The St. Louis farmers markets are showing early signs of life, matching the slow start to our spring here in eastern Missouri. (Updated 4/4/08) Kirkwood Farmers Market - Located just east of the train station from Kirkwood Road. From I44, exit Lindbergh Blvd north. Easy parking. Open-air market but covered and thus protected from rain and sun. During the height of the season, the Kirkwood Farmers Market is open 7 days a week but the "best time to shop" is always Saturday morning when farmers and vendors set up shop. In 2007, the market sponsored "Tunes at Ten," adding to the festive feel. Dog friendly! 2008 Schedule : Opens Saturday, April 4th, 2008 with a handful of sellers, including Farrar Out Farm with fresh chicken, eggs and pork and later, with naturally raised lamb. Beginning April 12th, the market anchor Summit Farms opens. Favorites: CJ's PRODUCE: Eckerts peaches , Cascade tomatoes for slow-roasted tomatoes . Also other local produce, eggs and cur

Today's great recipe idea for Meatless Monday and other nutritious vegetarian suppers. The filling is slightly sweet, slightly hot, a big mess of zucchini, mushrooms, tomato and beans – a great base to easily adapt with what's on hand or just sounds good. With a vegan cheese, the tacos are not just vegan but " Vegan Done Real ". With more vegetables and/or protein instead of beans, the filling meets the requirements of both paleo and Whole30 diets. For Weight Watchers? The filling is just three PointsPlus for a whole cup! You're gonna love this one, I promise! BACK IN 2007 Did I mention I love-love-love Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday ? I do! This recipe is one more reason. It makes an excellent quick supper of tacos, infinitely variable, completely delicious. And then? The leftovers are just excellent for a simple lunch! Next time, I will go easy on the canned chipotle pepper and its adobo sauce. This turned out hotter than pleasant – not inedible-hot, not

Alright, veggie lovers, it's time to let the world know (okay, let me know) that you appreciate all the vegetable recipes on A Veggie Venture. You see, for the last few months, I've been re-building the Recipe Box to make it easier to find recipes quickly. And this week, I finished my favorite section, the Alphabet of Vegetables , the fabulous (if I may say so myself, but you're allowed to say so too!) way to find great vegetable recipes easily and quickly. Yes, it's the perfect A - Z of Vegetables , with recipes just a click away! And to make sure you know about it, to give you extra reason to poke around the alphabet a bit, from now til the end of April, I'm offering the chance to win free A - Z vegetable books of your choice. It's easy! And no purchase is required, no cooking is required!. Here's how it works. When you sign up for a new e-mail subscription (see Never Miss a Recipe to the right) between now and April 30th, you're automaticall

If you've got a soft spot for small towns, read this week's Kitchen Parade column where I reminisce about hometown soda fountains, one in particular where an albino deer (stuffed, of course) was kept behind the fountain. What brought all this on? Vanilla brownies, of course. And the connection? It's less obscure than you might think. Just read the column and get the recipe for Vanilla Brownies . SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features ' fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences '. Where A Veggie Venture is 'pure food blog', full of experimentation and exploration, Kitchen Parade features recipes a modern cook can count on. All are thoroughly tested by a home cook in a home kitchen and many are family and reader favorites. All

Ever since Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours arrived last month, I've been mesmerized, called to the kitchen to make first one thing and then another. But I got stuck: wanting to make so many things - muffins? cookies? cheesecake? the peace cookies so many have praised? - I just didn't know where to start. Then I read the intro to this recipe for pumpkin muffins, "The best pumpkin muffins in New York are made by Sarabeth Levine, the mistress of Sarabeth's jams ..." Suddenly I realized that, thanks to the benevolence of dinner guests last summer, my pantry was home to a jar of very same jam! And it just happens that those very same guests are today celebrating a special occasion. So Happy Day, Nupur and V , may there be many, many more of this occasion, wherever you call home. And the muffins? Good! 2010 Update, A Better Recipe for Pumpkin Muffins: Note how I said "good" but didn't rave? That means that the muffins were go

Imagine a sunny meadow, a barefoot woman bypassing delicate spring flowers for showy dandelions. She leans down, then rubs a yellow head against the back of her hand, staining it with color to answer, "Do you like butter?" She smiles, knowing already that the answer is an emphatic 'yes', then spends 10 minutes snipping greens for supper. Right. Me, I bought the dandelion greens at Whole Foods. And as I cooked, I thought about how much our world has changed, that dandelion greens are now just one more commercial enterprise, a healthful one perhaps, but still. And then I sat down to a great supper. The good news is that you needn't have dandelions for this quick supper. Mustard greens would work, so would arugula / rocket, anything with a tad of peppery-ness in the greens. And it needn't be 'supper' either, just skip the pasta for a side dish that half cooks itself. FRESH PASTA For being long on Italian heritage, St. Louis is short on fresh pasta. Tonigh

Today's pretty jumble of ribbons of zucchini and carrot, quickly sautéed in a little butter. Easily turned vegan. Paleo. Naturally Gluten Free. Weight Watchers friendly, just one PointsPlus! ~recipe updated from the Recipe Box, first posted 2007~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ At Christmas, one of the family Santas, probably my sister, tucked what I'll call a "hand mandoline" or "julienne cutter" into my stocking. Since such devices, even relatively expensive ($30, say) ones, have until now produced only frustration and disappointment, I wasn't expecting much. But this little guy worked like a charm on both the soft zucchini and the firm carrot, not perfectly, as the ends tended to get stuck, but well enough to pull out often – especially since I love the looks and the taste of the white, green and orange ribbons. It's easy to imagine substituting the ribbons for pasta, or for dropping into a big pot of soup just for the looks. If you can'