What to make for a potluck? It's like a closet full of clothes: so many choices and nothing wears quite right. After deciding, redeciding and then starting over three times, I finally decided to take advantage of a gorgeous head of cauliflower, some bacon and blue cheese and then, a rarity in my kitchen, just started to cook, seeing where the gourmand gods would guide. And the concept is definitely one to work on. To my taste, this version turned out overly rich, so the recipe shows both what I cooked and what I'll do another time. My panko-butter-pimenton topping was so-so, though I loved the color the pimenton added. But are cauliflower, bacon and blue cheese from-the-gods good? You bet. Now if I could only decide what to wear. CAULIFLOWER BLUE CHEESE GRATIN Hands-on time: 35 minutes Oven time: About 45 minutes at 350F (from room temperature) Serves 8 - 10 1 large head cauliflower, in florets 3 ounces bacon, diced (6 ounces was too much) 1 onion, diced 2 tablespoons

Maybe this is tonight's supper? It's simple pasta supper, made with pantry ingredients plus some broccoli rabe (what that? see its different names, below) that shows up in well-stocked grocery stores in late winter. I've updated this 2006 recipe to make it very Weight Watchers Friendly with High Protein. A quick announcement, Veggie Lovers! March is "broccoli rabe month" here at A Veggie Venture, or as contributor StephenCooks calls it, a Broccoli Rabe Festival . Whether you call this wonderful leafy green "broccoli rabe" or "broccoli raab"or "rapini", do join in! There's a running round-up of recipe ideas – that's here at Broccoli Rabe Recipe Roundup . All month long, your contributions, new and archived and just plain recipes, are most welcome! At Simply Recipes, Elise and her folks call Shell Pasta with Sausage & Greens a "keeper". I tweaked Elise's recipe but trust me too, sausage and broccoli rabe a

If it's Lent and it's Friday, then fish is the answer, perhaps a delicous salmon chowder that uses my new favorite for soups, fat-free half 'n' half? It's featured in this week's Kitchen Parade column . PLUS there are other ideas for meatless Fridays during Lent here . PLUS Catholics are permitted (I hear?) to eat meat on March 17th, St Patrick's Day? so I've posted an archive column for Caraway Corned Beef with potatoes, carrots and cabbage and doused in yummy cheese sauce. PLUS the Column Archives feature lots of "green food" possibilities for St Patrick's Day festivities . (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

I just can't help it! I so want to participate in the great food blogging events like Sugar High Friday. But staying true to Veggie Evangelism requires considerable stretch. Get ready to s t r e e e e e t c h. Beet ice cream? Yup. And for the first time in awhile, my vegetables-for-dessert confection is a keeper. The beet flavor is up front and present , not hiding timidly in the background Cream and beet works, they're good together Isn't the color glorious?! NEXT TIME ... I might simply swirl sweetened beet puree into cold custard or vanilla ice cream for still stronger contrast between earthy beet and creamy sweetness. FOR THE RECORD ... This is my entry in Sugar High Friday -- the dairy edition -- hosted this month by Spittoon Extra . shf & sugar high friday FROM THE ARCHIVES ... See the Recipe Box for other ways to use vegetables in desserts. BEET ICE CREAM Bookmark or print this recipe only Hands-on time: 30 minutes? sorry lost track! Time t

Both broccoli and cauliflower were on sale and simply gorgeous -- there was no leaving either one behind! And so long as I was doing two vegetables at once, why not three? The curry mix is only okay, nothing special, not worth repeating. But what is truly brilliant is the ability to steam the three vegetables all at once. Together. In one pot. And have each one turn out perfectly cooked! The technique is the one learned from StephenCooks , the one which increased my broccoli by 3X and will use forever and ever. It's simple. Trim the broccoli aggressively (and tonight, add cauliflower and carrots too.) Steam for exactly 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let rest, cover stil on, for exactly another 5 minutes. (Yes, I use a timer and recommend you do too!) Season, dress and enjoy. (There's more detail below if that's helpful.) NUTRITION NOTES ... No fat. Low carbs (and lower still without the carrots). Low calorie. Easy. Fast. Inexpensive. Healthful. Delicious. Etc etc etc

I know. That's about the ugliest bowl of vegetables you'll ever come across. But it was delicious. And better still, it used up odd bits of leftover vegetables. (You know, so I can move on to something more eye-pleasing!) As far as I'm concerned, that's leftover magic ! I've been mad for root-vegetable purées in the last while, combining nearly anything with potato or turnip or parsnip. They're easy-peasy to make and unless you add lots of butter and cream -- which I'm not tempted to, because there's already so much flavor -- healthful too. RECIPE for CLEAN-OUT-THE-FRIDGE PURÉE Serves 4 Salted water to cover 1 pound vegetables, at least one root vegetable (tonight's was 1/2 pound of rutabaga, a quarter of a cabbage, a small fennel bulb and a cup of sugar snap peas) Chicken broth and/or fat-free half 'n' half Salt and pepper Cook the vegetables until soft. Drain and transfer to a food processor. (Largely I've found that the jo

Carrot juice was such a hit in Day 327's recipe for Carrot Pudding that an encore was a given. Too bad: these carrots were good but nothing special, certainly not worth the effort/expense of the carrot juice. (Besides, you want more pudding, right?) NEXT TIME I'll skip the water to see if the problem tonight was too much liquid, making it impossible to cook down to a carroty-syrup as was supposed to happen. RECIPE for CARROT JUICE CARROTS Hands-on time: 10 minutes Time to table: 45 minutes Serves 4 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces 3/4 cup carrot juice 1 teaspoon butter Salt and pepper Add all the ingredients to a skillet large enough for a single layer of carrots. (The recipe specified adding enough water to cover here but I don't recommend it.) Cooking over MEDIUM heat until the carrots are cooked and the carrot juice syrupy. TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from French Food at Home by Laura Calder NUTRITION ESTIMATE