Today's "unrecipes", seven quick ideas for turning a bag of frozen green beans plus on-hand ingredients from your fridge and pantry into something your family will love (inhale?!). If you stockpile frozen green beans, just cook the beans with plenty of salt, then add simple flavors and textures to turn them into something brand-new and delicious! Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

Today's (crazy?) beet recipe: Fresh beets roasted in a salty crust, topped with a horseradish sauce. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. To sell a house, forget baking cookies just before prospective buyers arrive, so last-century passé! Instead, roast beets wrapped in salt and horseradish and citrus zest. Oh my, who knew that horseradish could smell so good? (And besides, how could I resist an addition to all the ways to cook beets ?) The recipe comes from the February 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, bookmarked in a dozen spots for intriguing new ideas for cooking vegetables. This is the first of several, I suspect, to appear here ... SO IS THIS A NOVELTY or the LATEST & GREATEST? Well, I'm not sure. The aroma while baking was -- wait, you already know that was amazing. And then -- it was easy enough to crack open the salt layer but once that was off, the beets were hard to peel, a real surprise since after beets bake ( wrapped in foil , say, like the ones pictured behind

Today's quick supper or side recipe: Pasta tossed with an Asian-style sauce of garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, peanut butter, soy sauce. Weeknight quick. Vegan. Low carb (with low-carb pasta). Weight Watchers 5 points. Who else is prone to this? Day One. Spy a recipe calling for some obscure (to us) ingredient, fun! Take note. Day Fifteen. Spot the ingredient in a grocery. Hey! that's what such-n-such recipe called for. Bring it home, add it to the pantry, middle shelf, front row, right in plain sight. Days Sixteen to Sixty. Life. Day Sixty-One. Spy the ingredient again, this time at the back of the pantry during the quite-successful-so-far ambition to actually use , not just store, the pantry's contents. Wonder, Now what recipe was that for? Welcome to my life. And say hello to the black sesame seeds purchased last fall for some now-forgotten recipe but much welcome in this pasta sauce from a brand-new cookbook, Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen , a Chri

What's the best thing about the Superbowl? (Um, who's playing again? Hmm. Let's see. Green Bay isn't , right?) Why, the food, of course! This week's Kitchen Parade column features three favorites: a recipe for Chicken Nachos made with homemade Pickled Jalapeño Rings (they're refrigerator pickles!) plus Game-Day Pretzels, an addictive recipe from family friends in Minnesota. Dig in -- enjoy! Note to Vegetarians SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features ' fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences '. Want to know more? Explore KitchenParade.com , including Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box ! WHY DOESN'T THIS POST ACCEPT COMMENTS? Because I hope that you'll click through to the actual column and comment there! E-MAI

Looking for the energy of a puppy in spring? Consider this list from WebMD/Men's Health, the Ten Best Foods You're Not Eating . And tell me, where do you stand? > A+ to anyone who's tried all 10. > Kudos to anyone who's heard of all 10. > Cheers to anyone who commits to find all 10! 1. Beets -- beet recipes, yes, we've got beet recipes 2. Cabbage -- yep, we've got cabbage recipes too 3. Guava -- oops 4. Swiss chard -- of course, Swiss chard recipes 5. Cinnamon -- and yes, recipes with cinnamon too 6. Purslane -- a green, hmm, must keep our eyes peeled for this 7. Pomegranate juice -- yum ... 8. Goji berries -- I keep hearing good things about Goji berries 9. Dried plums -- what 'prunes' are called these days 10. Pumpkin seeds -- a fall favorite, pumpkin seeds are also called pepitas By the way, the adorable puppy is Sulo from Life of Jalo whose four amazing dogs do deliver dog-smiles every day! Eat more vegetables! A Veggie Venture

Today's guacamole recipe: Traditional avocado guacamole lightened with tomatillos. Stays fresh and bright green for a couple of days! Weight Watchers Friendly, just 2 PointsPlus per quarter cup! Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". And decidedly delicious, did I mention that?! ~recipe & photo updated 2014 & republished 2015~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2008 ORIGINAL POST: Much as we all might hope (and I might try, say, with guacamole made from broccoli ), there's really no replacing real avocados if we want real guacamole. So this year, I switched strategies, trying a recipe that adds bulk from a lower-calorie ingredient to the traditional avocados. TASTE Taste-wise, guacamole made with a mix of avocado and tomatillo completely works! It is definitely a real avocado guacamole . Better yet? The lower-calorie tomatillos add a brightness that's just a touch deliciously different. Tomatillos are also called

Today's vegetable recipe: A quick supper or side dish using a quick-cook technique for low-carb pasta and Trader Joe's 'Greens with Envy' frozen vegetables in a simple sauce. Vegan. Whether this qualifies as cooking, well, is doubtful. But it does qualify as getting supper on the table in a flash. Some nights, well, that's challenge enough, yes? (Even through the internet-wall, I imagine heads nodding ...) This is a fast, tasty supper, just Dreamfields Pasta (that's the low-glycemic pasta that carb counters can eat and the rest of us love the taste of) and my new favorite Trader Joe's product, "Green Envy" (correction: "Greens with Envy", thank you readers!), a bag of frozen vegetables. Any frozen vegetable would work but Greens with Envy is a great mix -- broccoli, asparagus tips, spinach, green beans, even edamame beans. These five green vegetables really work beautifully together and I'm so grateful to the mom at Trader Joe

Common vegetables, listed by carb count, low-carb vegetables to high-carb vegetables. For low-carb eaters, including South Beach and Atkins dieters, this is an invaluable list to both widen and focus your vegetable choices. "I am so sick of broccoli!" complains my friend Tom. Like most of us, Tom eats the same three or four vegetables again and again. He's also losing weight with a low-carb diet. To limit his carb intake, he has eliminated high-carb vegetables like potatoes and winter squash from his diet. With this list of low-carb vegetables, I hope to inspire low-carb dieters with new vegetable options. Take a look at this list of vegetables, sorted low to high by net carbs – what's new to you? There are so many more low-carb vegetables than broccoli! ~ Alanna

Ever wonder how many points are in vegetables? Once upon a time, Weight Watchers counted points for all foods, including vegetables. But now? Nearly all ( but not all ) vegetables count as "free" or "zero point" in the current Weight Watchers system called "myWW" where the diet plans are color-coded as "green" and "blue" and "purple". Here are all the details! Find Inspiration (and Recipes) for Vegetables here ♥ AVeggieVenture.com, the Food Blog about Vegetables. Seasonal to Staples, Savory to Sweet, Salads to Sides, Soups to Supper, Simple to Special. All Recipes include Weight Watchers points. Many Are Vegan, Naturally Gluten Free, Low Carb, Paleo and Whole30 Friendly.

Today's technique, not really a recipe, for raw leafy greens: An easy 'concept' salad, starting with ribbons of fresh kale rubbed with olive oil, ending with what's on hand. Low carb. ~recipe & photo updated & republished 2012~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2008 Original: Truth is, not so many vegetable recipes knock me over anymore. But this one sure did. After gobbling up this plateful, I was glad to find that the greens bag from the fridge still had plenty of kale and broccoli rabe left over for another couple of salads. The technique is dead easy. Just slice fresh greens into ribbons, then use your hands to massage the tiniest bit of olive oil into the leaves, softening them. (Many thanks to cookbook author and fellow blogger Nava Atlas for the technique tip!) I added half a blood orange and half a 300-minute egg (interesting in technique and color but otherwise unremarkable) -- a perfect light but filling lunch for a it's-still-January dieter

Today's vegetable lesson: What's the difference between yams and sweet potatoes? Ha! Look who followed me home over the weekend, the Yam Man. He persuaded me to finally figure out how sweet potatoes and yams are different -- and the same. The Yam Man's 'Eyes' - are Purple Potatoes - which have creamy-colored smooth skins that hide gorgeous deep purple flesh (also called an Okinawan yam and Okinawan purple potato) His 'Left Ear' is - a Boniato - which has red-tinged papery skin with white flesh that discolors nearly instantly when exposed to air (also called a tropical sweet potato, Cuban sweet potato, white sweet potato, white-fleshed sweet potato, batiste, batata, batata dulce, camote) His 'Nose' is - a Ghana Yam - which was very large (what's pictured is 1/3 a small one, see just how big a ghana yam is) with fibrous skin like a coconut and a creamy white interior flesh His 'Right Ear' is - a gnarly specimen but what let's call

"Think of brown rice as the emperor with his clothes on." ~ Keep reading this week's Kitchen Parade column . Today's column shares a long-time favorite recipe with my local St. Louis readers, the recipe for brown rice that's cooked in the oven. (And yes, observant readers, that's wild rice tucked into the brown rice. It's my favorite new variation.) SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features ' fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences '. Want to know more? Explore KitchenParade.com , including Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box ! WHY DOESN'T THIS POST ACCEPT COMMENTS? Because I hope that you'll click through to the actual column and comment there! E-MAIL & RSS SUBSCRIBERS You may subscribe to Kitchen Parade dir

Today's favorite bean soup recipe: Easy homemade 15-bean soup with a bag of Hurst's HamBeens (skip the seasoning packet!), leftover ham, tomatoes, onion. Low carb. Weight Watchers 2 points. ~recipe updated & republished 2014~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ Please say I'm not the last cook on earth to know about the 15-bean soup recipe straight from the bag of beans. If so, oops, so sorry! But if Hurst's HamBeens are a new 'convenience product' for readers too, you'll be thanking me! My friend Mary passed on Hurst's 15-bean soup recipe tip while feeding ideas about how to use up pounds of leftover smoked ham. (Literally, pounds. At Christmas somehow the butcher sent me home with a 14-pound ham instead of the 7-pound ham ordered.) [ Note to Vegetarians ] Along with a great recipe, the bean package includes northern, pinto, large lima, blackeye, garbanzo, baby lima, green split pea, kidney, cranberry, small white, pink, small red, yellow split

Today's vegetable recipe: In one skillet, fresh broccoli braised in broth and soy sauce; garlic (and ginger and almonds) sautéed in sesame oil. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. After nearly three years of obessing over discovering new vegetable recipes, it's not easy to find new ways to cook broccoli, especially because for every day recipes (and especially for everyday January recipes), I'm picky: ingredients must come from the pantry or the friDge, calories must be reasonable, prep must be minimal. This broccoli recipe fits the bill! The recipe comes from an Atkins diet cookbook which I picked up awhile back to cook from for my dad when he visits so, as written, it's more generous with fat and nuts than suits my Weight Watchers sensibility. Luckily, it adapts beautifully for both diet regimes. I used half the oil (just a tablespoon) and next time will entirely skip the almonds for they really got lost amid the garlic and broccoli. That makes this low-carb and low-

When I was still on the hunt for my go-to chili recipe, I tried some doozies. Read all about it in a 2002 Kitchen Parade column (published today online for the first time) with my favorite recipe for chili, Chocolate Chili . SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features ' fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences '. Want to know more? Explore KitchenParade.com , including Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box ! WHY DOESN'T THIS POST ACCEPT COMMENTS? Because I hope that you'll click through to the actual column and comment there! E-MAIL & RSS SUBSCRIBERS You may subscribe to Kitchen Parade directly, then you'll receive the complete column and recipe directly in your In Box or RSS reader. Just sign up for Kitchen Parade via e-mail or Kitchen Par

How many calories, carbs, Weight Watchers points, fiber and fat grams are in common vegetables? Here's a one-stop nutrition information source, perfect for vegetable lovers and health-conscious cooks. I hope that readers find it a useful reference! ~ Alanna Artichokes Asparagus Arugula Avocado Beets Bell Peppers Bok Choy Broccoli Broccoli Raab Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Celeriac Chard Chayote Corn Cucumber Daikon Edamame Eggplant Endive Fennel Garbanzo Beans Green Beans Hearts of Palm Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes) Jicama Kale Kohlrabi Leeks Lettuce Lima Beans Mushrooms Okra Onion Parsnips Peas Potatoes Pumpkin Radicchio Radishes Rhubarb Rutabagas Spinach Summer Squash Sweet Potatoes Tomatillo Tomatoes Turnips Winter Squash ~ the vegetable nutrition information here was calculated using Accuchef , which relies on the same USDA database used by all similar nutrition anal