Winter and Spring and Summer may have their soups. But Fall? Fall is the Real Soup Season! This week's Kitchen Parade column features a long-time favorite, a wild rice soup creamed with parsnip and potato and perfect for chilly days.

'The Minimalist' Mark Bittman was in St Louis last night to promote his new book, The Best Recipes in the World , another tome of 700+ pages like his bestselling and my oft-cooked- from How to Cook Everything . It was a small group of foodies gathered round, not a bite in sight, but I found him funny, cerebral and real, the kind of person you'd love to share a table with, even if he knew not one whit about food! My thoughts on the new book after scanning maybe 100 pages, yes, in the vegetable section: If you like How to Cook Everything and the Wednesday columns in the New York Times, you'll likely appreciate the new book too It's classic Minimalist style with short ingredient lists and shortcut techniques It's packed with substitution ideas -- this is also hallmark Minimalist and last night he quoted Jacques Pepin about kitchen artistry, 'You never step in the same river twice' The recipes seem somewhat adventurous but not the least bit 'w

Today three Moms wrote of (surprising!) success getting vegetables into their little ones: Meg of Too Many Chefs made kid- and parent-friendly (if a tad messy for toddlers) zucchini muffins Alysha from The Savory Notebook first had luck with a canned vegetable soup and decided to brave a vegetable soup with pesto Sweetnicks ' Nick gobbled up a Rachael Ray spinach salad VEGGIES for KIDS is a continuing crusade here at A Veggie Venture, a forum for parents wanting to encourage healthful eating habits at home and school. What works for you? What would you like to fix at your own table? Leave a comment, send an e-mail or write your own post -- ideas and links along with kid-tested recipes will be posted in Veggies for Kids .

My favorite standby lunch, year-round, with any luck, the inspiration to help readers discover their own low-point standby lunch. ~recipe & photo updated 2010~ 2005: If you're wondering, yes, those are canned beans! But please, keep reading. Canned beans are not required! When there's a big supper on the calendar, this is my standard eat-at-my-desk lunch. It racks up a grand total of 1 Weight Watchers point (that's about 5% of a day's calories) but is still very filling and very satisfying . (If I'm having hunger pains before going out, I might fix another. The point is to fill up -- with volume and fiber -- without wasting the wonderful calories that'll be so enjoyed later on ! I fix the same salad at five o'clock to avoid overeating at a happy hour. Or if I've had a big lunch out but still want to nosh for supper. Or if I'm just too full from too much and too-rich food over a few days. Or just because it's easy and fast and healthful. Eve

Today's vegetable recipe: How to roast a butternut squash, cut in half and roasted cut-side down. ~recipe & photo updated & reposted 2012~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2005 Original Post: Lots of squash a-cookin' here! Here is my number one tip for roasting winter squash, make good use of the oven and dishwasher by cooking two, not one, butternut squash at a time. In the Recipe Box, recipes calling for pre-cooked squash are marked with a Watch for recipes calling for cooked squash, marked with this , watch for it. Tonight's culinary question is what made two squash turn out so very different? I'm stymied about what might be the source of the differences, if anyone cares to chime in! Both butternut squash were purchased on the same day from the same bin and had been stored the same, on the counter looking all healthful and fall-wholesome. Both had the same appearance on the outside. But my goodness, once split open, what a difference:

It was supposed to bake for 20 minutes. It took nearly an hour. It was supposed to rise up in an airy pillow . It was more like a favorite old feather-flattened pillow . (Though hey, it DID deflate so maybe it was better than apparent?) Sounds like a failure, yes? No way, even if timing and aesthetics were less than ideal. This broccoli soufflé, my first soufflé ever, was absolutely honest-to-goodness spoon-lickin' delicious and I can't wait for the opportunity to perfect the technique. Thanks to Kitchen Chick for hosting Is My Blog Burning , another online food event, this one featuring cooks from all over the world worry-watching their ovens for the oh-so-desirable soufflé poof . There are many other first-time soufflérs in the event, most who experienced great success. My thoughts/tips on what might have gone wrong with mine are included below but the other posts are well worth reviewing. BROCCOLI SOUFFLÉ Hands-on time: maybe 45 minutes (but shortcup tips are be

With so many delicious-sounding and -looking squash soup recipes popping up on food blogs, I had to try one too. But instead I took a shortcut and picked this up this package at Trader Joe's for some moment when a cupful of soup was needed in a minute flat . And it was good enough though to my taste, not as good as the creamy corn version from Day 153 nor even half so good as this Squash & Pear Soup . BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP Hands-on time: 2 minutes Time to table: 2 minutes Serves 2 Pour a half cup soup into two small microwave-safe dishes and warm, separately, in the microwave for one minute apiece. Top with croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds or sour cream if you're feelin' fancy. NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per cup, 90 calories, 2 grams fat, 16 grams carb, 3 grams fiber, Weight Watchers 1 point