We eat fresh broccoli all year, so I honestly didn’t know that it was a seasonal vegetable. Yep… fall to early spring, that’s when it’s at its peak.

I guess I thought that as long as the broccoli wasn’t yellow and limp, it was good to go.

No, no, no. There’s so much more to it.

Something to remember: even if you buy gorgeously green broccoli with tightly packed florets, if you overcook it you’ll loose all the nutrients. Lightly steam or microwave the broccoli until tender-crisp and you’ll preserve the cancer-fighting beta-carotene.

Here are 10 Tips for Buying Perfect Broccoli… at any time of year!

Shelly asks: I used regular baking potatoes for my potato salad and they basically turned into mush. Are certain potatoes better for certain recipes?

Most of us learn the hard way (or I should say the mush way?) that you can’t use the same type of potato for every recipe. But you should still use the same criteria when you go about selecting potatoes for whatever you’re making:

1. Potatoes should be smooth and they should all be about the same shape and size so they’ll cook evenly.
2. Pass up potatoes that have bad spots, wrinkled skins, cuts, bruises or green coloring.
3. Store fresh potatoes in a cool, dark place… NOT the refrigerator.

Each variety of potato has a “best way” to cook it. Here’s some guidance on how to pick the perfect potato for your particular recipe:

Russet
Bake, mash, French fry, roast

 Red
Boil, steam, roast, sauté, soups, salads, scalloped and au gratin 

 White
Boil, steam mash, French fry, roast, soups, salads, au gratin

Yellow
Mash, steam, bake, boil, roast, French Fry 

Blue/Purple
Boil, steam, bake 

 Fingerling
 Boil, bake, steam

We tend to think of potatoes as villains when it comes to healthy eating. Potatoes aren’t the bad guys, it’s the oil they’re fried in or the sour cream and cheese that they’re topped with… and that has less to do with the potato and more to do with the person eating it!

Potatoes are rich in vitamin C and potassium and loaded with soluble and insoluble fiber (which keeps the digestive tract working and slows down digestion so you feel full longer). A medium baked potato only has 161 calories!

Tomorrow, a yummy delish recipe for your next picnic: All-American Potato Salad (hey, summer’s not over yet!)

(A big shout out to my pals at the United States Potato Board and the Washington State Potato Commission!)

Gary asks: “How do I pick out the best asparagus? Sometimes I’m lucky, but most of the time the asparagus I buy are dry and woody.”

Happy First Day of Spring! Vivid green fresh asparagus, with its subtle grassy taste, has always reminded me of the promise of the coming season…. like a big bouquet of flowers (which is exactly how you should treat it).

The stalks should be smooth, firm and straight, not dry and fibrous. Look for tips that are closed, pointed, compact and bright green (a little purple in the tips is okay). The greener the asparagus, the more tender it will be.

When you get the asparagus home, cut off the elastic band and trim a little off the bottom. Wrap the freshly cut stalks in a wet paper towel. Slide the asparagus into an unsealed plastic bag. You can also store asparagus in an inch of water in a jar or vase in the fridge after trimming them.

If you are lucky enough to find white asparagus, buy ’em. White asparagus is actually green asparagus that is grown underneath a cover of soil or hay so the sun can’t green it. Store white asparagus in a paper bag in the fridge because light makes the color change. Don’t forget to peel the stalks (this is optional with green asparagus). Treat purple asparagus as you would green asparagus. Some say purple asparagus are sweeter.

Try to buy asparagus that is the same size so it will cook up evenly. When you’re ready to prepare it, bend the cut end gently until it breaks off (this is the tough, inedible part). Mama loves to grill or oven-roast them with a little olive oil.

Asparagus is packed with antioxidants: Vitamin C and beta-carotene (most of the nutrients are found in the tips). It’s also low in calories (if you don’t dip them in butter or smother them in hollandaise sauce!).

And remember: it’s okay to eat asparagus with your fingers (if it isn’t in a sauce)!

My fresh vegetables always turn out soft after I cook them, even if I cook them for less time than I am supposed to. It doesn’t matter if I boil or steam them … they are always limp!

Limpness can be a drag… even when it comes to vegetables. But fortunately, there’s an easy solution, and one that will also bring more color to your plate, too.

What you add to the water will really affect the final appearance of the vegetables. Look at the chart below. For colors that really pop on the plate, try adding either an acid (like vinegar, citrus juice or milk) or salt to the water before boiling or steaming.

You’ve fixed the water, now it’s time to blanch the vegetables to get them perfectly al dente (tender, but firm with no hard core). Blanching means that you stop cooking the vegetables (either boiling or steaming) a few minutes before they are completely done.

Immediately after blanching, shock your vegetables by putting them into a bowl filled with ice and cold water. You can either drain the vegetables in a colander and then plunge them into the icy water… or remove the vegetables with tongs and drop them in the cold water. Shocking stops the cooking and keeps the colors bright.

After a few shocking minutes, drain the vegetables thoroughly (you don’t want soggy vegetables, remember?) and set aside until you are ready to finish them. Finishing means you reheat and season them by sautéing, glazing or adding a sauce. I like to keep it simple and drop them in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds and then finish them with a few squeezes of lemon juice and a little bit of salt.

What you wind up with are beautiful, colorful vegetables that don’t droop when you pick them up… slightly crisp and delicious.