As we welcome cooler temperatures and shorter days, we also welcome the late fall Central Texas Bounty. Whether you’ve got vegetables ready to be harvested in your own garden, or brought home more than you know what do to with at the SFC Farmers’ Markets, here are The Happy Kitchen’s Top 5 Things to do with your Bountiful Produce—

Cut once, eat twice

We commonly recommend, cooking once, eating twice. For example, cook extra rice to have for several meals throughout the week. With cut once, eat twice, cut up your produce ahead of time in anticipation of two ways to use it in different meals. For example, cut carrots in half-moons to then sauté in olive oil and finish with fresh dill, salt and pepper. Cut the rest of your carrots in julienne or matchsticks for a stir-fry the next day.

Make vegetables the star of the meal

Pick recipes that showcase a vegetable, so that you can use a lot of them Think stir-fries, hearty vegetable soup, vegetable frittatas or omelets.

Cook, puree, and freeze

If you have too many sweet potatoes or winter squash on hand, cook, puree and then put them in containers and freeze. Already cooked sweet potatoes or squash makes for the base of an easy pureed soup or can even be used in quick breads and muffins.

Grate it, baby

Grated vegetables of all kinds can be incorporated in many ways. Grate beets and radishes to have on hand to bring more flavor and texture to a green salad. Grate the last of your summer squash and zucchini and freeze in recipe-recommended portions to make zucchini bread in the winter. Grate turnips or carrots to add to salmon croquettes, or potato pancakes.

Greens: Cook ‘em Down

Greens season is almost here; pretty soon we’ll be inundated with mustards, collards, broccoli greens, Brussels sprout greens, spinach, kale and Swiss chard. However, greens cook down incredible fast, so a large bunch will turn into a small bunch in no time. Heartier greens, like collards, broccoli or Brussels sprout greens or kale take longer to cook (compared to spinach and Swiss Chard), and make an excellent addition to soup.