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Day 342: Cauliflower-Broccoli Gratin with Horseradish ♥

Today's vegetable casserole recipe: A pretty mix of cauliflower and broccoli in cheese sauce that's got just a touch of heat from horseradish. ~recipe & photo updated 2013~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2006 Original Post: "Gratin" sounds much fancier than reality: cauliflower with cheese sauce. But "delicious" barely describes the cheese sauce's bright notes of horseradish and mustard. Call it OH SO GOOD: this definitely qualifies for a 'I Could Easily Make a Meal Out of This' designation. 2013 Update: I've rewritten this recipe to reflect how I make it, how I think it's best made. For example, the inspiring recipe had way too much cheese sauce, two times too much by my measure. I also think that the mixture of cauliflower and broccoli is just so pretty so that's what I recommend too. Plus a bit of texture contrast is really nice. This is a great dish for a holiday table but isn't too much for every day too. It'

Day 341: Wine-Glazed Brussels Sprouts ♥

No beauty contest winner here but in the taste department? Outstanding. The Brussels sprouts are cooked in a quick mix of wine, honey, soy sauce and a touch of butter. After awhile? It glazes the Brussels sprouts. It's not Belgian chocolate but for Brussels sprouts? Gorgeous. Stop! Do NOT make your decision to make these Brussels sprouts based on the photo! Stop, I say! :-) Now, close your eyes and imagine the goodness of red wine and soy sauce and honey cooked all syrupy. And think about that syrupy goodness soaking into tiny baby cabbages aka Brussels sprouts. Imagine a taste that's familiar and brand-new at the same time. Imagine pure deliciousness. Okay, NOW you're permitted to open your eyes and study the picture: butt-ugly, as they say. That's because the Brussels sprouts at the store were gigantic so I quartered them so they'd cook evenly – the exposed innards sucked up color along with flavor. You can see that the exteriors still look good: yes, I recomm

Perfect Hard-Boiled Ruby Eggs ♥ Easter Recipe!

Just in time for making Easter eggs: How to cook perfect hard-boiled eggs, then dye the eggs in beet juice or pickled beet juice to create stunning ruby-colored "whites" with sunny-yellow centers. Oh so Easter-basket pretty! And yet ever so simple, just hard-boiled eggs soaked overnight in beet juice. Don't worry, soaking transfers beet color, not beet flavor. Cooking eggs should be simple! Instead, hard-boiled eggs may "look" simple but they can be tricky to cook. The eggs can turn out too soft (undercooked) or too hard and crumbly (overcooked) or ringed with green (cooked improperly) or impossible to peel (probably too fresh). For each problem, someone supplies a list of tricks aka solutions. No more. I clipped this "perfect hard-boiled eggs every time" recipe so long ago there's no memory of its source. But this technique (a recipe for hard-cooked eggs? I suppose it's that!) creates perfect hard-boil eggs. Every time. With both fresh

Pride of Erin Soup ♥ with Cabbage, Potato & Kale

A perfect soup for St. Patrick's Day or for that matter, any chilly winter day. It's a simple cabbage soup, just fresh cabbage plus potato and kale in a gentle blend of chicken stock and milk for the broth. Fresh & Seasonal, Perfect for Late-Winter. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Fat.

Kitchen Parade Extra: Whole-wheat Soda Bread ◄

So here it is, St Paddy's Day: top o' the mornin' to ya! Shur'n 'tis a grand day, begorrah! Supper won't be complete without soda bread., perhaps the whole-wheat loaf that's featured in this week's Kitchen Parade column . And if the rest of supper isn't set, think about: Caraway Corned Beef , an easy easy stove-top dish with chunks of potato and carrot and wedges of cabbage, all doused in yummy cheese sauce or other " green food " possibilities! (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Day 339: Cabbage Sprouts ♥

Hey, vegetable lovers! Today I cooked a brand-new vegetable (new-to-me anyway), something called a "cabbage sprout". First job, figure out what it is, second step, figure out how to cook it. Fresh & Seasonal, A Spring Specialty. Weeknight Easy. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly & Freestyle Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free.

Day 338: Broccoli Rabe with Peppers ♥

How to cook the slightly peppery leafy green called "broccoli raab" or "broccoli rabe" or some times "rapini" with slices of red pepper. Red and green is so pretty! Sometimes you wonder if 2 + 2 adds up to 4. 2: When I checked the index of How to Cook Everything for a simple treatment for broccoli rabe, I noticed it read "broccoli raab (rape)" ... hmm, rapeseed? 2: See the pretty yellow flowers that were all abud in the broccoli rabe from the grocery? It reminded me of July's undulating fields of brilliant yellow in the northern reaches of Minnesota and the prairies of southern Manitoba ... hmmm, fields of rapeseed for canola oil? (And oh-so-gorgeous when the next fields are ablue with flax.) Equals 4?: Is broccoli raab the "leafy green" of the canola plant? This piece from the San Francisco Chronicle sorts it out. The short answer is "no" but the two do share the same (ahem) genetic roots. Sometimes 2+2 adds up