A CSA share offers a plethora of produce every week and with it varieties we may have never seen before, let alone cooked—a delight and a bit of a challenge, for sure, but a welcome challenge that makes health, local economy, and enthusiasm for cooking at home a priority in your life.

It is often shared with us at the Manna Cabanna CSA program that fresh, delicious vegetables chosen for the shareholder by the farmers week after week is their idea of heaven. CSA is not for everyone but for 75 percent of those who join once, they get more hooked every year. Hooked on the deliciousness, hooked on not having to make decisions about what vegetables to purchase, and hooked on the creativity it inspires.

Manna Cabanna is now accepting new sign-ups for its 18-week local organic winter CSA program. Information can be requested at info@mannacabanna.com.

We get hooked on the creative process of being a CSA member when we learn to love to cook with what we have. I’ve learned that to cook with what you have you learn to shop mostly to restock your pantry rather than for specific dishes. The weekly CSA produce shares, as well as all the meat and dairy add-on options that the pick-up line offers, helps determine the specific dishes of the week.  You’ll spend less time (and money) running to the store for last minute items and can instead spend your time cooking, eating, and creatively using what comes each week in your CSA and with what you already have.

This is a basic list but you certainly don’t need everything listed to cook many dishes. And, your pantry will reflect your particular taste. This is just a loose guide.

Purchased goods for pantry, fridge and freezer:

• Lentils; French green, red, brown

• Beans: black, pinto, white, chickpeas

• Grains: brown and white rice, barley, farro, cornmeal/polenta, quinoa, pasta, couscous, bulgur

• Seeds and nuts: sunflower, pumpkin, hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, etc.

• Spices: cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, dried chilies, turmeric, caraway, paprika, cardamom

• Herbs: thyme, oregano

• Vinegars: cider, rice and red wine

• Oils: olive, sunflower, coconut, sesame

• Hot sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce

• Dairy products

• Eggs

• Lemons and limes

• Meat and fish in freezer: sausages, bacon, chicken, etc.

Semi-prepared items:

When you have a little spare time, you can add semi-prepared items to your fridge/ pantry that will make life much easier and tastier when you don’t have those extra few minutes to get a meal on the table.

Make a jar of vinaigrette and keep it in the fridge. Dress lettuces and greens as well as roasted vegetables or plain chickpeas/beans with the same vinaigrette, adding some chopped herbs and toasted seeds. Be creative!

Cook a good quantity of beans. Put beans out to soak before you go to work in the morning. Cook them that evening while you’re in the kitchen cooking something else for dinner anyway and have them ready for the next day or freeze half.

Cook twice as much rice, barley or farro as you need for any given meal and freeze half of it to make fried rice, rice and beans or a soup the following week on a particularly busy night when you need the head start.

Toast a cup of sunflower or pumpkin seeds and keep in a jar. Your salads will be better for them; your soups will have added crunch; your snacks will be cheaper and more nutritious!

Use a whole bunch of parsley or cilantro to make a quick, savory sauce with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar. Stir in some thick yogurt for a creamy version. Having a flavorful component like this on hand means a plain bowl of rice or beans or a fried egg turns into a meal in no time.

Make chicken or any other meat, fish or vegetable stock and freeze.

Free yourself from strictly following a recipe and learn to improvise and substitute.

The more you cook—the easier and more fun it is to substitute and adapt as you go. In the Winter CSA program, families of vegetables such as brassicas and alliums have certain common characteristics that in many cases let you substitute one for another. Here are a few general guidelines to get you started.

Root vegetables love to be roasted as do brassicas like kohlrabi, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Cut up, tossed with a little oil and salt and roasted in a single layer, they are delicious as is or can serve as the foundation for soups, mashes, salads, etc.

Onions, like their allium compatriots, shallots, scallions, leeks and garlic, are pungent raw and quite sweet cooked. If you don’t have an onion by all means use a leek, though leeks are sweeter and you might add a little acidity to balance it out and leeks are not so good raw. Scallions (green onions) and shallots can be substituted for onions and vice versa in many recipes, raw or cooked.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, celery root, rutabagas and turnips and sometimes winter squash can often stand in for one another in mashes, gratins, soups and stews.

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, all brassicas, have similar flavors and behave similarly in many dishes, though certainly not all. Mashed cauliflower is delicious but I would not mash Brussels sprouts.

Leafy greens are eminently substitutable. Manna Cabanna’s winter CSA program offers tender salad greens in almost every week’s share. But there are also chards, beet greens, kale and collards; all are good raw (very thinly sliced) when young and tender. They behave quite similarly when cooked and can be mixed and substituted for each other at will. Turnip, radish, and mustard greens are all tender and often interchangeable, though radish tops are a bit fuzzy raw. Make sure to blanch those.

Get good at a handful of dishes that are a common vehicle for most any vegetable.

A simple frittata elevates most vegetables, from leafy greens to peppers, peas, herbs, potatoes and both summer and winter squash.

Pan-fried vegetable fritters/savory pancakes/patties transform mounds of vegetables of all kinds into savory nuggets. Broccoli with parmesan, leftover mashed potatoes, leeks and plenty of parsley, rutabaga and carrot latkes, Japanese-inspired cabbage pancakes with scallions, sesame oil and soy sauce.

Fried rice with loads of finely chopped vegetables; simple Thai-style coconut milk curries; and soups and stir-fries, are all good vehicles for delicious CSA produce.

A quick, stovetop version of mac ‘n cheese with whatever vegetables you have, chopped finely, never fails to be devoured.

Get comfortable making a few of these dishes and make them your own, with different spices, herbs, and cheeses.

Cooking with a CSA can in fact simplify one’s life—a way through the general madness and a treat for the senses and body. Yes, this is work and it takes time and organization to get the groove started, but then you wonder why you waited so long to try CSA. Your enthusiasm for vegetables, any time of year, will never wane.