How to cook a sweet potato in the microwave. It's quick-quick and easy, whether for a fast at-home or office-kitchen lunch or a vegetable for supper. This recipe has moved, please see Delicious Microwave Sweet Potato . Waaay back in 2005, I experimented with one of those microwave-able sweet potatoes, all clean and wrapped in plastic. It was a hot, tasty, healthful food that moved from the fridge to microwave to the table in a matter of 10 minutes. But here's the thing. You don't need some special microwave-able sweet potato "product". You just need a whole sweet potato and a microwave! So check out the new recipe for microwaving a standard sweet potato, Delicious Microwave Sweet Potato . It's just as easy, just as fast and wayyyy cheaper. 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

Creamed spinach is such a favorite vegetable side dish! But my recipe for Creamed Spinach is not the "heart attack on a plate" that you find at a steak house. In fact, let's just go ahead and be honest: my recipe is for healthy creamed spinach, heavy on the spinach, low in fat and still absolutely delicious. It's more "spinachy" than "creamy" which to my taste, means it's perfectly balanced. So for those of us who adore spinach and other bitter greens, put this recipe high on your "make asap" list! Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly & Freestyle Friendly. Vegetarian. In our home, Healthy Creamed Spinach is a such long-time favorite recipe, one served in all four seasons, on weeknights and weekends, for kids and grown-ups, for just-family and company alike. Gosh, I love this recipe! One year, I even made Creamed Spinach four times in two weeks, twice with fresh spinach and

This broccoli/fennel combination is good -- not roll your eyes and moan out loud good but everyday good. The fennel adds subtle verve -- plus, it's an excellent way to use up fennel bulbs that tend to linger in the vegetable bin. The original recipe called for a red pepper (and I used what was on hand, a yellow one) which did "veg up" the dish (for example, to serve more people) and "use up" a pepper that needed attention. But it also wasn't that interesting and seemed a gratuitous addition of color -- so next time, unless I need to veg up or use up, I'll skip the pepper. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more fennel recipes ~ BROCCOLI with FENNEL Hands-on time: 15 minutes Time to table: 25 minutes (requires occasional attention during last 10 minutes) Serves 4 1 tablespoon olive oil (reduced from 4 tablespoons) 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 bulb fennel, finely chopped 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 red pepper, finely chopped (next

Kitchen Parade's weekly column continues its new series featuring Quick Suppers where the fare is fast and healthful. Here's a great dish for fall, Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Cranberry Sauce .

There's something clever about a can of Campbell's. "Mix soup + 1 can water" and "for creamier soup, use 1 can milk." Ah, so simple. By good luck vs good design, tonight's soup seems perfect for Day 182 (!) here on A Veggie Venture, the halfway point in what's likely a full-year odyssey. It's as simple as a can of Campbell's, after, that is, the tomatoes spend 12 hours in the oven. Slow-Roasted Tomatoes are a 2006 idea for Northern Hemispherers but for anyone in what are now spring-and-soon-summer-climes, I've got a freezerful and hope to tempt you all (my) winter with ways to use them! SLOW-ROASTED TOMATO SOUP Hands-on time: 5 minutes Time to table: 10 minutes Serves 1 1 cup slow-roasted tomatoes 1 cup skim milk Salt and pepper to taste Mix tomatoes + milk. Warm on stovetop but do not allow to boil. If desired, puree with an immersion blender. Season to taste.

CALL FOR HELP! I'm stymied by calorie-dense desserts for people with dietary restrictions. No dairy so no cream. No animal products so no egg. No refined sugar or flour so no, well, no sugar or flour though honey, maple syrup and whole-grain flours and whole grains are okay. It's like vegan on steroids. What DO you make? This is more than a casual question. I'm cooking for a neighbor who's ill and on a much-restricted diet. Mostly I'm happy to experiment and learn along the way. But in this instance, I'd rather not, I'd rather have tried-and-true-and-tested great results. Comments are fine. Or my e-mail address is on the right. In advance, many thanks. If you have ideas or sources (and in a perfect world, recipes) I'd much appreciate it. THE MOUSSE Perhaps it was eight years of not eating meat. If I weren't going to eat meat, I saw no reason for meat substitutes. Even now, I enjoy the occasional veggie burger but in its own right not

Today's fall tradition, a golden bowl of butternut squash soup, here slightly sweet (but not too fruity) with puréed pear, warmed with curry (but not spicy hot! I promise!) and almost creamy with coconut (but not coconut-y). When made with vegetable stock, not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". ~recipe updated & republished for a little weekend cooking inspiration~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ WAY BACK IN 2005 Mmm, mmmm, good. This is the second week cooking for a neighbor sick with cancer and his wife: comfort food for him, a reprieve for her. Last week the objective was lots of calories. As happens in these situations, however, this is a new week and the new alternative medicine doctor has prescribed what I think would be called a macrobiotic diet. No meat, no fish, no dairy. No refined flour or sugar. So vegetables and fruits and grains are the order of the day – yet he still needs dense calories because his appetite is diminished. It's a challenge, cook