Today's 'concept' recipe: Cooked brown rice stir-fried with edamame, bell pepper, bok choy, then tossed with tangerine and cashews. What a great rice dish! With cooked rice using the great oven-baked brown rice from Kitchen Parade, it flew from stove to table in just 15 minutes. I call it a 'concept' recipe because it will adapt easily to what's on hand. But the combination of edamame beans, bell pepper, bok choy, tangerines and cashews was as flavorful as it was colorful, a definite keeper. THE COOKBOOK Today's recipe comes from the brand-new cookbook from Nava Atlas, Vegan Express . During my vegetarian years, I cooked one recipe after another from Nava's Vegetarian Celebrations ; later, it became the one vegetarian cookbook among many that continued to appeal to a new omnivore. I think the new Vegan Express will have similar cross-over appeal, in part because recipes call for ingredients that are 'whole' and 'real' (i.e., no proces

An easy, romantic side dish or entrée. Pasta tossed with lemon zest, lemon juice, crème fraîche, Parmesan and broccoli rabe. Vegetarian. All my favorite California food bloggers rave about Meyer lemons , those little 'droplets of California sunshine' that appear in their back yards and roadside orchards this time of year. Thanks to the miracle of our modern food distribution system -- aka the non-local bandwagon that sustains a 2000-mile diet -- some appeared right here in the middle of the country. Just like that, I snapped up a dozen. Lemon curd, yum. Lemon meringue pie? Oh yes. And now, here, a lemon pasta dish. If you happen onto Meyer lemons, perfect. But honestly, this recipe is as much about the magical blend of toothsome pasta and slightly bitter broccoli rabe and creamy crème fraîche as lemon. Use any lemon, I think you'll fall in love. (Valentine's Day, anyone?) HOW TO MAKE CRÈME FRAÎCHE AT HOME Don't waste $5 when all it takes to make crème fraîche a

A list of common vegetables (you know, from asparagus to zucchini, just like the famous A-Z of Vegetables ) sorted by fiber grams. The list includes some surprises, for sure.

Tonight, the dog and I walked downtown. It should have been a quiet walk, just footsteps echoing along dark streets. Instead, helicopters throbbed overhead, police cars flashed, television cameras and reporters gathered. The Kirkwood City Hall so many will see on the morning news is just a block from the farmers market where I buy so many of the vegetables you see on this site. The five people who were murdered there tonight, the two police officers, the three city employees, the two who were injured, the mayor critically -- and the gunman, too -- they and their families, they're all from my small town. But aren't we all from some small town, even those in cities where streets and neighborhoods and buildings are the communities in which we live our lives. Countless times I've sobbed to hear of lives lost to suicide bombers, to natural calamities, to inexpressible tragedies. Tonight I spoke with a man from Lebanon who knows that in the morning, his parents will newly worr

Today's vegetable recipe: Leaves of Brussels sprouts sautéed with shallot and pistachios, drizzled with Meyer lemon juice. Vegan. Low carb. Weight Watchers 2 points. I've been captivated by the innovative vegetable recipes in the February issue of Bon Appetit. (Remember the salt-roasted beets ?) With this recipe, the magazine promises to convert all who hate Brussels sprouts. Me, I make no such promise but this, for baby-cabbage lovers, is one more good way to cook Brussels sprouts . The technique is to remove the leaves and discard the cores. Task-wise, this felt like teeeeeeedious prep, sprout by sprout, leaf by leaf, core by core (although a glass of wine might have helped!) and resulted in considerable waste: a generous pound of Brussels sprouts trimmed down to half that. It also took a good 20 minutes. Some forewarning from the magazine about prep time would have been appreciated, especially since the stated cooking time of 4 minutes created the impression of a 'quick&

Pancakes for supper, a Shrove Tuesday "Pancake Day" tradition. Here made with cooked brown rice and corn meal and served with a delightful contrast, cranberry sauce or lingonberry sauce. ~recipe & photo updated 2015~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2008: We interrupt this recipe for a Missouri weather report: Two January Sundays warm enough for raking leaves in shirt sleeves. And now, two weeks in a row, two 24-hour periods ranging from hot 70s to hard snow. Despite 8 inches of that fluffy white stuff I love just four days ago, yesterday people filled the streets in shorts and t-shirts, and kids, bare feet even – 75 it was. Faced with such a winter, what's a seasonal cook who chooses salads on summery days and soup on wintry ones to do? Well, on a Tuesday in February, this Tuesday in February, this day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, whatever the weather, there's just one thing for supper and that's pancakes. It's a Christian tradi

Today's vegetable recipe: Homemade sweet potato fries. Wedges of fresh sweet potato dusted with chili powder and grated Parmesan, then roasted. OH MY. If you've not found Superbowl 'endzone appetizers' yet, grab some sweet potatoes and turn on the oven. These disappear in minutes and taste great with a beer. There's just enough spice, just enough sweet (from the sweet potatoes, my favorite variety, Red Garnet) and just enough oven time that they almost melt. NUTRITION NOTES Not that sweet potato fries are, ahem, diet food , especially dipped in a dusky horseradish sauce, but I was able to really limit the fat. By melting the bacon grease, then using my hands to distribute it among the pieces of sweet potato -- it just went further and thus the recipe maintains my standard fat:vegetable ration, 1T:1lb. PARMESAN SWEET POTATO FRIES with HORSERADISH SAUCE Hands-on time: 15 minutes Time to table: 1 hour Serves 4 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into wedges 1 tablespoo