Edamame

While field peas date back to colonial times, edamame—fresh, young soybeans bred for human consumption, not animal feed—are relatively new to North Carolina, recently promoted to farmers here as a new crop to help replace tobacco. They make a good appetizer for a pea-shelling party since you can actually eat them on the side while shelling the peas for the main course.

The glistening vegetables in bright shades of green and orange in this garlicky dish are a reminder that summer’s just ahead. Frozen shelled edamame (fresh soybeans) are available in natural food stores and many supermarkets. We like to keep a bag on hand to add to soups, stews, and sautés.

Shelled edamame (fresh soybeans) are available in the frozen food section of many natural foods stores and supermarkets. Whole wheat pasta is especially good in this dish. If you think you’ll be lucky enough to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, instead of tossing the walnuts into the pasta, sprinkle them on top of each serving.

The contrasting bright green edamame, shiny black beans, and snow-white feta cheese in this dish will please your eyes as well as your palate.

The lemon and dill vinaigrette is a wonderful complement to the flavors of this salad.

The wonton crisps can be made a day before and stored in an airtight container. They are good for snacking, so don’t eat them all. Edamame are green soybeans in their pods. The edamame puree will blow people; it has a creamy consistency with a hot wasabi punch, and it’s also a terrific dip. I find pinching the soybeans out of their pods somewhat therapeutic, kind of like popping bubble wrap.

This rustic dip is an easy way to add bright flavor and color (and vegetables!) to the hors d'oeuvre table.

Soybeans are the only complete vegetable protein, delivering all nine of the amino acids that help build fat-burning muscle.

Wheat Free Yep, green burgers. This recipe makes a lot, but they freeze well, so you can have green burgers all week long!

Swapping chickpeas for edamame gives your go-to party dip a new flavor twist—and a festive green hue—while still packing in plenty of filling fiber and protein.

This textural celebration of legumes includes those that are both in and out of pods. You'll find crisp-tender Romano beans and green beans, as well as droves of firm yet creamy fava beans (also called broad beans), which have been a staple in places like Egypt, China, and the Mediterranean for millennia. The beans are all cooked in one pot and then warmed in a skillet, where verdant shreds of basil join them at the last minute for extra oomph. Sound easy? That's because it is.

Make this salad for lunch but serve it hot at dinner first. To give kids extra protein at lunch, add 1/2 cup finely chopped cold cooked chicken and round it out with a small whole-wheat roll and an apple.

Springtime in Tuscany means eating young green fava beans with salty, nutty crumbles of Pecorino Toscano—a firm sheep's-milk cheese. That favorite snack was a jumping-off point for these savory little toasts. Fresh arugula, both puréed and roughly chopped, punctuates the spread with spice and texture. If you can't get your hands on fresh fava beans, frozen edamame work well, too.

Full of garden vegetables and pasta, this soup relies on a bright basil-and-parsley-based sauce (the pistou) for a last-minute explosion of herbal flavor.

Forget deep-fried noodles: Miso dressing gives this hearty vegetable meal flavor minus the saturated fat.