Best Vegetable Recipes of 2012 ♥ Personal Favorites

The best vegetable recipes of 2012 from A Veggie Venture, just one per month, all in one handy spot for easy reference.

It's that time of year, the week when we food bloggers look back over a year's worth of recipes and pick our favorites! I love-love-love this process! It really helps us hone our recipe collections, highlighting the best of the already very good, especially for sites like A Veggie Venture and my food column Kitchen Parade which by design, already post only really good recipes, the ones that work, the ones that are special or especially useful. (Here's the 2012 favorite recipes from Kitchen Parade too.)

But I also love all the many sources of "best of the year" lists for movies, books, gadgets, etc. So this year, I'm collecting "best of the year" lists on Pinterest. Follow me there and you'll see all the new entries over the next couple of weeks on this board, Best of the Year Lists & Favorites.

But okay, here you go, my favorite recipes for 2012. Do we share some favorites? Have I completely missed one you loved? Let me know in the comments!

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All Year Long: FINALLY, ALL IN ONE PLACE Special (Useful & Informative) Stuff – the first place to check for a large collection of non-recipe vegetable information. In 2012, I added: VEGETABLES 101 Vegetables 101: What Are Bitter Greens? THE JOY of VEGETABLES The Miracle of Squash Blossoms HOW TO's How to Roast Vegetables

January: HOW TO ROAST VEGETABLES, ANY VEGETABLE, ALL VEGETABLES Quick! Name the single technique for cooking vegetables that we can use again and again, the same method for every single vegetable, without ever once referring to a “recipe”. Yes, it's the technique called roasting, a proven method for drawing out flavor and texture when cooking vegetables. It's especially good in winter! Vegan: How to Roast Vegetables

February: CAKE, YOU WANT CAKE? Chickpea Cakes are made with inexpensive canned chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans, they're the beans we most often choose to make hummus) but if you're not in the mood for "cake" then call these moist, fresh-flavored something else, maybe "chickpea patties" or "chickpea burgers". Vegetarian: Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

March: A KALE CONFESSION I finally learned how to cook kale. For me. For my taste. For my can't-get-enough, been-eatin'-it-like-candy obsession. Who else likes kale this way? Vegan: Seductive Kale Salad

April: AN OLD FAVORITE GOES SUMMERY & FRUITY Everyone loves the traditional Classic Seven Layer Salad. This salad substitutes colorful layers of fresh fruit: strawberries, kiwis and mango plus avocado and toasted walnuts. You'll want seconds! Vegetarian: Seven-Layer Strawberry Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

May: PREP ONCE, ENJOY SMOOTHIES FOR SEVERAL DAYS Making smoothies ahead of time streamlines the prep and helps with portion control too. This was a huge revelation for me, I swear I made more smoothies this year than any other! Vegetarian: Make-Ahead Smoothies

June: USE UP VEGETABLES from OUR CSAs & GARDENS This quiche uses thin slices of potatoes for the crust, then calls for a full six cups of chopped vegetables! It's a really good way to use the small bits of many vegetables that show up in our CSA shares. Vegetarian: Farmers Market Quiche with Crispy Potato Crust

July: EASY-EASY, COOKING CORN ON THE COB for a CROWD This technique not only cooks the corn just perfectly, it holds the corn at the perfect temperature and texture, too. Another quick tip? Break the corn cobs in half, they're great for kids and grown-ups both, much easier to handle. And less waste! Vegan: Cooler Corn - How to Cook Corn in a Beer Cooler

August: CELEBRATING SUMMER IN SOUP Summer soups are just different than winter soups, aren't they? This chowder is all about the fresh vegetables that are so alluring during the heady summer months. Vegetarian: Summer's Best Corn Chowder

September: EASY, TASTY SIDE DISH Plain-looking, anything-but-plain tasting. This is a butternut squash version of the Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry & Orange that we all loved so much last year. Vegetarian but Easily Made Vegan: Slow Cooker Butternut Squash with Ginger & Dried Fruit

October: A COMBINATION OF TWO FAVORITES, OATMEAL & PUMPKIN I went kinda crazy for this flexible baked oatmeal, making at least three versions, this one mixes autumn pumpkin with pears. Vegetarian: Baked Oatmeal with Pumpkin & Pears

November: SIMPLE SWEET-POTATO SALAD A healthy sweet potato salad recipe, great crunch from celery, a touch of sweetness from honey and a few chopped dried cranberries. Vegetarian & easily converted to vegan with vegan mayonnaise: Simple 'Sweet Potato' Potato Salad with Hardly Any Mayonnaise

December: GREEN & RED for the HOLIDAYS These easy little party snacks are a breeze to make and fly off the platter. Slightly retro? You bet. Vegetarian: Party Rye with Tomato & Cucumber

SO THAT'S IT! What do you think?! I hope you like the collection. But if I've missed a favorite recipe of yours, please do let me know. If we share a favorite, I'd love to know that too! Best Vegetable Recipes of 2011 Best Vegetable Recipes 2010 Best Recipes 2005 - 2009 from A Veggie Venture Best Recipes of 2012 Best Recipes of 2011 Best Recipes of 2010 from Kitchen Parade

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© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2011