Rising food prices, the slow food movement, and the green movement have revived interest in finding delicious food close to home. The backyard vegetable garden is making a comeback even in urban areas. Why grow grass (that you have to mow) when you can pick the best tasting tomatoes right outside your door? Taunton's Kitchen Gardener magazine was ahead of its time in trying to raise the bar on food prepared with home-grown food. The recipes collected here are innovative and tasty, and most are relatively simple to prepare. Not only do they help home gardeners find ways to make use of abundance, they show how to do it with style and expertise. The recipes apply equally to good seasonal buys in the supermarket or farmer's market as to produce from a home garden.

Ruth Lively, a long-time garden writer, was trained at the LaVarenne culinary school in France. A former editor of Fine Gardening, Lively was also one of the founding editors of Fine Cooking and Kitchen Gardener.