Strawberries are the harbinger that soon we’ll have a bounty of wonderful summer fruits like cherries, peaches, and plums. We checked in with local chefs on how to take advantage of this sweet little gem.

Hints of spring — the later sunsets, the warmer days, the daffodils — are slowly pulling us out of winter’s lull. Spring’s vegetables will soon be filling the grocer’s shelves as well, including spears of asparagus, the focus of this month’s “This is How We Do…“.

Back in December, I was obsessed with SweetGreen’s salad of the month. It was a mix of mesclun, butternut squash, cauliflower, sunflower seeds, roasted turkey and a cranberry vinaigrette. But what really kept me coming back was that it was topped with crispy spicy kale. Even though the kale was the last and least abundant ingredient in the salad, it’s delicately crunchy texture and salty, spicy flavor was my favorite part. While kale can be a complement to a salad, it can just as easily be the featured part of a dish, or a main side. With this in mind, we reached out to those in the D.C. restaurant scene to explore the many ways you can cook up this seasonal green.

Many of the best parts of the holidays revolve around food: baking crinkle tops to give away as gifts, joining family around the table to share a big meal or waking up to full stockings and stacks of pancakes.

When we wrote to D.C. chefs this month asking them to share their holiday dishes and traditions, we expected responses about holiday feasts. And while many of the responses were food-related (latkes with toppings, gingerbread men, Yorkshire puddings, homemade lasagna, mincemeat pie complete with a recipe), we were surprised at the number of chefs who look forward to not cooking at all during the holidays. Instead, they’re content to let someone else put on the apron.

Squash comes in so many different varieties and colors that it shouldn’t be surprising that you can make such a plethora of dishes out of them. From soups and main courses to bread and desserts, squash could have a place at every meal. Many of the chefs we talked to declared that squash is one of their favorite fall ingredients: butternut and red kuri seem like the top picks in the kitchen right now, but acorn, Kabocha, spaghetti and a few other squash types were also noted. I hope you’ve eaten lunch already, because the suggestions below will leave your mouth watering.

We’ve asked chefs how they like to cook certain seasonal ingredients — peaches and tomatoes. This week, we decided to go to the source of those ingredients: farmers. We visited the White House FRESHFARM Market to ask farmers and their managers how they like to cook some of their favorite seasonal ingredients.

Tomatoes are one of those great items that can be used and preserved quite easily. From tomato sauce to salsa to homemade ketchup to Bloody Marys, there are plenty of ways to ensure that a bountiful harvest doesn’t go to waste.

This week, we’re starting a new feature, “This Is How We Do.” So often, we’re at the market or receiving our CSA drop off, and we’re overwhelmed by the quantity of what we’re seeing or getting. So we decided to ask local chefs for some new ideas about what to do with one of our favorite seasonal ingredients. In our first edition, we’re examining peaches.