I recently signed up for a great fruit and vegetable delivery service that I can’t wait to tell you about! There are many such services in our agriculture-rich area, but the one I have started using is Farm Fresh to You, located in the Capay Valley between Napa and Yolo Counties. I must tell you right off the bat that I am a life long vegetable hater; however, I finally figured out that my mother knew what she was doing when she kept making us eat the damn things anyway!

Every other Friday a box of farm-fresh, organic fruits and vegetables is delivered to my doorstep. You can opt for weekly delivery, but with just two of us at home, every other week has proven to be perfect. Although you can make substitutions, we have decided to take whatever they want to give us, in order to expand our horizons a bit. The first delivery brought me an eggplant, which I must admit I briefly considered tossing in the garbage before showing my husband the rest of the bounty. But instead, I scoured my cooking websites to find a recipe that looked interesting, and I came up with Caponata, which is an eggplant relish that I served with grilled meat. Who knew that the lowly eggplant, which I have studiously avoided all my life, could taste so good?

The next delivery included chard, a dark green leafy vegetable that has never graced my kitchen table. A quick search on Epicurious.com returned a recipe for sauteed chard with caramelized onions and garlic. Again – who knew? It was delicious!

If you want to give it a try, their website is www.farmfreshtoyou.com – you aren’t locked into a contract, you can make changes and substitutions with 48 hours notice, and who knows, you might become a vegetable convert like me!

Posted by:Deborah Byrne