12 Expert Tips For Getting The Most Out Of Your Food In The Kitchen

So we spoke with Khalee Kreider of Kreider Farms, a third-generation dairy and egg farm in Pennsylvania; and Michelle Aronson of Farmbelly, a farmer and owner of a farm to table cooking school, to pick their brains on how they make the most of their farm-fresh ingredients in the kitchen.

Leaving the tops on can sometimes cause the roots to go limp. But removing them will keep your carrots crunchy and your radishes crisp.

For example, you can sauté beet greens with eggs or add them to soups and veggie sautes. Or, use radish tops make fabulous pesto, or carrot tops to make gremolata — an Italian condiment made with parsley, lemon zest, and garlic.

Keep a Ziploc bag with any of the hard, leftover stuff — then add a rind to a pot for a subtle, savory boost.

This will help keep them fresh. Just change the water when it starts to look cloudy, and snip the ends of the stems every few days to help the herbs take up water more easily. (The jar can stay out on your counter, but if it gets over 70ish degrees in your kitchen, then the herbs will fare better in the fridge.)

The green on the outside of a hardboiled egg yolk occurs because of a chemical reaction between the sulfur in the egg whites and the iron in the yolks. The discoloration is harmless, and "normally occurs when an egg has been cooked too long or at too high a temperature," says Kreider. If you want your eggs to be perfectly yellow on the inside, just cook your eggs in hot water, then dunk the eggs in cold water as soon as they're done cooking.

If you're in a hurry in the morning, simply beat two eggs in a dish with a flat bottom, add a splash of milk, salt, and pepper, and stick it in the microwave, uncovered, for about 90 seconds.

Keep a large Ziploc bag in your fridge full of scraps like carrot peels and herb stems, then dump the contents into a pot of water when you're ready to boil up your stock. The stock will last a week in the fridge, or several months in the freezer.

It's one of the MVPs of the kitchen, and for good reason. Use parsley whenever you want to add a cooling, refreshing flavor to a dish. This underrated herb can also add brightness and color when blended into sauces or used to garnish soups, stir-frys, casseroles, and pasta.

According to the American Egg Board, raw whole eggs (in the shell) are good as long as they are kept refrigerated for 4-5 weeks past the pack date, or three weeks after purchase.

It'll be less tedious than fumbling around with a press. "I also think that the world would be a more delicious place if we all incorporated more lemon zest in our lives, so my microplane is never far when I'm cooking," says Aronson.

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