This is my favorite method for cooking dark leafy greens like chard (a personal fave, also mustard greens, turnip greens, leafy spinach and other greens) by just dropping them into hot boiling and well-salted water to "flash cook" or "blanch" the greens for a few minutes today to be eaten later. Real Food, Fast & Healthy. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Budget Friendly. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

Hey, all. Meet my buddy CJ, he's the "tomato man" at my local farmers market and I've learned so much from him this summer. Last week he taught me how to freeze tomatoes! Let me share all the details. Real Food, Fresh to Freezer. Not Just Easy, Summer Easy . Budget Friendly.

... beet greens? They were too beautiful to leave at the market this afternoon. I have plans for the beets, would welcome ideas for the greens! I could make the delicious greens from Day 85 . But I'd prefer far fewer calories AND in the spirit of the Veggie Venture, I'd like to try something new! Ideas are welcomed - but time is of the essence, they won't be fresh for more than another day!

What do you call this? A de-corner? A kernel scraper? An ever-so-official corn kernel-removing tool? A corn doo-hickey? A corn thing-a-ma-jig? Call it what you like, it doesn't work. It came from a small-town hardware store, one of those places where all of life's necessities are found. I figured it must be one. So there it was in the drawer. It was the do-or-die moment of utility-or-uselessness. Place the ring over the ear, starting at the tip. Then scrape downward. Theoretically, the tool-thingie will adjust to the thickening of the cob. It does, sort of. But the net is that after using this, I still had to get out the knife to remove lots or remaining kernels. And besides: it was taking up room in an already crowded utentil drawer AND it was murder to clean. Off it goes to the church rummage sale. Maybe for a quarter, someone'll love it.

A simple, simple way to cook fresh sweet corn, then mix it with a little butter, a little lemon juice (to brighten the starchy corn) and fresh herbs. Summer fresh! ~recipe & photo updated 2010~ 2005: Between the shucking and the dekerneling (or if you don't dekernel then the FLOSSING), I always find corn on the messy side. Even though my father's family was from Iowa and we lived in northeastern Iowa when I was a teenager and I was the fourth fifth generation in the family to attend Iowa State, I missed the corn gene and never really entirely understood the attraction. Real Iowans, that is the Iowans who farm, believe that Dad doesn't head for the garden to pick the corn until Mom's got the water already boiling. This recipe has an unusual cooking technique but -- no question -- it worked fine, even on corn that had been refrigerated since (hmmm, well let's see, maybe last Saturday?) awhile back and so who knows WHEN it was picked? I didn't hold out muc

One of my most-made salads on A Veggie Venture, raw chopped vegetables tossed with Italian dressing, fresh herbs and just a spoonful of cheddar cheese. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. ~recipe & photo updated 2010~ 2005: Does this look familiar? It should, it's a reprise of Day 115 . Peering deep into the dark recesses of the frig, I wondered if it might be a good way to use up a few things and deliver lunch ta-boot. Sure enough, the technique that worked so well just two days ago with tomatoes and zucchini also worked great with a broccoli crown, a yellow pepper and a couple of stalks of celery. I did miss the tomato's texture contrast and juiciness. Add this basic idea to A Veggie Venture's "For Instance Techniques" with vegetables. The magic tricks seem to be: the brightness from fresh basil the bite of fresh onion (a red onion would work well too, I think) the tiny bit of cheese for texture contrast (though it would be a no-point salad if omitted) a

This is a simple broccoli soup. But it's also incredibly delicious. So I use the same technique with a head of cauliflower though left in a few chunks for texture. And the cauliflower soup is even more delicious than the broccoli! It's so extraordinarily creamy, you'd think it were laden with fat. But it's not – these are definitely Weight Watchers friendly soups. One recipe, two completely different soups! I combined them in a Kitchen Parade column, two healthful vegetable soups on the table in minutes! Here's the column! Quick Cauliflower Soup or Quick Broccoli Soup 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, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to