Celebrate Green Blog

I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas this time of year. The farmers market will open in two weeks. In about four weeks, there will be the first strawberries. In about six weeks, I’ll be able to pick strawberries from a local farm. I can be perfectly content going all winter long without foods like fresh strawberries or zucchini, but once the weather turns warm, and I know those foods are coming soon, I start to crave them. I can hardly wait.

But I will wait because I’ve jumped the gun just a few weeks before strawberry season in the past and bought the tasteless strawberries in the store that were shipped thousands of miles. I’ve learned my lesson. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything seasonal I can eat right now. I can incorporate what is available into my meals. In my own garden, I have chives, green onions, fennel and the beginnings of parsley coming back from last year. I’m making it a point to use them wherever I can fit them in.

Sunday morning I decided to try something new with the chives. Since I had just picked up my month’s supply of eggs, bacon and beef along with some cheese from a local supplier the day before, I decided to add the chives to my scrambled eggs and bacon. Not exactly a radical food experiment, just something I’d never tried before.

I used the local horseradish cheddar cheese I bought and a teaspoonful of chives straight from the garden to liven up my scrambled eggs. I snipped up some chives, shredded up some cheese and scrambled up some eggs. I was right - they did go very well together. Along with a small portion of bacon and some 12-grain toast, I had a delicious breakfast with lots of local ingredients in it.

Currently, asparagus and spinach are in season in my region, too. Either one of those vegetables chopped up would have made a nice addition to my scrambled eggs.

All around the country, the first fresh produce of the season is starting to show up. Grab what’s in season and make use of it. You don’t have to wait for the farmers market or your garden to be bursting with a large variety of fruits and vegetables.

If you have an iPhone, download the Locavore app ($2.99) for an easy way to figure out what is in season in your region. The app uses your phone’s GPS system to find your location and then lets you know what’s in season. It also has recipe suggestions for that seasonal produce. There are other useful features on the app like the farmers market locator.

Scrambled eggs with chives and horseradish cheddar

Ingredients

• 2 farm fresh, free range eggs
• 1 tbsp chives
• about an ounce of horseradish cheddar cheese - grated
• 1 tbsp milk
• pinch of kosher salt

Directions

Add all ingredients to a bowl and scramble together with a fork or whisk. Pour into a pan that’s been preheated over medium heat and stir with a spatula until you get the eggs cooked to your liking.

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Robin Shreeves didn’t particularly like to cook until she started paying attention to how the food she feeds her family affects the environment. Once she started experimenting with fresh, organic and local foods, her outlook on food and cooking changed dramatically. When she’s not writing the eco-friendly food blog for Mother Nature Network or attending to her two personal blogs A Little Greener Every Day and South Jersey Locavore , she can often be found in the kitchen, playing with the food that she prepares for her husband and two boys.