This time of year, when we're cutting open and roasting pumpkins, inside are those seeds and we wonder, Can you roast pumpkin seeds? You sure can! Here's how. ~recipe & photo updated 2011~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2007 ORIGINAL POST Yesterday an e-mail arrived from Ralph, a most careful reader of yesterday's recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Maple Glaze . No good! he objected to a detail. "One of the most nutritious and yummy things is the seeds. Don't discard." And good luck, this time I didn't. What do you do with pumpkin seeds? Any tips to share? So -- what to do with pumpkin seeds, you know, the gunky ones scooped from Halloween jack o' lanterns and pie pumpkins and yes, even other winter squash? This is the third year I've tried to create a good recipe for pumpkin seeds. I've got it! The taste is a combination of spicy and sweet - with a little bite that yumm, just works. It's an easy concept recipe: just to

If summer's unexpected romance was with green beans, then the fall's affair is with butternut squash. This is -- what, the third? fourth? -- time I've cooked butternut squash and its cousins the acorn, the kabocha, the buttercup and other winter squashes. Such a classic winter squash recipe, this! Squash + pantry + oven = delicious. If you're nervous about cutting butternut squash, try another recipe, one where you can roast a whole butternut squash or you can put the squash into the microwave for three minutes and then it'll cut like a dream. But this small (just two pound) butternut squash cut quite easily. I put the cutting board on top of a silicone baking sheet so that it wouldn't slip around. NEXT TIME The inspiring recipe suggested coating a baking sheet with cooking spray, which I did. Midway through cooking, the squash started to spit out moisture and sugar. Next time I'll try rubbing oil on the flesh itself, which might seal in the flavor better.

If a picture paints a thousand words, what are you waiting for? Get on over to this week's Kitchen Parade column for my mother's recipe for baked apples . You know you've got to, you've just got to -- 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 Watchers points. Want to know more? Explore

For the last couple of weeks, my dad's daily four-city weather report has cited only a repetitive 'hot and dry'. So in my mind it may be time for roasting winter squash and simmering pots of soup, the weather isn't cooperating -- so 'summer food' it is. The good news is, for anyone craving a quick and light supper, this dish will work year-round. Plus, the zucchini noodles are a classic way to substitute vegetables for pasta. Touched with garlic and lemon zest, they were yummy! HOW LIGHT? WOW! Turns out, too, this quick meal should be a standby for anyone who counts Weight Watchers points and anyone who avoids carbs. Combined, the scallops and zucchini add up to only 2 points. A two-point MEAL is rare. (Technically, separately, the scallops have 1 point, the zucchini 0 points, so if you like, count it as a one-point meal.) For carb counters, the combined meal has only 6 grams of net carbs. Wow. WOW. WOOOOW. It also turns out that this meal also makes good use of

Do pods of okra call to you? They do to me! I love picking through baskets of okra at the farmers market, selecting the pods about the length of my thumb (and shorter) which are the most tender. And okra is quick-quick to cook -- adding this recipe to my growing collection of quick vegetable recipes . And what about the, um, slime factor ? Banish the thought! When okra are small and completely fresh - which means they need cooking within a day of finding them perfectly green and unblemished at the farmers market - there's none of that dreaded okra slime. I loved this quick side dish -- the lemon was a brilliant addition, great contrast. It would be a great way for an okra neophyte to try okra for the first time. HOW TO TRIM OKRA Cut off the tough stems but do leave a thin slice of the 'cap' which is tender and succulent and helps hold in the okra flavor and moisture. MAKE IT A MEAL Pair the quick-cooking okra with a Quick Supper from Kitchen Parade, Greek Feta Chicken with

If you are using IE (Internet Explorer) as your web browser and are seeing inappropriate ads on A Veggie Venture (and on Kitchen Parade and probably on many other websites you visit), please read this. A Veggie Venture is a member of Blogher, a top women's website, and participates in its ad network. This week, Blogher is receiving spotty reports that inappropriate ads are occasionally appearing in place of Blogher's legitimate ads from respected advertisers. (NOTE: I believe the inappropriate ads may also be appearing in advertisements provided by Google, whose ads are published on millions and millions of websites.) I have seen copies of the inappropriate ads that are hijacking the legitimate ads. They are not 'pure porn' but show scantily clad women in suggestive poses. They are completely unseemly for websites like mine. Blogher is helping publishers like me make our readers aware of the issue by providing this information: "Blogher believes this issue

A rose is a rose is a rose ... but NOT when it comes to "commercial" squash, the ones you pop in the microwave for six minutes. What comes out is NOT squash but ... yuck. First let me be clear: what I'm talking about in this post is a 'commercial' squash that's been specially processed for cooking in the microwave. And please, before concluding I have some romantic attachment to "fresh only" vegetables, it's just not true. I support this product on its face. I like the idea that a whole acorn squash can be on the table in about 10 minutes. I like the fact that it's easy to cut the squash in half to serve. I like the fact that it might actually help more people enjoy healthful winter squash. I promote cooking vegetables in the microwave . I don't even mind that the price is 4 times one that requires oven roasting. What I DO object to is the flavor : NONE. Watery. Wimpy. Like, um, water, wimpy flavorless squash. What I DO obj