Today's vegetable recipe: Slices of pattypan squash simmered in water with a little butter, tossed with lemon juice and fresh basil. Low carb. Weight Watchers 0 points. Boiled zucchini. (Or in this case, zucchini's cousin, another summer squash called pattypan.) It just sounds bad, doesn't it? And truth is, this is not a recipe that will knock your socks off, not like stuffed zucchini boats , say. It's good , of course, just not a recipe any of us are going to moan over. But it's so quick, so easy, so perfect for the lovely little pattypan squashes (you know, the ones that look like spaceships from Planet Plant) so abundant at the farmers markets right now -- that's more than ample compensation, at least in my book. I made the pattypan ahead of time to serve at room temperature, but they're so quick and easy, make them at the last minute to serve hot. QUICK PATTYPAN SQUASH Hands-on time: 10 minutes Time to table: 10 minutes Serves 4 1 tablespoon butter 1

Ooo-la-la, now here's something special! It's a classic zucchini fritter, you know, just grated zucchini held together with a little egg and flour. But what pushes the Zucchini Fritters over the top is a little bit of lemon zest and get this, a dried chile in the oil that adds just a tiny touch of heat to the fritters. What a great technique! Low Carb. Weight Watchers friendly, just PointsPlus 3. ~recipe updated from the Recipe Box, first posted 2008!~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ Waste Not. Want Not. Welcome to "zucchini week" here on A Veggie Venture, a serious attempt to keep up with baseball-sized summer squash that appear overnight on my kitchen counter. Without real effort, their next stop would be compost, especially because the big and dense zucchini can't be used with just any recipe. In addition, after being obsessed with baking all summer long, all of a sudden, turning on the oven is dead last on a long list of cooking ideas. This is the firs

Whip up a small batch of a fruity vinaigrette that bursts with fresh, vibrant summer flavors. Quick-quick, simply blend some fresh blueberries with a tiny-tiny all-important bit of onion plus olive oil, vinegar, honey and a dash of salt. It's an irresistible savory-sweet salad dressing that dresses up summery greens 'n' fruit salads. For blueberry lovers, this is a must-try! But the recipe has moved to a new location, please see Easy Blueberry Vinaigrette at Kitchen Parade, my food column. Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Asparagus-to-Zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables . Join " veggie evangelist " Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables where recipes range from seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special. © Copyright Kitchen Parade V

Big chunks of cucumber with tomato and onion in a simple balsamic vinegar dressing. Low carb. Weight Watchers friendly, just PointsPlus 2! Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". This recipe originates from rural Missouri and a 1940s farm wife widowed young with four children, the youngest only 18 months old. It's plain. It's thrifty. It's filling. I suspect Old Liz might tsk-tsk me to task for even calling it a recipe. My mind hears her harumph, "It's just cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden. Don't make a fuss." So no more imagining a woman whose spirit I can know only through the legacy of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – and her cucumber salad. Maybe she wouldn't mind just a small fuss. This is a good salad for those baseball-bat sized cucumbers from the garden. It needs a good rest before supper (30 minutes, say) but is even better the next day. MORE OLD-TIME CUCUMBER RECIPES These are also simple cucumber sa

Today's salad recipe: A classic summer salad, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and romaine lettuce, all tossed in a lemon tahini dressing. Weight Watchers Friendly, WW 2 PointsPlus. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". ~recipe & photo updated & republished 2013~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2008 Original: By the middle of August, there's simply no need to cook. We can if we want, but why? when we can just collect some vegetables, then wash, chop and devour. This easy salad made for a great light supper. What makes it special is the dressing: nutty with the sesame seeds in the tahini and bright with lemon. The recipe made far more dressing than needed for the salad, a real benefit at it turns out. When the dressing was puréed with a can of chickpeas, voila, a terrific hummus, one of my favorites in a long while. I slathered this onto flatbread (you must-must check my recipe for Quick Crisp Flatbread , it's the summer&#

Today's summer soup recipe: A cold soup made from fresh corn and 'creamed' with olive oil. Most refreshing. Soup recipes go on the backburner most of the summer. Except on rare 'chilly' days when the temperature drops to, I don't know, 70F?, summer just isn't the season for belly-warming foods. But cold soup -- now that's another story! When Lisa from the St. Louis food blog Show Me Vegan made a blender soup of Corn and Cashew Chowder , it moved to the top of my weekend cooking list. Sure enough, by Saturday it was hot-hot-hot outside and cold-cold-cold soup tasted wonderful. Better yet, since the soup is raw, no cooking required! Lisa's soup was inspired by a recipe from Food & Wine which called for six tablespoons of olive oil. Naturally, I wondered if the oil could be eliminated entirely. IT CAN'T -- in fact, without the oil, the soup is as blah as dusty corn husks. But still, I wanted to meter the oil, adding only what was needed for the

How to make zucchini relish, an almost-savory mix of grated zucchini, onion, peppers and carrots with spices, sugar (or honey) and vinegar. It's a great spread for sandwiches, hot dogs, a condiment on the side, spread on cream cheese and crackers, so much more. If you have baseball bat size zucchini, this just might be your recipe! An Annual Summer Tradition. Budget Friendly. Great for Food Gifts. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Rave Reviews.