Today's extra-easy vegetable side dish recipe: Big chunks of zucchini and yellow squash roasted but just barely, leaving some bite. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". All that good stuff and did I mention yet, really really good, too? So people, really, it is still January . Enough with the cupcakes! and the cookies! and over-the-top Superbowl party food! Enough! It.Is.Still.January. And besides, isn't January food, you know, the food that we should eat "most" of the time, our "every day" food? And aren't all the bazillions of sugar-butter-flour combinations we come up with, even the so-called “healthy ones”) aren't these "December" food and "every once in awhile" food? We each of us make our own food choices but I happen to love the spareness that is January. Doesn't it just feel good? Less food. Less-rich food. Less fussy food. January is a gr

Today's vegetable soup recipe: It's Tomato Basil gone all rustic, showing off its pretty red, green and – hey! what's that orange stuff? - colors. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". Across the country, lots of people are seeing "white" this weekend. Me, I learned two things, not bad for just coming off the holidays, eh?! Our new glass-on-two-sides kitchen is a lovely during a snowstorm: warm and cozy inside, so white and windy outside, like being out in the middle of a snowstorm but warm and dry with a cup of hot cocoa in hand. Keep it comin,' Old Man Winter, today was a good day! Yeah, yeah, I know, the basil came from a pricey plastic package. But even for a committed seasonal cook, to my taste Tomato Basil Soup is a winter soup not a summer soup. Usually, it's blended until smooth but I found the tomatoes and carrots and basil so pretty, I left it in its natural rustic state.

Your favorite vegetable recipes of 2013 from A Veggie Venture, one per month, all in one handy spot for easy reference. Yes, this year I'm featuring your favorite recipes , the vegetable recipes which you and other readers and visitors come back to again and again, all year long. 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. (Here's the 2013 favorite recipes from Kitchen Parade too.) 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

Today's easy appetizer recipe: Just five pantry ingredients and ten minutes, that's all it takes to put this appetizer together. Are you good at appetizers? Me, not so much. :-( But this Hot Corn Dip was a hit on Christmas Eve afternoon during our annual family open house for forty or fifty or some times sixty people – I never count, we're just happy that the extended family is in one place for a few hours. But right, the dip. So yes, I watched one person after another dip a Frito corn chip into the hot dip and then go back for another, each time savoring the cheesy warmth. For a casual New Year's, for an upcoming playoff game and the Superbowl, this is a winner!

Today's winter salad recipe: Just sliced endive and apple tossed in a quick curry vinaigrette. Make-ahead for holiday buffets or potluck gatherings, adding welcome freshness and a bit of "crunch" to rich food. Note #1: The Saturday before Thanksgiving is grand timing for a party! We were feeling all geared up and festive but it was too soon to start cooking for Thanksgiving and way too soon to be (over)planning Christmas gatherings. So that night, four couples gathered for an "Alsatian Harvest Feast" – and did we ever feast ! The meal was seven courses over five hours, each course better than the next. A charcuterie platter with two kinds of hand-made Alsatian sausage. Swiss and French raclette, warmed until melty on the stove in a small cast iron serving dish. (We have three, all from Lodge, small to slightly bigger to slightly bigger still, an oval , a rectangle and a round . We love them all!) Chicken liver pate. Excellent homemade bread! Warm onion soup

Leave it to the Pioneer Woman to tantalize our tastebuds with a big, hearty casserole, six layers of nutty wild rice and crisp broccoli held together with a gorgeous Mushroom Cream Sauce. It's packed with vegetables, including the broccoli stalks. No cheese! Fresh & Seasonal. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian.

Today's Thanksgiving vegetable recipe, the first of 2013: Lasagna made with butternut squash, just three layers to save calories but packed with naturally creamy, naturally sweet butternut squash: roasted and puréed for a gorgeous "Butternut Bechamel" that envelops the lasagna noodles and roasted in cubes to stud the lasagna layers with bursts of flavor and texture. So hello, November, so glad to see your golden light, knowing that the next few weeks will be extra-busy and how easy it might be to simply fail to notice . I pledge: I shall notice, I shall appreciate, I shall remember. It's a November tradition here at A Veggie Venture: a focus fascination obsession spotlight on Thanksgiving recipes, a dedication to the many ways – many tradition, some creative, all fabulous – to cook Thanksgiving's favorite vegetables, all collected in a single place, Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables . Talk about a reason for celebration! Who nee