A week ago today, my friend Tricia lost her Mom. A week ago tomorrow would have been my Mom's 77th birthday. Even before hearing of Tricia's loss, I planned to pay tribute to Mom, as I do every year, by making bread on her birthday. But once hearing Tricia's news, I knew that after mixing and kneading and tending and shaping and baking and tapping and buttering, I would deliver warm bread to a family raw with loss, gathering with memories, communing with tears and laughter, to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of their own mother. For my Mom, making bread was a way to feed her family and heal her soul while recovering from a radical mastectomy at only age 35. And when, many years later, she was sick with lung cancer and my family was caring for her, I too made bread, what we came to call Best-Ever Oatmeal Bread , first published in Kitchen Parade in 2002 but online now for the first time. Many of us are thinking about cancer-fighting foods this month. Mele Cotte

So what does one do with blood oranges? The heart-startling color is spectacular but how do you take advantage of it? [Besides the ever-so-beautiful 'orange crush' martinis at Red Light in Chicago, thank you, 3-2-1 Launch! ] Just like yesterday's fennel and blood orange salad , this is a lovely little slaw -- but no credit to the blood orange. Feel free to use the juice of a regular orange! HOW TO REVIVE TIRED CABBAGE If your cabbage has been in the frig a bit and looks a tad limp, wash the outside parts, then cut into big wedges and let rehydrate in cold water for 5 - 10 minutes. Chop and then drain well (or run through a salad spinner) before tossing with the dressing. FROM THE ARCHIVES It's getting to be salad time, for sure and I do love the crunch of a good vegetable salad, check the vegetable salad recipes in the Recipe Box for proof! TWO YEARS AGO on all of Day Five ... Sauteed Broccoli with Toasted Garlic, Orange and Sesame Seed NEVER MISS A RECIPE! Just e

A mandoline would have made quick work of this. Somehow, slicing even one bulb of fresh fennel struck me as tedious. And color-wise, I thought the juicy sections of blood orange would show off more against the snowy-white fennel; taste-wise, I thought there'd be more sweet/sharp contract too. So once I invest in a mandoline, I'll make this again and use grapefruit, for an all white salad with some taste contrast! (Or maybe pink grapefruit!) It does have really good crunch and is perfect for this time of year when we seem to want to sweep heavy wintry foods from the table. FROM THE ARCHIVES In 2006, I collected fennel recipes from food bloggers, a great collection of fennel recipes , from appetizers to desserts. My own fennel recipes are in the Recipe Box . A YEAR AGO ... Napa Cabbage, Herb & Mango Salad with Asian Dressing "Even late on a chilly spring evening, this tasted so fresh and alive ..." TWO YEARS AGO ... Only Day Four, carrots tossed with honey and cil

How to make Caesar Salad dressing, a quick and easy mix of mostly pantry ingredients plus anchovies! If you love Caesar salads out, it's super-easy to get "good" at making them at home. Skip Straight to the Recipe For cooks, the possibilities for virgin culinary experiences are endless. The first roast chicken, the handmade pasta, the first pizza at home, the first pie crust — and now for me, the first Caesar salad. For all the times I've raved about vegetables with anchovies — asparagus with anchovies ? cauliflower with anchovies ? roasted peppers with anchovies ? slow-roasted tomato and lamb stew with anchovies ? — it's thus no surprise that my first-time experience with Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing left me half speechless, with strength only to beg, "Will you pass the salad, please?" All that goodness in 15 minutes flat. Call me Caesar's bride. I kinda sorta almost followed a recipe or two — well, except that those recipes called for up

... of Lemon Curd and Topped with Candied Raspberries and Toffee-Tossed Pecans and a Venetian Honey Hazelnut Butter Sauce! And Happy April Fools Day! And Happy Second Birthday, A Veggie Venture! On this oh-so-unlikely occasion, will you forgive a trip down memory lane? A Veggie Venture's very first post , on a whim, on April 1st so that "my blog about vegetables" could all be dropped as April 1 Tom Foolery The first comment, on Day Four . The second comment, on Day 89 . (Yes, new bloggers, it is possible to blog on, and on, completely without notice. And yes, dear readers, your messages and comments mean so much .) My first Paper Chef entry. (I miss Paper Chef!) Thinking about why food blogging is so special . Cooking fennel in February and broccoli rabe in March . And then finally, Day 365 at last, the end of cooking a vegetable in a new way every single day for an entire year. After a long and may-I-say well-deserved break, the beginning of Year Tw

Tis still another season of food traditions. On Good Friday, I'll bake hot cross buns , with any luck, my sister will too. (And you, you too?) But funny enough, Christmas dinner was so perfect, I may just repeat it for Easter dinner. A fresh Miller ham (for St. Louisans, from Ladue Market, absolutely gorgeous meat) which goes just perfectly with a creamy carrot puree and Nupur's vegetable biryani . And dessert, hmmm, something new, perhaps. No, I know, lemon pots de creme, what I call lemon pots . Or who knows, maybe I'll do an asparagus custard tart for brunch. With a winter fruit salad . And a sweet ending . Isn't it lovely that food fantasies have zero points? Looking for still more ideas for Easter morning, Easter brunch or Easter dinner? Check out all the special recipes for Easter from Kitchen Parade's archives. One Easter basket idea that's not to be missed, these glorious ruby-colored eggs , stained with beet juice. Aren't they ever so pre

Time for lunch? If you've got five minutes, a can of chickpeas, a lemon and a little cheese, well, lunch is on its way. Yes, it's "that" simple. Real Food, Fast & Filling. Just Three Ingredients! Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Budget Friendly. Little Effort, Big Taste. Low Fat. High Protein. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian & Easily Made Vegan. Naturally Gluten Free.