The Traveler's Lunchbox has started a real food craze: Five Foods to Eat Before You Die, food bloggers planning, reflecting and forcing themselves, as tough as it might be, to a list of just five. Fascinating, the lists collected here . The food, of course. But more interesting are the perspectives, both aspirational travel-planning and hopeful last-meal lists. Mine, certainly falls onto the last-meal table, but the list came easily, no exchanges, no questions. Mom's bread: Heavy, dense and slightly grain-sweet. With butter, please. Nana's peroghies: Blueberry, please. (The recipe just happens to be online .) Gramma's blueberry pancakes: In bear shapes, please, just like Gramma made them on Sunday mornings before church. My sister's shortbread: made with a deft touch that produces cakes as light as air, with just the right crumb. With tea, please. My Finnish sister's strawberry whipped cream cake: traditional Scandinavian cakes, layers of sponge cake...

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers ... if your garden or market is overflowing with bell peppers, this week's Kitchen Parade column features two side salads / vegetables, that make good use of the seasonal abundance. Both are easy-easy and very good! These are perfect contributions to potlucks and outdoor suppers. Oh my, look! There's just such a La Festa al Fresco happening at Cream Puffs in Venice! Looks like a good party! So I'm going, what about you?! Tag: la festa al fresco (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Favorite Summer Vegetable Recipes from A Veggie Venture's First Year Swedish Beets ... pickled beets, a refrigerator pickle, oh-so-easy with canned beets which are surprisingly good (I even use the local Schnucks private label beets which are nice 'n' small) Summer Recipes from the Kitchen Parade Archives Bloody Mary Salad ... jello for grown-ups, with a kick from horseradish and chives ... a great make-ahead salad for barbecue suppers, outdoor potlucks and family gatherings Chocolate Cinnamon Whipped Cream Cake ... an easy layer cake ... the chocolate- and cinnamon-laced whipped cream frosting is to-die-for delicious! (Confession: The chocolate whipped cream icing is so good it turns a box cake into something special ...) Alex's French Eggs ... slo000000OOOOOOw cooked eggs, savored bite by bite by ever-so-slow bite, as much for supper as for breakfast Slow-Roasted Tomatoes ... call these sloo000OOOOw-roasted tomatoes becaus...

Today's vegetable recipe: The hard-to-find Romano beans, simply cooked in well-salted water, then tossed in a garlic- and rosemary-infused oil. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. ~ recipe & photo updated 2008 ~ 2006: Oh if there'd only been piles and piles of these gorgeous Romano beans! Ron Jones from On the Wind Farm threw a few into my bag on Saturday, betting I'd love 'em. How right he was! Romano beans are also known as 'Italian string beans' or 'Italian pole beans' or 'Italian flat beans'. They're broader than "every day green beans" and have flat pods. They cook in a flash. And they're more tender, more velvety, more green-tasting, more alive-tasting than other beans. If I had a vegetable garden, I'd definitely grow these. If you have a vegetable garden, I recommend that you grow these and send piles and piles to me! 2008: Grab Romano beans whenever you can find them, they are really special! If the idea of garli...

Wondering what to make with those tomatoes you've been roasting? Look no further because this is a superb way to invest those deep, dusky tomatoes. Whole Food, Fresh & Casual. Just Slow-Roasted Tomatoes + Zucchini & Pantry Ingredients! A Summer Classic. Not Just Easy, Summer Easy . Budget Friendly. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian & Easily Converted to Vegan. Naturally Gluten Free.

[Many thanks to all who particpated, the round-up is live !] Lots of surprises to announce today! SURPRISE SURPRISE : The unlikely Veggie Evangelist is September's host for Sugar High Friday, the sweet grandmommy of food blogging events. [What's Sugar High Friday? In October 2004, Jennifer, Canada's very own Domestic Goddess , launched the first-ever blogging extravaganza for sweet tooths: all of ten food bloggers played with white chocolate. Then there were SHF2 - SHF21 . Fast forward nearly two years to Delicious Days' just finished SHF22, Can You Can?: 52 jams and jellies from all over the world !] SURPRISE : In September, Sugar High Friday makes an extra-warm welcome to cooks who feel tempted to participate but don't have food blogs (hello Connie?! Betty?! Alaska Carrots?! Nan & Anonymous?! I know you're out there!) or blog on other topics, like my pal Tamara Nicol at Luminous Lens who so graciously created the logo for this month's Su...

Many thanks to self-described "faithful reader" Betty who recently shared a favorite tomato sandwich. She melts provolone cheese until crispy-crusty, then pairs it with tomato for a vegetarian BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) sandwich. Betty adopted the technique from an old vegetarian cookbook by Nicki and David Goldbeck who call the crisp cheese discs "cheeson" ~ get it? bacon? cheeson? It didn't taste like bacon to me but the sandwich was very good. Thank you, Betty, for the great tip!! KITCHEN NOTES ... To my taste, anyway, the cheeson doesn't taste good by itself. But once tucked into a sandwich, I half-wished I'd made more ... for calories' sake, good thing not! TOMATO SANDWICH with "BACONY" CHEESE Bookmark or print this recipe only Hands-on time: 15 minutes Time to table: 15 minutes Serves 1 Provolone cheese, about 1/4" thick (need to cut with a knife, not a cheese blade) Toasted bread Mayo Good tomatoes, sliced Salt & peppe...