You know what I love about Bountiful Baskets? What I REALLY love? Beyond the healthy food on my dinner plate; beyond the rewards I get when I volunteer and do my part to ensure the success of our co-op, which is helping countless people; even beyond money I am saving by participating in Bountiful Baskets….

What I REALLY love about Bountiful Baskets is that because of Baskets, I have found joy in food! Clean, healthy, amazing food that I had walked past in grocery aisles for years. Not noticing them, not knowing how to use them and especially not knowing how much I loved them!

Do you remember what was in your first Basket? I don’t! But I do remember I threw almost half of its contents away (and before you make any assumptions about why, let me set the record straight). The produce was amazing; looking, smelling, tasting and feeling. The produce wasn’t the problem. The person handling the produce was the problem; ME, HELLO! I had no idea what to do with this food. Vinegar washes, properly storing produce and “shelf life” were all things that I knew nothing about! Not a thing, I had no idea that not properly washing produce can mean the difference between Strawberry shortcake and strawberry compost. I was also clueless about the amount of time it takes for the natural process of ripening to happen (weeks sometimes, like 6 even!), Mostly, I was really confused about what to do with this food! Strawberries, apples, lettuce; sure. I knew how to use those things. But beyond that, I was completely green <—All pun intended! I do remember that there was a pamello in my first basket. Excited and interested I took it home and goggled it. I remember eating it and thinking, this is cool, I tried something brand new! Through Bountiful Baskets, I am able to find food I wouldn’t normally buy or even look twice at in a store. I am able to Google recipes on specific items and even have this super cool website with lots of people who love sharing ideas, recipes and tips on these new and interesting items (And guess what else!?) They share their information and recipes FOR FREE! By my third basket; I was determined to not throw any produce away. So I started getting creative and learned how to turn the unknown produce into a dish that worked for me and my taste buds. I even used an eggplant!

And that’s how I found Hatch Chiles. I don’t know what it is about them that makes me fall in love with them every time I eat one. I don’t know if its the endless possibilities of what I can do with them. The limited supply of them or the fact that I am just crazy….whatever the reason; hatch chiles are one of my favorite offerings from Bountiful Baskets and I am so grateful I was able to learn about them because of baskets.