I bet you still have celery leftover from last week cause they were so huge!  I was googling around to find some ideas to share with you for that celery and came across a tip to make a big batch of mirepoix and freeze it for later.  Turns out mirepoix is one of the foundations of Western cooking and it's the holy trinity of French cooking.  Consisting of celery, onions and carrots it is the base for many soups and stews.  I thought it's a great idea to keep a stash of it in the freezer for future meals.  Read more about mirepoix here and try this recipe if you don't already have one.  Also, did you know you can replant the base of the celery plant in your garden or in a pot inside and it will regrow?!!  Yeah.  Yeah for real.  Check this step by step.

IN THE SHARE THIS WEEK:

Spring onion season is a fun one for us because they are really the only type of onion that can be successfully grown here during our winter growing season! The storage onions with the papery outside you buy at the store need a full season of long summer days followed by some cold and then some time curing in a dry chilly place before they taste and look like the onions you recognize. But farmers in South Florida can buy seed for "short day" fresh onion varieties and after a grueling 150 days of weeding, watering and watching... viola! fresh spring onions. You'll notice your eyes don't water as much when you cut these, that's because they haven't cured and their flavor is more mild, which makes them great for use raw.  You can also use their green tops like scallions, either raw or cooked into sauces or stir-fries.

Cubanelles are our favorite sweet pepper because they grow beautifully in our weird sub tropical climate and they are big enough for stuffing!  You can use cubanelles like any other sweet pepper; cut into slices for salads and antipastos or sauteed with other aromatics as a base for savory dishes.  One of the fun ways to make the peppers the star of the show is to cut them in half, core out the seeds, stuff them with anything from cheese to meaty fillings (think about the fact pretty much any empanada filling will work really well in a pepper) and bake them or grill them until the skin is cooked the filling is melty and hot.  This picture is borrowed from a website that has this easy step by step recipe for turkey stuffed cubanelle peppers.

Sweet potatoes are a super food, super full of fiber as well as containing an array of vitamins and minerals including iron, calcium, selenium, and they're a good source of most of our B vitamins and vitamin C.  One of the key nutritional benefits of sweet potato is that they're high in an antioxidant known as beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A once consumed. Add a drizzle of olive oil just before serving to increase your absorption of beneficial beta-carotene.  Fruits and vegetables in general are high in antioxidants, compounds that help defend the body against damage by 'free radicals'. Studies have suggested that the antioxidants in the peel of sweet potatoes in particular may help reduce this oxidation process, thereby reducing the risk of cancer.  To get the most nutrition from your sweet potatoes, don't peel – simply scrub well before cooking.  Research also seems to show that the high phytosterol content of sweet potatoes has a protective effect on the digestive system.  Do your body a favor and eat them!