radish greens, which are the most nutritious part of the radish. This simple dish uses an entire bunch of radishes, combining cooked radishes and the radish greens with pasta. A little lemon juice brightens up the flavors and buttery panko breadcrumbs provide some nice texture.  The vibrant pink radishes against the greens make for a dish that’s as beautiful as it is tasty.

March in New England is kind of an awkward month. Access to local spring produce feels right around the corner, but there are still a few weeks to wait. So, this time of year, I try to embrace the season as much as possible and get extra creative with winter’s root vegetables. 

Rutabaga is an often overlooked vegetable. Starchy like a potato, but with an earthy and lightly sweet flavor, it’s a fun vegetable to incorporate into meals. 

I was recently looking for some new rutabaga ideas and stumbled across a recipe for smoky, whipped rutabaga flavored with smoked paprika and garlic. A combination of butter, olive oil, and cream cheese added even more flavor and gave the dish a luxurious, creamy texture. While the recipe was delicious as written, I thought I could simplify things and let the rutabaga shine a little more. 

When you live in New England in the deep freeze of winter, and snow is covering the ground, how can you eat seasonally and locally? It's possible! During the spring, summer and fall months our CSA boxes and local farm stands are spilling over with luscious berries and plump vegetables. Then winter sets in and you may think it's over until March or April. This is not the case, and I am here to point you in the right direction. 

Root vegetables: Named so because the edible piece is part of the root structure and must be dug from the ground to harvest. These consist of radishes, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, beets, and the lesser known celeriac (celery root). When roasted in the oven either alone or all together these make for a tasty and nutritious side dish or main course. For example, use a variety of root vegetables in a filling and soul-warming winter soup. Root veggies are high in vitamin C and fiber, and they take on a pleasantly sweet flavor when cooked or roasted in the oven. 

Parsnips are often described as "looking like a white carrot." But one bite will tell you, despite their relation, this root vegetable is nothing like a carrot.

I must confess: This was my first time cooking with parsnips. Somehow, I always seem to forget that they exist. Perhaps it's their pale exterior that just doesn't catch my eye? Regardless of the reason, it's a shame I didn't start cooking with them sooner.

If you're new to parsnips like I was, this soup is a great introduction to the vegetable. For this comforting, nutritious soup, roasting the parsnips is key. Roasting (well...cooking parsnips in general) brings out the vegetable's delightfully sweet flavor. Although spices and additional flavors are barely even necessary, the onions, celery, cumin and crushed red pepper flakes help to make this a savory, perfect-for-winter dish. Serve with thick slices of crusty baguette for dipping, or simply put the bowl to your mouth and slurp.