My dear Auntie Gloria -- one of the best cooks ever -- taught me how to assemble plates with a little bit of this and a tiny bit of that, all leftover from a day or a few days before. Add a sandwich or a bowl of soup and wow, it's like a smorgie (you know, a smorgasbord) on a plate. So starting about this time in spring, the fridge becomes home to two or three cold salads at a time. I'm always looking for new ideas for quick-prep and healthful salads. This particular carrot-spice salad didn't work for me on Day One. It did improve considerably by sitting overnight. Chef-Girl.net , who inspired the concoction, thinks resting helps, too, "It has a really nice flavour to it once it’s sat for a little while." KITCHEN NOTES ... Think about ... using lemon juice vs orange juice ... and skipping the dill seed entirely since it didn't soften and seemed off, somehow, combined with coriander and chili powder. FOR the RECORD ... This is my contribution to ARF Tue

Perfect for the local asparagus that are out in thick and thin, perfect for a quick supper, perfect for a Mother's Day brunch ... it's the Asparagus Custard Tart in this week's Kitchen Parade column. (It's also this week's contribution to May's Asparagus Aspirations at Seriously Good.) And the Kitchen Parade Recipe Box has many recipes perfect for Mother's Day celebrations. Breakfast in bed? A family dinner? Both?! (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

My recipe makeover for a simple bean salad, just beans and a few vegetables in a red wine vinaigrette. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Without my recipe makeover, Tuscan Bean Salad would be a complete disaster nutrition-wise. A special problem is that at a quick glance, the inspiring recipe doesn't look "that bad". Just look at the primary ingredients, all healthy! Beans – beans are good! Tomato & spinach – vegetables are good! The oh-so-chic Mediterranean diet ingredients – olive oil & olives are good! But oh man, before I gave the recipe a makeover, a HALF CUP added up to an unbelievable 350 calories! A full cup of the pre-makeover Tuscan Bean Salad, as seemed right for a vegetarian main dish salad atop other greens (until I did the math), would gobble up 95% of a whole day's worth of calories for someone in 'lose weight' mode on Weight Watchers. If a bean salad is your idea of an occasional indulgence? The orig

Another keeper! More specifically: another quick vegetable side dish another low-calorie side dish another low-carb side dish another simple side dish another healthful side dish! NEXT TIME ... It's clean-out-the-freezer-time around here so this version was made with a bag of slightly freezer-burned broccoli -- it's safe to assume it'd be even more delicious with fresh broccoli! FOR THE RECORD ... This is my contribution to the weekly antioxidant-rich round-up over at Sweetnicks . It's an easy-easy event to contribute to -- and helps us all keep our eyes on increasing especially healthful ingredients to our diets! The inspiration for this simple broccoli dish came from Gourmetish who, I just now noted, adapted the recipe from a recent issue of Eating Well. That makes two Eating Well posts in a row -- Eating Well is fast becoming a go-to source for easy, healthful recipes, my kinda cookin'! FROM THE ARCHIVES ... Check out Just a Vegetable

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