Looking to stay hydrated in the heat and exercise of summer? Don't let the season pass without at least one pitcher of this refreshing water, a welcome change from plain water. Nothing fancy here, just a simple mix of thin-sliced lemon and cucumber plus fresh mint leaves. Fresh & Seasonal, Super Simple. Budget Friendly. Healthy Summer Drinks. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free.

Get out the champagne! (Or perhaps more fittingly, just a glass of cold water ...) Slow down. Sit back. Savor. And do enjoy ... And please forgive my silliness. I was just so pleased to see the first home-grown, vine-ripened and just-picked tomatoes at the Wednesday market last night! This is the third year to celebrate perfect summer tomatoes -- yes I really do keep a special section for recipes that absolutely call for summer's best tomatoes! In the first year, I discovered My First Panzanella ("How did I get to be ?? years old without panzanella? All those wasted years!?") . In the second year, it was a recipe for gazpacho that sent me over the top ("all about the flavor of wonderful local tomatoes ...") . Now at the start of the third year, what shall it be ... ideas, anyone? PRINT JUST A RECIPE! (Though I promise, this doesn't qualify!) Now you can print a recipe without wasting ink and paper on the header and sidebar. Here's how .

By this time of the year, we've all had our fill of asparagus. Except me! As much as I appreciate the beautiful St. Louis-grown asparagus, I love that good asparagus can be found at the grocery store both "before" and "after" our own growing season. There are just so many great ways to cook asparagus . And when it comes to fat-fat spears of asparagus, oh they're so good roasted! This is another simple treatment, just anise seed and salt and pepper. The anise draws something unexpected out of the asparagus -- and no, it's not 'licorice' or even licorice flavor. It's a keeper. See the little white bowl? A year ago Christmas, a very generous Santa gave me a gift certificate to Cornucopia , the kitchen shop located in my little hometown downtown. A gift certificate turned out to be the perfect choice for a 'cook who has everything', or at least, everything she really wants. I've been surprised by the usefulness of the small mortar and

Hummus is such a favorite quick appetizer. And it's so easy to make homemade hummus! While hummus is typically made with garbanzo beans -- in fact, last week's Kitchen Parade column includes a recipe for traditional homemade hummus -- it needn't be. This version, inspired by Je Mange la Ville , a lovely food blog based in Portland, Oregon, uses lima beans. Topped with a little goat cheese and fresh thyme: my book club loved it! And the green color is much welcome compared to the muddy gray of hummus made with garbanzo beans. Aren't those little crostini pretty? THE HEART OF THE MATTER This is my contribution to an event hosted this month by JoAnna's Food -- and this month featuring, um, yes, vegetables. Hmmm. How hard do you think it was to pick a vegetable recipe to participate in the event? Not too hard, since A Veggie Venture is all vegetable recipes, 100% vegetables and nothing-but-vegetables! But the collection of recipes for the event will be great fun since

When you're gifted with an abundance of just-pulled-from-the-ground arugula, it's not to be squandered. And so I went looking for new ways to enjoy the late-in-the-season so slightly bitter greens. Instead, I saw something extraordinarily simple and moved straight to the kitchen. And honestly, even I feel half silly posting this 'recipe'. But I figure if Gourmet can , and 37 people make comments, it's a winner, even if ever so simple. But another reason to post, it's a zero-point salad for those who follow Weight Watchers -- and there are never enough of these. FROM THE ARCHIVES For other ways to use arugula , see the Recipe Box . TWO YEARS AGO Brushed Eggplant ... "addictively good" PRINT JUST A RECIPE! Now you can print a recipe without wasting ink and paper on the header and sidebar. Here's how . NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here . Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, auto

Summer nights create a thousand reasons to skip supper at home in the kitchen. This week's Kitchen Parade column features an antidote, a 'drive-by' quick supper salad that features one of the world's greatest conveniences, rotisserie chickens. Plus, if you've ever wondered how to make hummus , the column includes a simple recipe for homemade hummus with canned chickpeas. Perfect, yes, for a quick supper during summer! 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 f

While developing the Alphabet of Vegetables , call me surprised to find a hundred carrot recipes and a thousand beet recipes , but no recipes for bok choy ! Have I ever cooked bok choy? Maybe not. Seems I'm not alone. While my food blogging pals regularly cook baby bok choy, the big heads of bok choy (also called Chinese cabbage, bai cai, bok choi and pak choi, according to my source, Jack Bishop ) are rare. It's in the cabbage family but is often treated like a leafy green. I chose to 'start' with something simple, something all about the bok choy. So this is a very basic recipe, just bok choy (local, even!) quick-cooked with garlic and for color, some sliced radish (also local!). Bok choy keeps a bit of its bite when cooked even as radishes soften and sweeten during cooking; they were quite perfect together. UPDATE (6/14/07) After a little sleuthing, I've become convinced that what I cooked here was not actually bok choy (even if that's what the farmer I bou