Hungry friends scraped to the bottoms of big bowls of this vegetable-creamed soup tonight. Especially since it was an Indian Summer 70 degrees outside, that's a good sign! That said, the color isn't so appetizing, more brown than gold, more flat than creamy. And it's a make-ahead soup, one where a day's rest is needed for the flavors to meld. All this sounds as if I didn't like it -- I did! It's just not one I'll likely make again, it wasn't that 'special', except that it DID use up lots of leftovers! Still, the substitutions weren't so far off that it couldn't be reproduced on another night in another kitchen. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more soup recipes ~ WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP Hands-on time: 15 minutes up front, then 10 to finish Time to table: 60 minutes if you're in a rush, better to let rest a day Makes 9 cups 5 cups vegetable stock (tonight's batch was made with Light Vegetable Stock ) 3 tablespo

Vegetable stock seems such a waste! In my kitchen, chicken stock simmers away every couple of weeks where vegetable stock appears maybe (maybe) every couple of years. And I know why: Chicken stock extracts the last bits of flavor and value from a roasted chicken - leaving feelings of virtue and thrift, like getting something for nothing in the waste-not-want-not fashion Vegetable stock takes all those perfectly lovely vegetables bought specially for stock and then leeches out all the vitamins and sucks out all the flavor -- and then you throw them all away!! Talk about guilt! (Hmmm. Maybe a compost pile is in order?) Still, after coaching my back-door neighbor through a potful a week ago -- she raved about the results, later -- it was definitely time to consider the possibilities of good vegetable stock. So here's the first batch. All 22 cups went into freezer bags so taste reports must follow. That said, the sample spoonful was fragrant and a lovely gold color, an apparen

Just simple acorn squash, adorned with nothing more than salt and pepper, then roasted. And ohhhhh so good in a homespun kind of way. Only the knife work is tricky. Tonight I tried the microwave trick to soften the flesh a bit before slicing open the squash. Maybe more than 2 minutes is needed? It didn't seem to make a difference. Usually, the timing is NOT tricky, an hour at 400F. Tonight it proved to be. I'm learning that: A pizza stone can really mess up heat distribution; since the flame is coming from the bottom of the oven, now I'm experimenting with moving it from the bottom to the top Cooking squash cut-side down (only if no butter or brown sugar is involved, of course) seems to cook the flesh more evenly and creates crispy caramelized edges -- to check for sure, I'll try a side-by-side comparison some time soon. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more winter squash recipes ~ ~ more roasted vegetable recipes ~ ACORN SQUASH ROASTED FACE UP Hands-on

[Many thanks to Sven Geier for his artistry , a broccoli fractal.] Today A Veggie Venture enters its eighth month of cooking vegetables in a new way, every single day . It's time to take stock. (Note to Self: Try a vegetable stock soon.) If there's one reason why A Veggie Venture continues, it's this: I keep learning. But one lesson stands out , one that's changed supper forever. It's how to trim broccoli. "Trim broccoli? Who needs that lesson?" (Yes! I hear you thinking!) But thanks to this fast and reliable technique, broccoli tastes better and so it gets cooked more often. (And we all know it's good for us ...) Testament to this is that: In the first 22 weeks, fresh broccoli recipes were featured here exactly 6 times -- that's about once every 26 days In the seven weeks since first using the trimming technique, fresh broccoli has appeared here another 6 times --that's every 8 days! (And there's ones not even here, repeats too go

It is great fun to discover new recipes only because some random ingredient was hanging around and needed using up! Today, the target was pepitas, roasted pumpkin seeds. For situations like this, my favorite resources are: The reliable Epicurious despite its less-than-modern search capabilities The multi-ingredient useful FoodieView which could be still more useful were its feeds to include more than 2 or 3 food blogs So after considering everything from fish crusts to pepita brittle, I settled on this quick bread. It's a good way to use up pepitas -- today's were hulled from Trader Joe's but you can make your own, too, as Elise has here at Simply Recipes . That said, I wouldn't buy pepitas special for making pumpkin bread and thus this recipe won't replace my long-time favorite , especially since the pepitas really add to the calorie count. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more pumpkin recipes ~ PUMPKIN PEPITA BREAD Hands-on time: 20 minu

How to Cook Fresh Broccoli in the Microwave with Perfect Results Every Time I know, I know. Life's busy. Who has time to "cook" a vegetable for dinner? I do! And you do too! Cooking broccoli in the microwave is fast, easy and really, who needs a recipe?! It's just a simple technique, try it once and you'll never need anything more than a quick reminder again. Real Food, Fast & Casual. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Weeknight Easy. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

When the oven's already on for something else, it just feels good to roast some vegetables at the same time, even if they're not on the night's menu. Tonight I tried roasting the beets with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, the new favorite technique over at The Amateur Gourmet . Adam wraps the beets in foil. I wrapped two, then decided that foil wasn't so efficient for the remaining five beets so arranged them in a single layer in a covered casserole dish and roasted them side-by-side. Both turned out great! And the balsamic vinegar is an inspired addition. Oven temperature is always a question. The Amateur Gourmet roasts his at 400F for an hour. I did a little math and thought that at 375F, the beets'd be done in 65 minutes. Nope. It took 90 minutes for both those wrapped in foil and the ones in the casserole. Are there temperature/time conversion techniques that actually work? UPDATE: I've learned that it really isn't predictable how lon