Ever wonder how to cook sweet potatoes in the crockpot? Just throw them into the slow cooker in the morning, they'll be ready when you get home from work. Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Just 1 Ingredient! Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Budget Friendly. Little Effort, Big Taste. Great for Meal Prep. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free.

Everything you'd like to know about the dark, leafy greens that are "bitter". Which greens are bitter? What is bitter, anyway? What to make with bitter greens? Plus, so handy, links to bitter green recipes too. So many vegetables, so many that are unfamiliar! Vegetables 101 is an occasional series of posts, quick, easy and practical information about out-of-the-ordinary vegetables.

Today's healthy recipe: Fresh vegetables steamed over an olive oil-onion-wine-broth mixture that is turned into a rich and flavorful sauce for drizzling or dipping. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". Hey, word dancers! I'm looking for a word, would you help? In a single word or short phrase, I want to instantly convey that this dish is "a whole pile of beautiful rainbow-colored fresh vegetables, lovely to look at, tasty to consume, all in the same dish". 'Medley' is a word that food writers use, 'cornucopia' too. But they don't quite express the healthy wholesomeness that I'd like to express. Is there such a word, in any language? In the mean time, I'm sticking with "medley", that's the word that Myra Kornfeld used for this recipe for Vegetarian Times' January-February issue. I didn't expect to be knocked over by what is essentially a big plate of vegetables because steamed vegetables, well, aren't

Today's brand-new master recipe: How to make homemade vegetable soup using whatever vegetables are in season or happen to be on hand or which just sound good. Happy New Year, all! Are we done with cookies? champagne? fun and frivolity? Yeah, me too. It feels so good to be back to eating healthy food again. Soups like this will help kickstart the new year! CSA folks, especially are going to love this recipe. Ah heck, I hope we all love this recipe, it posted this morning on Kitchen Parade, see Master Recipe: How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup . (Easier still – just click the photo!) I'd love to know what you think but here's why you just might like it: It's a master recipe for soup, getting us started with the right proportions but giving free rein to the choice of vegetables, the choice of cooking liquid and the choice of seasoning. It's not just vegan, it's " Vegan Done Real ". It's similar to the Weight Watchers Zero Points Garden So

The best vegetable recipes of 2011 from A Veggie Venture, just one per month, all in one handy spot for easy reference. It's that time of year, the week when we food bloggers look back over a year's worth of recipes and pick our favorites! I love-love-love this process! It really helps us hone our recipe collections, highlighting the best of the already very good, especially for sites like A Veggie Venture and my food column Kitchen Parade which by design, already post only really good recipes, the ones that work, the ones that are special or especially useful. But I also love all the many sources of "best of the year" lists for movies, books, gadgets, etc. So this year, I'm collecting "best of the year" lists on Pinterest. (Food bloggers, be sure to let me know when you post your own best of 2011 list.) Follow me there and you'll see all the new entries over the next couple of weeks. And hey! Follow me on Pinterest and I'd love to follow

For cookie bakers, No-Roll Christmas Sugar Cookies aren't to be missed, they're the best chewy and butter sugar cookies you might have ever tasted but without all the fuss and muss of rolling and decorating. I'm making them for my cookie swap next week, the - get this! - 19th annual. For home cooks, savory and sweet both, the Food52 Cookbook isn't to be missed either, it's one of two favorite new cookbooks in 2011. It's a collection of "best of the best" recipes from home cooks -- I think it's fabulous and am giving away a copy! Head on over to Kitchen Parade, No-Roll Christmas Sugar Cookies (or click the photo) for the cookie recipe and cookbook giveaway. It's easy to enter to win -- US and Canadian residents for this giveaway, please, through December 14th. MORE GIVEAWAYS? I've started posting giveaways (mine and other food bloggers') on a special bulletin board on Pinterest . Follow me there for the latest! And it's Christm

Hello Vegetable Lovers! Anyone gearing up for Christmas baking will definitely want to check out Holiday Baking Tips from a Certifiable Cookie-Baking Fiend . That "fiend" would be me: during December, your 'veggie evangelist' is turning into a part-time 'cookie evangelist'. Plus I'm giving away a copy of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies , the award-winning cookie cookbook by Alice Medrich. Contest open through December 8, 2011 to readers from across the world - hello, Canadian readers! : - ) To enter, click the photo >>>>>>> Happy Baking!