Say hello to the traditional Middle Eastern spread that's found on meze platters in Middle Eastern restaurants along with hummus, tabbouleh, olivada and other shareables. This one's homemade, no more than eggplant, garlic, lemon, tahini and a touch of fresh parsley. Low Carb. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Paleo. Whole30 Friendly. BACK IN 2008 What's Baba Ganoush, you ask? First, let's just put this out there, that if you like hummus, odds are high that you'll like Baba Ganoush. And if you love hummus but avoid legumes, Baba Ganoush is your new savior, it's like a vegan, low-carb hummus: eggplant substitutes for chickpeas. So what is Baba Ganoush, again? It's a simple purée of grilled or roasted eggplant mixed smooth with garlic, lemon juice, tahini and parsley. It's a healthy Middle Eastern spread or dip that's traditionally served with pita bread but is easy to use up in other ways too. We like

Pantry with a Purpose: How to stock your pantry with simple ingredients for making easy, delicious and economical homemade salad dressing recipes. Almost, not quite, but any day now, it will be salad season! Tender spring greens are soon to appear. The weather's turning warm and so we make our annual return to lighter, fresher and "greener" food. So here's my challenge to readers of A Veggie Venture and to salad lovers from all over: Never Buy Salad Dressing Again. Let's make it a hashtag! #NeverBuySaladDressingAgain! I'm here to help. Cookbooks and cooking magazines often suggest ingredients for a well-stocked pantry. But how many of us fill our pantries, then forget to empty them?! And we shouldn't. That's because "cooking from the pantry" is the best way to save money on groceries – at the same time avoiding the calories, additives, waste and inconvenience of carry-out, drive-through and frozen food. So let's stock our pantrie

Today's recipe: Milk. Vinegar. Sugar. No more. No oil! Low carb. Weight Watchers zero points. It gets no easier than this. When my brother-in-law visited over Christmas, he mentioned the salad dressing that his mother, a World War II German war bride, makes all the time. They call it 'German Salad Dressing'. Me, I'm tempted to dub it "salad dressing for dummies" because it has just three ingredients. Three ingredients. And it's got me to thinking. Why in the world do we buy bottles of salad dressing when it's this cheap and simple and tasty to make? So I'm launching a new series of occasional posts with collections of simple classic recipes for home cooks who want to feed their families economically and healthfully. Look for the first one tomorrow. I'm calling it " Never Buy Salad Dressing Again ". Who will take the challenge? FREE ICONS for BLOGGERS Share your love of fresh produce, whether from the farmers market, your own garden or

Today's vegetable recipe: Eggplant slices brushed with steak sauce and honey, then broiled and topped with Parmesan. Easy. Quick. Tasty. I love to chat up the produce guys at the grocery store. They're full of good tips. Just yesterday, one was unpacking a lug of gorgeous eggplant. "Do you ever get Japanese eggplant?" I asked, just curious. "Some times," he answered. "Do they sell?" I wondered. Nope. "But the globe eggplants are one of our best sellers." Really? This veggie evangelist had best catch up! There are several good eggplant recipes here -- but clearly, not enough. I grabbed a couple of eggplants, came home and straight-off made these for lunch -- using pantry ingredients, nothing more. They were just excellent, creamy on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside, lots of flavor. Score one for eggplant lovers, here's another great way to cook eggplant. While the 'Eggplant Steak' name suggests something meaty an

How to cook whole artichokes in the microwave. How to prep the fresh artichokes for cooking, what kind of a cooking pan to use, how long to cook them. Dead Easy. Dead Fast. Dead Delicious. Real Food, Fresh & Fast. A Spring Classic. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Dinner for One or Two. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

A classic simple cornbread sweetened with honey or the Midwestern favorite, sorghum. Sweet but not too sweet. Rich but not too rich. Ever so tender. Absolutely delicious! Bake it in the traditional round shape in a cast iron skillet or for great sliced cornbread, a loaf pan. But the recipe has moved to a new location, please see Honey-Sweet Cornbread 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 where recipes range from seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special. © Copyright Kitchen Parade VV 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018 (repub) & 2024 (retire) KP 2024

Today's Weight Watchers recipe: One of three new zero-point soup recipes from Weight Watchers. Asian-inspired ingredients: bok choy, Chinese cabbage, fresh ginger, bean sprouts, snow peas. Weight Watchers 0 points. When Weight Watchers UK introduced brand-new zero-point soup recipes, I couldn't wait to try all three. First I tested the ' Mexican-inspired' zero-point soup and now today, the Asian-inspired zero-point soup recipe. (What's left to try? The Italian-inspired soup!) How do these two new soup recipes compare to Weight Watchers' original zero-points Garden Vegetable Soup ? All three are alike in these ways: all have (1) lots of low-calorie vegetables, (2) no-calorie broths and (3) lots of flavor. To my taste, the Garden Vegetable Soup and the Mexican-inspired soup are more substantial tasting than the Asian-inspired soup. But that's okay, for that makes the Asian soup an especially good choice for days -- after an indulgent weekend, say -- when we

Today's vegetable recipe: Thin strips of asparagus stems, gently sautéed. Quick. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. The local asparagus won't arrive for a couple of weeks but there's no avoiding the temptation of the first asparagus from the supermarket. These quick-cooked asparagus 'noodles' were absolutely delicious. I used a vegetable peeler to 'noodle-ize' fat spears of asparagus, then cooked them in nothing more than butter -- a splash of lemon juice might be nice too. SO simple. SO good. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more ways to cook asparagus ~ ASPARAGUS NOODLES Hands-on time: Maybe 10 minutes Time to table: Maybe 15 minutes Serves 4 1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus (fat spears are best) 1 tablespoon butter Splash of lemon juice (if you like) Salt & pepper to taste Snap woody ends off asparagus and discard. Slice off the tips and if you like, save for something else. With a vegetable peeler, slice lengthwise along each spear, creating a '

Finally! The advent of spring may mean cherry blossoms in Washington but for vegetable lovers, it's the return of fresh, local produce that stirs our spoons. So I commissioned some icons to help myself -- and my fellow bloggers -- showcase fresh vegetables and fruits whether from farmers markets, a CSA, a you-pick farm, even our own gardens. (Sound familiar? Who remembers Blush the Sweet Tomato ?) So yes, fellow bloggers, you are invited to use these icons in your own blogs in posts and places that feature fresh and local produce. Together, let's help spread the word about the many sources of fresh and healthful produce. Each icon comes in 400px, 125px and 100px sizes. You're free to use one or more of the icons as you see fit: in posts; in sidebars; to link to a list of your own favorite farmers markets; to link to Local Harvest or your own CSA -- anything creative you come up with that's related to fresh, local produce. Use them once, use them a h