Today's vegetable recipe: An unusual and refreshing salad, a bright mix of chopped fruits and vegetables tossed with no more than salt and pepper and a little cinnamon. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. Vegan. No added fat. So why is it that 'vegetables' are usually served as a side dish and 'fruit' as dessert? This salad really surprised me. Not only is it pretty -- isn't it pretty?! -- but instead of being a 'savory' salad, as expected, it's a 'sweet' salad, despite having no added sugar. The fruit alone adds so much sweetness to the crunch of the vegetables -- it made for a wonderful light dessert two nights in a row, and I can't wait to make it again. The salad's texture was best shortly after it was mixed but the flavors melded beautifully after resting a few hours that I'm happy to say that it can be made in advance a few hours or even overnight. You could use any vegetables, I suppose, but the cantaloupe and apple, the c...

Today's vegetable recipe: A lesson in timing, how barely roasting fat spears of spring asparagus turns out something entirely new: crisp with good 'snap', garlicky and glorious. Vegan, low-carb and Weight Watchers 1 point. This is the time of year when a reader might complain, "Alanna, are you cooking anything except asparagus?" (Yes, it really happened, in 2007 with the oh-so-lovely Asparagus Omelet with Remoulade Sauce .) Every year, my answer is the same. Well, no. The good news for readers is that this means that I've collected dozens of asparagus recipes . But this year in particular, when I'm lucky to have asparagus five minutes from the dirt, there's just no getting enough of it. This new technique ranks right up there as a top-top favorite way to cook asparagus. It's also one of the easiest -- and quickest -- ways to roast asparagus. When it comes to roasting asparagus, it's a question of timing, timing, timing. TOTALLY ROASTED ASPARAG...

Today's vegetable recipe: A Middle Eastern avocado dip, smoother than guacamole but otherwise similar. Very impressive appearance when served in the empty avocado shells - positively gorgeous, if I may say so myself! Low-carb and vegan. So May 5th passed without the hoped-for, planned-for, considerably-anticipated Cinco de Mayo party, something about a calendar mix-up and a dining room with fresh paint but so far, no floor. Oops. But I couldn't get the shouts for 'Mexican food' 'MEXICAN FOOD' ' MEXICAN FOOD ' out of my head and so, piecemeal, put together a menu's worth of dishes over the course of the week, including this gorgeous Avocado Dip. Funny thing is, this avocado dip isn't Mexican at all, but Middle Eastern! It adds tahini (the sesame paste) and is mashed to a smooth dip rather than the loose chunks of Homemade Guacamole , say. I found it quite luscious and very pretty partied up in the empty avocado shells, a snap to do. AVOCADO DIP Ha...

It looks like Spanish Rice. It tastes like Spanish Rice. But really? It's made with cauliflower and tomatoes, that makes it a low-carb and high-fiber "rice" dish. Yahoo! Weight Watchers PointsPlus 2. When my friend Sally from the Iowa blog Tip of the Iceberg mailed this recipe, she wrote, "I've used this recipe for years and it truly is excellent. I hope you can share it with the world." Verdict? It is truly excellent and Here, World , it is! It looks like Spanish rice. It tastes like Spanish rice. And yet it's not made with rice, it's made with cauliflower. So it's a perfect choice for people who watch their carb intake for diets or diabetes. And good news, this doesn't taste like "diet food" – it's just plain good! And it looks so beautiful on a plate, too, adding color and texture, very pretty! PS This isn't the first time I've used cauliflower to "fool" the table. Turns out, cauliflower can taste a ...