Have you planted herbs yet? It's time! Even if only a pot of chive, do! This week's Kitchen Parade recipe is called Plant Sale Soup -- that's because a local reader makes a big pot every year to sustain the volunteers at her Herb Society's annual sale. I'll definitely be in attendance tomorrow. This hearty, heart-warming soup is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging at Kalyn's Kitchen . (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

On April 1st, 2005, I launched A Veggie Venture. That "I" was me, Alanna Kellogg, already second-generation author of the food column Kitchen Parade which my mom started when I was a baby. Half lark, half April Fool's joke, the goal for A Veggie Venture was to cook a vegetable with new recipes and new vegetables every single day for an entire month. (It seemed so ambitious at the time!) Why? Because our diets need more vegetables. Because vegetables are too often an after-thought. And because it's easy to get stuck in a veggie rut. But after a month, it felt like I was just getting started. And the asparagus was calling. And then: after three months, I discovered the vibrant food blogger community and home-grown tomatoes were just coming in after six months, I was still learning and oh! it was time to roast fall’s squashes after nine months, the daily rhythm somehow sustained itself and the wintry root-vegetable purees tasted so good and in the twelfth m

It's that time of year when there's no coming in until near dark. Neighborhood strolls to devour the brilliant color of azaleas, spring phlox and the delicacy of dogwood and flowering pear. Mulching the garden. Yes, even lawn mowing! Supper? Oh, right. A perfect quick supper for spring nights is featured in this week's Kitchen Parade column, a light and simple baked fish , sole topped with mushrooms and onions. Are fast and easy suppers your kind of cooking? A new "Quick Supper" recipe is featured every month at Kitchen Parade. Just check the Quick Supper archive ! Right now I have a hankering for Roasted Salmon & Asparagus . Hmm. Supper? (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Just in time for Good Friday and the Easter weekend: hot cross buns, redolent with spices. Are the ingredients waiting in your pantry? I'm willing to bet but check for yourself . Looking for recipe ideas for Easter morning, Easter brunch or Easter dinner? Check here in Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box . Or vegetable ideas for Easter? Check here in A Veggie Venture's Recipe Box ! (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

To my proper mind, every good meal should end with a sweet note. And so here for Day 365 (!), by good luck vs good management, is a carrot cookie that expresses my convictions about food and nutrition and balance and pleasure. The inspiring recipe was SO! unnecessarily indulgent. It was hellbent on turning a 'healthful sounding' carrot cookie into a double order of fries with an apple pie on the side. The big issue was two cookies (the double order of fries) sandwiching a cream cheese frosting (that'd be the apple pie). The sandwich cookie (the one iced Too Much in the photo) racks up 329 calories and, in the Weight Watchers world, 8 whole points -- EIGHT! Have another, why don't you? After my adjustments, a single satisfying cookie has only 114 calories and 2 Weight Watchers points -- and that's still a lot My cookies aren't abstemious-tasting in the least. They're very good carrot cookies -- in fact, they're very good cookies, no qualification

Oil & Vinegar is a standard. But Oil & Honey? Oil & Honey is the new favorite salad dressing at Diva Marketing , inspired by last month's Zucchini Lemon-Honey Salad . I had to try it! Toby drizzles olive oil and honey on salad greens. I went a half-step further by misting -- vs drizzling -- the greens with good olive oil, then swirling maybe a half tablespoon of agave nectar over top, then seasoning with salt and pepper. My report? It's not only v ery easy -- it's very good, definitely a new standby. What is agave nectar? It's the plant-based vegan substitute for honey, also a baker's substitute for refined sugar. And Shake off the Sugar reports that agave nectar has a low-glycemic index so is good for low-carb diets. My only challenge is to not mix up agave nectar with the dog's flax seed oil (on the left)! FROM THE ARCHIVES ... The Recipe Box has other ideas for green salads but be sure not to miss the Celery & Apple Salad and the Napa Cabb

If you spend two hours roasting peppers , they're worth more than one vegetable post, right? OK OK, I'm milking the peppers, no doubt. But after oberving all the chickpea-mashing going on in the food blog world, I decided to match up leftover roasted peppers and 28 Cook's Thai basil hummus for an easy weekend lunch. (Like hummus? You and the whole world! It's here on BlogHer .) Twas tasty! FROM THE ARCHIVES ... In case you wondered, yep, the Recipe Box . has vegetable sandwich ideas . (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade