Question : What are Chocolate & Zucchini and Gastropoda ? Answer : Food blogs, of course, as many food-blog enthusiasts will recognize! What's new , however, is the source of the Q&A, the great new trivia game for food lovers called Foodie Fight . (Yes, my fellow food bloggers, we have indeed all arrived when even two of our number are mentioned in a food trivia game!) The game comes with 168 trivia cards (each with questions in six food-fun categories) plus game boards (for individuals or teams) and playing tokens. Use the boards and tokens or just fly through the question cards. The questions are a perfect mix of the obscure (Q. How many bubbles in a bottle of champagne, anyone?) and the familiar (Q. What vegetable is some times referred to as "Swiss", after a 16th-century botanist?) -- so you'll be stumped often enough to learn something but not so often as to feel stupid. And when you know the answers -- and you will, I promise -- you'll ...

Oatmeal cookies with a banana twist! Okay, I've got your complete attention now, right? I thought so -- check out this week's Kitchen Parade column for a great home-style cookie recipe Banana Oatmeal Cookies — plus two quick banana desserts, too! 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 recipes feature easy-to-find ingredients, clear instructions and because I believe so strongly in informed food choices, nutrition analysis and Weight Watche...

Yes, it's THAT time of year again. ( "What? Time of year? What time of year is it?" I just know you're wondering.) But this is a most pivotal time of year, the few weeks at the cusp of summer and autumn when we must-must-must slow-roast tomatoes so that for the rest of the year , we're able to pull the taste of sweet summer from our freezers on mere whim or sheer inspiration. (My apologies to regular readers, you know this story. But new readers? Slow-roased tomatoes bear repeating!) In 2005, I became curious about -- okay, obsessed with -- slow-roasted tomatoes. I roasted, well, 15 batches . No wonder I've collected so many recipes for using slow-roasted tomatoes ! And don't let anyone lead you astray thinking that a mere four hours or so will 'slow-roast' tomatoes. Nope. You see, I've tested. From much trial, much error, I know that it takes 10 - 12 hours, yes hours! at 200F to create the real essence of slow-roasting. So if you're wonde...

When I became the unexpected owner of a Camerons stovetop smoker last spring, naturally, I wondered about the potential of smoked vegetables. What would emerge? First up, lovely woody nutty smoked potatoes. "Tastes like bacon," remarked one taste tester -- thus proving that bacon tastes like smoke, not bacon , yes? And just like smoking trout, shrimp and scallops (my favorites on the smoker and the real reason to buy a smoker if considering one), smoked potatoes are easy-easy cooking. Just slice and season, arrange in the smoker, then walk away. In fact, the recipe I followed specified smoking the potatoes for 45 minutes. But I forgot to set the timer and so these cooked for almost twice that: no problem. (I do recommend paying attention to the timer, however.) NUTRITION NOTES These were smoked with zero fat -- but still were absolutely delicious, especially smeared with good mustard. That said, my chef friend tells me that slathered in duck fat beforehand (since it won...

On Saturday, I had the great pleasure of sharing a table and an evening's worth of conversation with Niman Ranch pork producers Richard and Delores Blackford whose central-Iowa farm is only a tractor's ride from where my great-grandparents once were townies raising strawberries on a corner lot. And when an Iowa farmwife shares the technique she uses to put up 120 quarts of corn every summer, you just know this Veggie Evangelist is grabbing a pen to take furious notes – not that notes are required, the technique is dead simple. So on the drive back to St. Louis, I picked up a 'farmers dozen' ears of corn whose fourteen ears yielded only a scant six cups of corn – about 1 percent of what Mrs. Blackford puts up – but I promise to enjoy every single kernel. Here's her recipe – farm-tested, farm-loved, farm-sweet.

Today's vegetable soup recipe: A riff on a Julia Child’s master soup recipe, thickened with a starch like rice (or here, farro) instead of flour. ~recipe & photo updated 2013~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2007 Original Post: Would Julia Child be pleased? Will StephenCooks be pleased? Yes and yes, I think. You see, this soup is a variation on on last month's Cream of Zucchini Soup , a 'master recipe' from Julia Child's The Way to Cook but is also inspired by Stephen's Summer Squash & Fresh Corn Soup . I especially like Stephen's idea that some times we cook with our 'left hands', almost without thought while cooking something else, because it's that simple or flexible or forgiving. So rather than use rice and sour cream like before, I used farro and coconut milk. And instead of the blender (or Stephen's faster food processor) to process, I used the Braun immersion blender , saving space in the dishwasher. And I used bacon g...

How to make green smoothies, including Fourteen Tips and Five Sample Recipes so you can create your own delicious, healthy smoothies. Just pick some fruit, grab some fresh greens (spinach or Swiss chard or kale or other greens), add a few pantry ingredients of your own choice, then set your blender to a good whirl. You've got a Green Smoothie! Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Great for Meal Prep. Low Fat. Vegetarian. Easily Vegan. Naturally Gluten Free. Great for Meal Prep.