Today's recipe: A traditional pasta salad but lightened with more vegetables and less dressing. Vegan. Look familiar? It should. It's that noodle salad (well, one of all those noodle and macaroni salads) which makes its way onto every potluck table. And it's a favorite in my Canadian family (hi to Ingrid!), probably every family. But then again, it shouldn't. Because I 'vegged it up', turning an all-noodle 'salad' into something of substance, still keeping the noodles front and center but using vegetables to bulk it up for flavor and crunch. I made it recently for friends whose daughter was being married and whose home was thronged with hungry bridesmaids and starving groomsmen. It happens to be a vegan salad - though I don't think the most ardent carnivore would notice - so 'safe' for groups where people's eating choices aren't known. GARLIC REMINDER If you're in the middle of the northern hemisphere, mid-October -- now!! -- is

When you travel, are you prepared to cook in your destination's kitchen? I am - and for some months now, the specialty has been cauliflower risotto, the recipe in this week's Kitchen Parade column . Get out your wooden spoons! It's creamy leeky delicious! (And it's cooked and served in a way that makes it 'every-day' for Weight Watchers. 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 ins

This quick recipe is for my friend Ann who has -- undeservedly, to my mind -- the reputation as a bad cook. Actually, she's a decent cook. It's just that food isn't high on her priority list and so 'good' is 'good enough'. This I respect, admire even -- not every bite we eat must be 'delicious'. Good is good. Good is plenty. Good is, yes, good enough. So when I raved about how I'd just learned how to make the best baked potatoes , she looked momentarily embarrassed (but not really) to admit she just throws baked potatoes in the microwave. "They're good," she assured. And so they are -- good! -- and frankly, way better than expected. The flesh is actually quite good (a tiny tad gummy but if you haven't tasted the slooow-baked potatoes, you wouldn't notice) but in the microwave, the skin just won't get crisp. So I checked the ever-so-thorough Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka who sure enough, has the solution: finishi

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