Today's holiday respite: A simple but elegant dandelion salad, a concept, not a prescription. The gift of a salad, let it soothe the stress of the season. Shopping before the holidays, it's good to avoid the seasonal gift-buying trap. You know the one, it goes one for them, one for me . But a salad is a gift you can give yourself or gift wrap for those we love – this year, let's give salads with abandon! But let's save the staid old every-day salads for another time, those are the socks and the screwdriver sets of gifts, appreciated but fast forgotten. Instead, let's imagine simple but splendid salads, perfectly dressed greens and a sprinkle of festive salad savories, as bright and enticing as the beribboned boxes beneath the tree. No shaking the salads! It worked for me, a gift not soon forgotten. It was November not December and we were shopping for a birthday not Christmas. But there we were on a Friday night, hungry for supper but foraging the aisles of

A heathy green bean "concept" salad for holiday buffets, potlucks and special meals, a pretty red and green salad that looks as festive as it is healthy. How healthy? Well, Weight Watchers, a full serving is just half a point using the old WW point system, the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus value is 1. (More on PointsPlus at the bottom of this page.) It's low carb, it's high in fiber – and naturally, it tastes great. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". Around here, cookbooks spill off shelves, stack up on the floor, rest on the coffee table waiting for a look-see. Long-ago favorites take up shelf space in a guest room. The sentimental favorites are the church-style cookbooks of my grandmother's and mother's generation. I shake my head when paging through the so-called "salad" section. You know what's coming, right? All the recipes call for a box of Jello. A third call for cream cheese, a third for mayonnaise and the remaining third g

Welcome to A Veggie Venture's collection of vegetarian entrée recipes for Thanksgiving! When it comes to Thanksgiving vegetarian main dishes, it's a bit of a balancing act, especially when there are both meat eaters and vegetarians at the same table. Over the years, these have become my goals, considering the needs of the hosts and the guests, both: Thanksgiving is a special meal, a vegetarian entrée should feel special too, not an afterthought. A vegetarian entrée should appeal to vegetarians and carnivores alike, the main course for the vegetarians, a side dish for the meat eaters. In this way, a quiet word can be said to those who don't eat meat but diet preferences need not become the subject of table conversation. The vegetarian dish must have a substantial feel, not just be a larger portion of a traditional vegetable side dish. It must use fresh and seasonal vegetables and be prepped mostly or entirely in advance. VEGETARIANS, PLEASE NOTE: A Veggie Ventur

A savory sweet potato casserole, yes, that's right, a sweet potato casserole without marshmallows! Instead, the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes is mellowed with goat cheese and green chile salsa. It's November at A Veggie Venture! That means the focus is adding new recipes to Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables , a five-year collection of more than three dozen seasonal, delicious vegetable recipes perfect for Thanksgiving. So we're turning orange around here. Our skin, our eyes, our lips, our teeth ... ... ... ... ... kidding! But if we are what we eat, then we are turning into sweet potatoes because I've made one savory sweet potato casserole recipe after another for the last couple of weeks. Because this is a classic concept recipe, mostly the casseroles have been variations on a theme: Sweet potatoes cooked and then mashed with a fork, mixing in something creamy like goat cheese, ricotta cheese, even sour cream. Then thinned with a

How to make a green bean casserole from scratch with fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms. Below are step-by-step photos showing how to make the fresh green bean casserole recipe so many cooks have made (and loved!) since 2006. It's an adaptation of a Cooks' Illustrated recipe so good I dubbed it the World's Best Green Bean Casserole . SAY YES! The green bean casserole is America's favorite casserole for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter (and even Father's Day, Labor Day and other special family occasions). It's worth saying 'yes' to! SAY NO! to CANNED GREEN BEANS & CANS OF MUSHROOM SOUP But it's the 21st century and cans of more-gray-than green beans and cans of goopy gloppy mushroom soup just don't cut it any more. Making a green bean casserole with fresh green beans and fresh mushroom takes a little more time but it's not hard, not in the least. But the taste difference is so worth the extra effort. If you want to be a star at Th

How to make a green bean casserole from scratch with fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms. Below are step-by-step photos showing how to make the fresh green bean casserole recipe so many cooks have made (and loved!) since 2006. It's an adaptation of a Cooks' Illustrated recipe so good I dubbed it the World's Best Green Bean Casserole . To make the pages load faster, especially for those using their phones and other mobile devices from the kitchen, the recipe tips are in three sections: HOW-TO PHOTOS & COOKING TIPS for the WORLD'S BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE ~ Part 1: How to Cook the Green Beans ~ ~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce (you are here) ~ ~ Part 3: How to Mix the Topping & Bake the Casserole ~ ~ return to recipe for World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~ ~ Printer Friendly Recipe ~

How to make a green bean casserole from scratch with fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms. Below are step-by-step photos showing how to make the fresh green bean casserole recipe so many cooks have made (and loved!) since 2006. It's an adaptation of a Cooks' Illustrated recipe so good I dubbed it the World's Best Green Bean Casserole . To make the pages load faster, especially for those using their phones and other mobile devices from the kitchen, the recipe tips are in three sections: HOW-TO PHOTOS & COOKING TIPS for the WORLD'S BEST GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE ~ Part 1: How to Cook the Green Beans ~ ~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce ~ ~ Part 3: How to Mix the Topping & Bake the Casserole (you are here) ~ ~ return to recipe for World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~ ~ Printer Friendly Recipe ~ TIP #12 - CANNED ONION RINGS So this is slightly controversial, not everyone agrees. But what "keeps" the World's Best Green Bean Casserole firml