For seasonal cooks, no vegetable shouts "it's spring again" quite like asparagus. The season for local asparagus is just a few weeks long, best be prepared! The season for good supermarket asparagus is long but who wants to make the same ol' steamed asparagus week after week? I'm here to help, proud to present my best and favorite asparagus recipes, all in one place ... A Dozen+ of My Best Asparagus Recipes, Everyday to Special, Sides to Salads, Soups to Suppers. Recipes Include Nutrition Information & Weight Watchers Points. Many Vegetarian, Vegan & Naturally Gluten Free Recipes.

We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really ? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday, the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from her own experience, her readers and other bloggers. And now for this week's tip:

The best vegetable recipes of 2010, just one per month, all in one handy spot for easy reference.

Today's spring soup recipe: A bowlful of our favorite spring vegetables, especially artichokes and asparagus. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. The seductress that is Spring is toying with us here in St. Louis. For a few days, she taunted us with warm – hot, even – days, luring us into the impression that "Spring is really here!" For years, I've tracked the very day in my estimation when spring really arrived and 2011 (and again now, in 2016) was looking record early by some days. But no. The real spring has yet to arrive. As I write, there is new snow on the ground and tomorrow's outdoor birthday party is moving inside. Still, spring will come and it helps to bridge the seasons with what I think of as "bridge foods" – in this case, a big potful of soup that simmered on the stove. But this is no heavy stew or meaty soup of winter, instead, a potful of spring vegetables. I envisioned an all-green soup – thus the celery, asparagus, artichokes, peas a

We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really ? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday, the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from the experience of herself, her readers and other bloggers. And now for this week's tip:

Turning sushi inside out and upside down, all the familiar sushi ingredients, turned into a salad. A sushi salad, really? Who's ever heard of a sushi salad?!! But it's another concept recipe – have fun with this one! Tried and true is good and all. But just for fun, isn't it a kick to turn our favorite foods upside down? That's the premise of Sushi Salad, just a few familiar sushi ingredients but in salad form, not small bites. And to my taste, it really does taste like sushi! (Please know, I'm no expert. I have "real sushi" every so often but mostly, it's the packages from the supermarket ..) This Sushi Salad recipe calls for quinoa instead of rice and skips the nori (though there's no reason to not use some) – this was really fun, it's definitely a keeper, taste-wise, but also for ease of preparation and for flexibility.

We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really ? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday, the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from her own experience, her readers and other bloggers. FIRST, MORE ABOUT SMOOTHIES Last week's tips came from two readers who are serious about their smoothies. In an e-mail exchange afterward, Kathleen H from New Mexico explained why smoothies are so very important to her health. I've updated the post, How to Eat More Vegetables Tip #5 . AND NOW For this week's tip: