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Showing posts from March, 2006

Day 354: Wilted Asian Cabbage

[Hmmm. Does that slaw look like broccoli rabe to you? Me either. Day 354 was supposed to be a last March broccoli rabe contribution with a final running round--up. The bad news is that the store was out. The good news is that the produce manager says it's flying off the shelves - she can't keep enough in! Watch for something rapini-rabe-ish in a few days!] Fast and light! It's a good combination. It's Napa cabbage, wilted with a bit of water in a hot skillet, and a soy-ginger-vinegar dressing. NEXT TIME ... I'd drain the leftover water from the pan before mixing the wilted cabbage with the dressing. I'd add "something else" ... green onion, toasted sesame seeds, red pepper flake, perhaps. NUTRITION NOTES ... Another low-carb, low-calorie, low-point vegetable! WILTED ASIAN CABBAGE Bookmark or print this recipe only Hands-on time: 5 minutes! Time to table: 8 minutes! Serves 4 Splash of water 4 cups thin-sliced Napa cabbage ? Green onion ? Mushrooms 1 ta...

Kitchen Parade Extra: Quick Supper: Crockpot Chicken Goulash ◄

There are days when it's the drive-through or the crockpot, nothing in between. If that describes your day (or your life!), try the plain, tasty fare of Crockpot Chicken Goulash , featured in this week's Kitchen Parade column. It's the latest in Kitchen Parade's Quick Supper series, dishes specially selected to be easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Day 353: Tuna Salad Vegged Up ◄

It's a simple idea: if you want to eat more vegetables, start by adding chopped veggies to whatever you're already making. Soup. Stews. Rice . Even burgers . I call it "vegging up". Why? Well there's the eat-more-veggies reason. And the eat-more-veggies-than-meat reason. And the eat-more-fiber reason. And the feed-more-mouths reason. And the using-up-bits-of-leftover-vegetables reason. And the end-of-the-month-budget reason. And ... and ... and ... Me, all those apply. But mostly there's the it-just-tastes-good reason. KITCHEN NOTES ... Work toward a 1:1 ratio of vegetables and tuna/meat. While mayo is the typical binding in tuna salad, today I experimented with fat-free Italian dressing: VERY good. Good bread makes a difference. TUNA SALAD VEGGED UP Hands-on time: 10 minutes Time to table: 10 minutes Makes enough for 4 - 6 sandwiches Cooked tuna (I'm becoming partial to the vacuum-sealed bags ...) Carrot Celery Radish Onion ALANNA's TIPS Whe...

Day 352: Insalata di Finocchio aka Fennel Salad ♥

An old-fashioned Italian salad, a classic, just a quick chop-chop of crisp, wet fennel and creamy cooked egg. Low Carb. Weight Watchers Friendly & Freestyle Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly. Skip Straight to the Recipe Today's vegetable comes from my father's companion Olga, who was born in Russia but lived in Italy with her Italian husband Giulio until coming to the United States. At Olga's, "Italian" is the house cuisine even if Russian is the accent at the dinner table! Olga coached me through this quick side salad made with fresh fennel (also called "anise") and hard-boiled eggs. It's very good! This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a growing collection of easy summer recipes published all summer long ever since 2009 at Kitchen Parade, my food column. With a free Kitchen Parade e-mail subscription , you'll never miss a one!

Day 351: Roasted Carrots & Mushrooms with Thyme ♥

Today's simple vegetable recipe: Chunks of carrots roasted with fresh mushrooms. Weight Watchers friendly! Low carb! Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". ~recipe & photo updated 2008 & 2014~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ ORIGINAL POST 2006: Day after day, other food blogs inspire! Today it was Kalyn's Kitchen's great-looking roasted carrots and mushrooms . They were GREAT! Even my dad, who's so-so about carrots, admits they were "okay". For the record, that would be a compliment – he ate every single bite! I followed Kalyn's recipe except that I used: a whole pound of real carrots! the kind you peel and cut into chunks. The pre-peeled carrots marketed as 'baby carrots' aren't baby carrots at all, just huge humongous carrots formed into carrot-bullet shapes. They're fine for eating raw but have little flavor when cooked. Just 1 tablespoon oil. In the last year, I've learned that the trick for using LESS OI...

Day 350: Gypsy Pot ♥
Every-Day Ingredients in Uncommon Combination

Today's hearty vegetable recipe: A concept recipe, happy with addition and subtractions based on what's on hand and what's in season. Weight Watchers Friendly. Easily made vegetarian or Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". ~recipe & photo updated 2014~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ Original 2006: I fell in love with the name, Gypsy Pot. I swooned over the everyday ingredients in uncommon combination. In short order, I moved to the kitchen to begin the peeling and chopping for a somehow completely familiar and yet altogether new soup that is a Gypsy Pot. It's earthy peasant food and something sublimely sophisticated both at once. The inspiration comes from The Traveler's Lunchbox , whose own inspiration comes from Anya von Bremzen's The New Spanish Table . NEXT TIME This isn't a soup to start when you're in a rush, instead one to savor the experience of cutting and chopping and cooking. It takes 20 minutes alone to peel a &^%...

Day 349: Fragrant Orange Beetroot Salad ◄

This delicious beet salad comes with lessons. Roasting beets is efficient! Up front, invest five minutes in prep, then unattended time in the oven. Once the beets're roasted, it's one quick salad after another. (The last one was only just on Day 347 . ) Fragrance doesn't roast in (as attempted Day 346 ). But it's easy to add later. This salad is scented with orange but lemon and lime would be good too. Well-organized bookmarks take some discipline. But when you've got cooked beets and 30 minutes til supper's expected, no worries if your bookmarks have a folder for "beets", better yet, one for "beets" and another for "cooked beets". This beet recipe comes from The Flying Apple, posted way back in October. It's easy, it's good. Thank you, Angelika, for making supper's vegetable such a breeze! Start your bookmarking now! Bookmark or print this recipe only File it in Vegetables / Beets Cooked. FROM THE AR...

Day 348: Zucchini Lemon-Honey Salad ♥ Recipe

Vegan Done Real ". >> ~recipe & photo updated & reposted 2012~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2006 Original Post: If the weather's not yet spring-ish, the food can be! Easily slipping the knife through the soft flesh of the green zucchini and yellow squash, I realized how remarkably different, how spectacularly simple, how wonderfully light and bright, this quick chopped salad seems — now — compared to the root vegetables that felt so perfect just a couple of weeks ago but now seem unappealingly heavy and earthy. Wool sweaters may be still in order. But not for long! We'll doff them — like parsnips and turnips — soon enough!

Day 347: Beet & Walnut Salad ♥

An easy beet salad, paired with toasted walnuts and dressed with a vinaigrette that starts with jam and brings out the natural sweetness of the beets. ~recipe & photo updated 2010~ 2010: This beet salad recipe was first published in 2006 on Day 347 for a food blogger event featuring 30-minutes meals. I used a Rachael Ray menu. It took 35 minutes to make the menu but I was astounded at the cost and the calories. The meal was expensive ($6.50 a person) and packed with calories (an enormous 1030 calories and 24 Weight Watchers points). (For anyone interested in all the detail, I've left it verbatim at the bottom of this page.) Even Rachael Ray's beet salad was loaded with calories. But MY version of the beet salad is light and lovely, entirely delicious and worth making. I like to make this as a main dish salad. BEET & WALNUT SALAD Hands-on time: 15 minutes Time to table: 15 minutes Serves 8 as side salads, 4 as main dish salads TOSS IN A SALAD BOWL 1/2 cup chopp...

Kitchen Parade Extra: Blueberry Galette ◄

Happy Birthday to my Dad, who turns x0 next week! No, x0 is no typo. And x0 is an apt age, yes? for a much-loved father of a daughter perennially 29?! Dad's "birthday pie in the sky" is this wonderful blueberry galette, a quick dessert all dressed up in a fancy name -- and this week's Kitchen Parade column . (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Day 346: Fragrant Roasted Beets ◄

Roasted beets are delicious -- though nothing novel enough for a food blog in its twelfth month dedicated to vegetables in new ways every single day. (In fact, roasted/baked beets made their first appearance way back on Day 24 . And roasting these beets, well, it's the first time to notice how A Veggie Venture is coming full circle, that we're about to move back into spring-ish vegetables, leaving the winter's roots and purees behind. I'm happy to welcome back favorites like beets and asparagus but it feels a little sad, too, an ending of sorts.) But fragrant roasted beets, now that caught my attention! (Yours too? You're reading, yes?!) But too-too-bad, the fragrance didn't permeate the beets. It didn't even "smell up" the kitchen, which would have been good enough on a wintry day. I tried star anise, fennel and lavender with three large (nearly one pound each) beets. (The star anise and fennel were suggested from the inspiring recipe from Th...

Day 345: Cream of Celery Soup ♥

A simple homemade celery soup, all about the celery and way more than the sum of its parts. Rave reviews! Skip the unnecessary cream and it's Whole 30 friendly. Also Gluten Free, Weight Watchers friendly and naturally, OhSoGood! ~recipe updated, first published way back in 2006~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ Awhile back, I puzzled over a tidbit in a magazine. "To have fun," it asked, "would you prefer to go to a party with lots of old friends or one where you'll know hardly anyone?" Turns out that if FUN is the desired experience, then partying with new people is the ticket. (Okay, yes, I know, who can make such a generalization? and why is new fun better than laughing over old jokes? and were the folks who did the study, went to the parties and wrote the story all Extroverts in the Meyers-Briggs schema? and who reads this stuff anyway? Please, bear with me.) And so it's turned out that I've been cooking and writing about vegetables for ...

Day 344: Roasted Parsnips with Pine Nuts

Every once in a lucky while, you find a cookbook that's entirely cookable. And if it's an entirely readable history lesson, too? Foodie Heaven. In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark launched the great exploration of the new Lousiana Purchase. The food logistics alone were enormous: there were no Safeways, no Whole Foods along the traverse of the Missouri River. How and what DID they eat? Well and a lot, it turns out, very well and a whole lot. The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark by Mary Gunderson describes the expedition in terms of food, applying what Mary calls paleocuisineology -- bringing history alive through cooking -- to make a history book with recipes. "Welcome to the table of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The dining cloth reaches across the North American continent, circa 1803 to 1806. There is more than enough room for each of us to crowd around. Linger at any point in the journey and a rich food history is at hand, revealing the larger story of the E...

Day 343: Cabbage Noodles (This Recipe Has Moved)

Who's cooked cabbage so that it turns into something akin to, well, noodles? So good! But the recipe has moved to a new location, please see Cabbage Noodles at Kitchen Parade, my food column. Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables . Join " veggie evangelist " Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special. © Copyright Kitchen Parade 2006 & 2021 (retire)

Day 342: Cauliflower-Broccoli Gratin with Horseradish ♥

Today's vegetable casserole recipe: A pretty mix of cauliflower and broccoli in cheese sauce that's got just a touch of heat from horseradish. ~recipe & photo updated 2013~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2006 Original Post: "Gratin" sounds much fancier than reality: cauliflower with cheese sauce. But "delicious" barely describes the cheese sauce's bright notes of horseradish and mustard. Call it OH SO GOOD: this definitely qualifies for a 'I Could Easily Make a Meal Out of This' designation. 2013 Update: I've rewritten this recipe to reflect how I make it, how I think it's best made. For example, the inspiring recipe had way too much cheese sauce, two times too much by my measure. I also think that the mixture of cauliflower and broccoli is just so pretty so that's what I recommend too. Plus a bit of texture contrast is really nice. This is a great dish for a holiday table but isn't too much for every day too. It'...

Day 341: Wine-Glazed Brussels Sprouts ♥

No beauty contest winner here but in the taste department? Outstanding. The Brussels sprouts are cooked in a quick mix of wine, honey, soy sauce and a touch of butter. After awhile? It glazes the Brussels sprouts. It's not Belgian chocolate but for Brussels sprouts? Gorgeous. Stop! Do NOT make your decision to make these Brussels sprouts based on the photo! Stop, I say! :-) Now, close your eyes and imagine the goodness of red wine and soy sauce and honey cooked all syrupy. And think about that syrupy goodness soaking into tiny baby cabbages aka Brussels sprouts. Imagine a taste that's familiar and brand-new at the same time. Imagine pure deliciousness. Okay, NOW you're permitted to open your eyes and study the picture: butt-ugly, as they say. That's because the Brussels sprouts at the store were gigantic so I quartered them so they'd cook evenly – the exposed innards sucked up color along with flavor. You can see that the exteriors still look good: yes, I recomm...

Perfect Hard-Boiled Ruby Eggs ♥ Easter Recipe!

Just in time for making Easter eggs: How to cook perfect hard-boiled eggs, then dye the eggs in beet juice or pickled beet juice to create stunning ruby-colored "whites" with sunny-yellow centers. Oh so Easter-basket pretty! And yet ever so simple, just hard-boiled eggs soaked overnight in beet juice. Don't worry, soaking transfers beet color, not beet flavor. Cooking eggs should be simple! Instead, hard-boiled eggs may "look" simple but they can be tricky to cook. The eggs can turn out too soft (undercooked) or too hard and crumbly (overcooked) or ringed with green (cooked improperly) or impossible to peel (probably too fresh). For each problem, someone supplies a list of tricks aka solutions. No more. I clipped this "perfect hard-boiled eggs every time" recipe so long ago there's no memory of its source. But this technique (a recipe for hard-cooked eggs? I suppose it's that!) creates perfect hard-boil eggs. Every time. With both fresh ...

Pride of Erin Soup ♥ with Cabbage, Potato & Kale

A perfect soup for St. Patrick's Day or for that matter, any chilly winter day. It's a simple cabbage soup, just fresh cabbage plus potato and kale in a gentle blend of chicken stock and milk for the broth. Fresh & Seasonal, Perfect for Late-Winter. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Fat.

Kitchen Parade Extra: Whole-wheat Soda Bread ◄

So here it is, St Paddy's Day: top o' the mornin' to ya! Shur'n 'tis a grand day, begorrah! Supper won't be complete without soda bread., perhaps the whole-wheat loaf that's featured in this week's Kitchen Parade column . And if the rest of supper isn't set, think about: Caraway Corned Beef , an easy easy stove-top dish with chunks of potato and carrot and wedges of cabbage, all doused in yummy cheese sauce or other " green food " possibilities! (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Day 339: Cabbage Sprouts ♥

Hey, vegetable lovers! Today I cooked a brand-new vegetable (new-to-me anyway), something called a "cabbage sprout". First job, figure out what it is, second step, figure out how to cook it. Fresh & Seasonal, A Spring Specialty. Weeknight Easy. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly & Freestyle Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free.