Kitchen Parade is famous for its Quick Suppers. They're quick (of course!) but more than that. A 'four-star' quick supper is easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher . And today's Kitchen Parade column features a four-star recipe, skillet-cooked chops with a sour cream and caper sauce and curried carrots on the side . Who needs carry-out? No pork chops or carrots on hand? Check out all the quick supper recipes in the Kitchen Parade Recipe Box . FREE COOKBOOKS! During April, win free cookbooks at A Veggie Venture! It's all to celebrate the Alphabet of Vegetables , the brand-new A - Z of Vegetables with easy links to great vegetable recipes! Need an example? Check all the spring asparagus recipes . 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 ' fr

Sooo many ways to cook beets , for sure! But with just six beets and their greens, I created three entirely delicious meals. Talk about thrifty! Talk about contradicting the idea that fresh vegetables are too expensive! Meal Number One: Monday's supper salad using the roasted beets Meal Number Two: Yesterday's beet green risotto that used up half the greens Meal Number Three: Today's Pizza! using the last of the greens I roasted the beets for the salad. But at my house, the greens too often go to waste, despite knowing that leafy greens are good for us . No more! This pizza isn't photogenic but it sure tasted good. I built it 'heavy' on the vegetables and 'light' on the cheese. It's not really a recipe as much as a concept -- there's no going wrong using just the basic construct. Two 'convenience' products came in handy. Fresh pizza dough (mine from Missouri Baking Company on the Hill in St. Louis, purchased for all of $1) but if you

Sooo many ways to cook beets , for sure! But with just six beets and their greens, I discovered the basis for three entirely delicious meals. Talk about thrifty! Talk about contradicting the idea that fresh vegetables are too expensive!) Meal Number One: Yesterday's supper salad with roasted beets, avocado, dried apricots and more . Meal Number Two: This risotto, using the leftover beet greens. Meal Number Three: Tomorrow! (Hint: the beets are gone but there are still beets greens to use up! Update: pizza, anyone ?) Yesterday's salad featured the beets themselves, roasted, and was delicious. But what about those pesky greens? We know leafy greens are good for us . But what to do with them? For side dishes, it's easy. Greek Greens (where you flash-cook the greens so they'll hold for a couple of days), Greens with Mustard & Stems and my favorite, Ontario Greens (which first appeared on A Veggie Venture as Greens with Sour Cream ). But for supper, this beet green r

Roasted beets aren't new on A Veggie Venture. But roasted peeled beets are. Yes, this recipe from Giada Who-evah works great. The beets really caramelize, plus there's no messing with hot beet skins right before serving time, either. And this is a lovely salad, a concept recipe really. It hit the spot on a warm spring evening. You could do the beets ahead of time and serve them cold, or at room temperature, but I truly loved them warm. That said, timing for beets always varies so make sure that "supper time" is flexible if you want to serve them warm. NOW. WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE BEET GREENS? Tune in over the next two days, when I'll share two great ways to use beet greens and stems. Talk about three frugal meals from one bunch of beets. But if you can't wait, here are recipes for beet greens . [Meal Two: Beet Green Risotto , Meal Three: Beet Greens & Three-Onion Pesto Pizza ] FROM THE ARCHIVES See all the beet recipes in the Recipe Box . My favorites are

This month, A Veggie Venture is inviting readers to win free cookbooks, all to celebrate the brand-new Alphabet of Veggies , the A-Z way to find great vegetable recipes. Here's how to win one of my favorite cookbooks about vegetables. And today, class, we start with the A of vegetables, the asparagus! (Yes, the Alphabet of Vegetables is big on asparagus .) After several days of hard freeze two weeks ago, I'm holding my breath that local St. Louis asparagus will be available at the Scharf booth at Soulard Market tomorrow. If they are, I'll turn to three favorite recipes for asparagus, all featured in Kitchen Parade columns. The first is a simple asparagus soup, lusty with asparagus flavor. I call it " Easy to Elegant Asparagus Soup " because it's easy, with a couple of changes, to move this from a weeknight supper soup to something smooth and elegant. Next up is a favorite quick supper, salmon paired with asparagus , both roasted in the same dish. I c

Such a simple side! Just a bag of frozen peas with a little butter and lots of fresh mint! Frozen peas are a shortcut for those of us who don't have access to just-picked peas from the garden. Seasonal. Naturally Gluten Free. The English have a reputation they don't appreciate: "bad food". But British blogger Sam Breach from Becks & Posh (now inactive) set out to disprove that idea and asked for help. I've had plenty of good food in England, in pubs along the wonderful Inland Waterways , in restaurants and hotels in London, in country hotels further north, but especially in the home of my grandfather's cousin, our family's much loved Lyla, and her now-deceased husband Vic, who were married for a few days short of 62 years and were still giggling with stories about their wedding night the last time I saw them and we had lunch at a small restaurant near the train station a corner from the church where they were married. So there's no need to convi

What a surprise, making a creamy soup from common dandelion greens! My mother always said, "A weed is only a flower out of place". And that same feeling crept in while I was chopping dandelion greens for soup, knowing that I was cooking, well, weeds , and creating a rich, creamy soup that the French call "creme de pissenlits". And then, the "flower" (ahem) outcome was ever so elegant, worthy of a place on any royal table. I was feeling indulgent when preparing this soup so used a combination of milk and cream for the liquid. To my taste, however, that made the soup heavier rather than delicious and I'd have been happy with all milk, maybe with a swirl of cream added to the bowls when serving. That said, the creaminess is completely lovely against the slightly bitter greens. And don't be put off by the idea of bitterness, dandelion does have only a slight bite – peppery – like arugula or broccoli raab. MORE WEEDS, LOTS MORE WEEDS! Cooking wi