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SHF23 "Surprise Inside" Spice Cupcakes

So you think that veggie lovers don't some times long to make pretty little cupcakes? We do, we do! For this month's Sugar High Friday (the Surprise Inside edition , hosted by yours truly) I soooo wanted to try XX cupcakes with XX ice cream, recipes I've had my eyes on for a few months, awaiting the perfect occasion. THE CUPCAKES The surprise XX ingredient is ... parsnips! (No surprise that it's a vegetable, of course!) These cupcakes were really easy to make. If you don't have a mixer, this is perfect because no mixer is required, just a whisk and a wooden spoon. Taste-wise, they're great! The raw, grated parsnips fade into the background (like zucchini in zucchini cake) but the spice combination and proportions are magnificent, nothing shy, perfectly balanced. In fact, another time I wouldn't hesitate to try the cupcakes withOUT the parsnips. THE ICING Was good, maybe even very good with fresh ginger (another surprise?) stirred into an otherwise sta

Slow-Roasted Tomato Salsa ♥

Who's ready to take homemade salsa to another level? Skip fresh tomatoes. Skip canned tomatoes. Instead, use roasted tomatoes, either summer's best fresh meaty tomatoes or inexpensive and easily found supermarket Roma tomatoes. Real Food, Fast & Casual. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Budget Friendly. Little Effort, Big Taste. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Easy Meal Prep. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free.

Potato Okra Curry ♥ Recipe

A quick one-skillet supper, just potatoes and rounds of fresh-cut okra. Truly tasty and definitely adaptable to other vegetables. ~recipe & photo updated 2010~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2005 Original: Twenty minutes. One skillet. Truly tasty. The trick to Potato Okra Curry is some quick knife work to dice the potato tiny-tiny so it cooks quickly. NUTRITION NOTES The potatoes and vegetables cook in water, not fat, so this is a very low-fat dish. A teaspoon of bacon fat (or butter, for vegetarians) is added for flavor. A side dish-size serving has only 1 or 2 Weight Watchers points for a side dish, 1.5 to three points for an entrée! It would be easy to bulk this up with other vegetables to serve more people or to use up leftovers. Tomatoes and cauliflower come to mind. But the potato-okra combination is very good. 2010 Update: When okra appears in the farmers market from the middle of July through September, the tiny thumbs are irresistible! This is one of my favorite

Reminder: Sugar High Friday Is September 22

(Many thanks to Tamara Nicol from Luminous Lens for developing the Surprise Inside logo!) Have you been wondering, Hmm, when is Sugar High Friday? Early entries are in but there's still plenty of time to get creative about something a tiny bit surprising for Sugar High Friday, the Surprise Inside edition . What's surprising, so far? How 'bout Diet Coke ? Caramel ? Chocolate AND caramel ? Chocolate and liqueur? (Julia, dear, are you old enough for liqueur?!) Peanut butter ? And the house favorite (no surprise, this IS the Veggie Evangelist writing, after all ...) carrots ! And remember, there's a special welcome mat for anyone who wants to be a "food blogger for a day" and enter Sugar High Friday. (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

Kitchen Parade Extra: Quick Supper: Cornmeal Catfish with Warm Potato Salad ♥

It's Quick Supper time again in this week's Kitchen Parade column. Look for another 30-minute meal , this time yummy catfish filets dredged in cornmeal and Cajun spices paired with a warm potato salad spiked with okra (or if you prefer, peas or capers) ~ both cooked in the same skillet! Tis good! Tis fast! (c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade

How to Make Salad Dressing ♥

Some times, cooking comes naturally, like breathing. Other times, cooking must be learned, like riding a bicycle. I've ridden this salad-dressing and simple-vinaigrette 'bike' for so long, it now seems like breathing. I make it every day, some times twice. I often use good ingredients, good olive oil, good vinegar; mostly I use the every day stuff. It's always the same, it's never the same, both at once except that it's always good. When I make it for others, I get quizzical looks. "What IS this?" I hear. "It's my favorite salad dressing," I answer. "I'll show you." Many years ago, it was Ann Lemons who showed me how to make salad dressing. She and husband Joe Pollack are big shots in the St. Louis food world, with piles of credits to their names. Ann and Joe are blogging now . This post is my way of saying Welcome to the world of food blogging -- and to thank you, Ann, publicly, for teaching me how to breathe, even as I, in

And the River Was Like Glass

Life Goes On The river was perfectly still, like glass, early the morning of September 11th. I'd been home for a few days. My mother had begun to lose motor control of her right leg. We feared this meant the lung cancer for which she'd been treated in the spring had metastasized into her brain. Our day was already full. Despite the leg problem, Mom was hosting a luncheon for friends at noon. Afterwards other friends would join up for a presentation about one of Mom's many craft passions, scrapbooking. We'd already had our first cup of tea when Dad turned on CNN to hear the morning news. The first plane -- a small plane, they said at first -- had just hit the World Trade Center. We sat down to learn more. In horror, we watched the second plane hit the South Tower, understanding, instantly, that these strikes were no accident. We sat, mesmerized, horrified, in tears. At 10, the first call came. "Is lunch still on?" I looked at my Mom. Without hesitation,