Vegetables. Ask any doctor or nutritionist and they tell you to eat more of them. I, myself, am guilty of not eating enough as well. But in today's busy world, not everyone has time to go the grocery store (or preferably, the Farmer's Market), clean, cut and cook a vegetable, in addition to the protein and starch for a well-balanced meal. So, many people turn to frozen or canned vegetables (or omit them altogether).

This month's issue is going to explore the quality of vegetables and which ones should be purchased fresh and which ones do not lose much quality when you freeze or can them.

The first category is easy - Canned vegetables. The list is short - beans. Canned beans, such as cannellini, kidney and garbanzo beans are a great time saving solution. Although dried beans are better, they normally require soaking overnight, then cooking for a couple hours. Who has time for that? The only caveat to using canned beans is to make sure you rinse off the mucilaginous liquid that they are stored in. Then, add to your favorite soups or dips and enjoy. I prefer not to get my vegetables from a can as they are already (over)cooked and heavily salted.

The second category is frozen vegetables. Here, we have a few options to choose from. For example, when I want artichoke hearts for a pasta dish, risotto or dip, I go right to my freezer case. Obviously, fresh are better, but you can't buy fresh artichoke hearts (they oxidize too quickly). You have to buy the entire artichoke and extract the heart yourself (a time-consuming and messy endeavor). And jarred/canned artichoke hearts are usually swimming in marinade or, at the very least, citric acid, which affects the flavor.

Other frozen vegetables that I frequently look to are the IQF (individually quick frozen) varieties, such as sweet corn and peas. Fresh corn is great, but only available on the cob and only certain times of the year. English peas are seldom available in the local supermarket and occasionally seen at Farmers' Markets. But frozen peas are available year-round. With frozen corn and peas, it is very easy to add as many as you need to soups, salsas and even risottos, and keep the rest frozen.

When buying every other major vegetable out there, I prefer fresh. Carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach are much better fresh and are always available. Freezing carrots changes the texture and gives them a spongy quality I find unpleasant. Other great items, available more often than not are green beans, asparagus and Brussels sprouts. All of these vegetables are better fresh than frozen, easy to purchase, handle and cook.