Today's easy summer casserole: Just cauliflower tossed with cheese sauce and topped with caprese-style tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. Weight Watchers Friendly, just WW PointsPlus 4. Low Carb. Vegetarian. Could it be, could it? Yes, I think this easy cauliflower casserole could be a TwitteRecipe, 140 characters no more. Let's try. Okay, yeah, piece of cake, 139 characters in the first try! Cook cauliflower florets w salty h20, toss w cheese sauce, top w tomatoes, fresh mozz balls. Bake 350F til hot, broil if needed, add basil. Oh good, because you'll want to remember this recipe. So simple: just cooked cauliflower tossed in a cheesy sauce then, you know, topped with more cheese plus a few tomatoes for virtue's sake. That said? This is a healthy casserole, there's cheese, sure but it's less than you might think, more like tiny "bombs" of cheese versus a heavy coating. Totally satisfying, this! You're gonna love it – at least I hope you wi

Today's stunning eggplant: Roasted eggplant halves topped with an unexpected explosion of flavors, a garlicky yogurt sauce, sour pomegranate, spices and fresh herbs. Just gorgeous, this! Weight Watchers Friendly, WW PointsPlus 6. Low Cal. Gluten Free. Vegetarian. Okay so when was the last time anyone called the appearance of cooked eggplant "stunning"?! It's the pomegranate, of course, also the creamy sauce and thyme leaves that give this dish its "look". But it's the combination of rustic eggplant, juicy pomegranate seeds, creamy sauce, fresh herbs and the Middle Eastern spice za'atar which make this dish stunning both in appearance and an explosion of flavors in a single bite. Fans of Otam Ottolenghi will recognize this eggplant dish, it's the cover of Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi . And it's an eggplant recipe I have wanted to make f-o-r-e-v-e-r, especially after my dear friend Sharon last year or maybe

Today's totally captivating summer salad, a quick mix of ripe watermelon and, get this, celery! Weight Watchers Friendly, PointsPlus 3. Low Cal. Naturally Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". I know, I know. Of course you're questioning this combination, watermelon and celery. Sure the colors are bright and pretty but do watermelon and celery, you know, go together ? In a word? YES. My friend Ann served this captivating salad at book club last month. She first found the recipe on the New York Times Cooking app and has made it over and over all summer, her now-strapping teenage boys "eat it up". (Side Note #1 I first wrote about her sons when they were little guys, Power Food Broccoli Salad . How the years do pass! Side Note #2 Ann and I both love the NYT app, especially how it stays in synch on the desktop, iPad and iPhone!) Back to the celery. Yes, it works with watermelon! And isn't it rare, you know, to find something that r

Today's quick summer appetizer recipe: A miniature bite of caprese salad, warm and cheesy. So really, how does Trader Joe's read my mind ? how does it know what I want before I walk the door? Blame it on all the Pretty Ways to Serve Summer's Best Tomatoes but I was feeling caprese-crazy. I stopped at Trader Joe's for those cute little mozzarella balls in the cheese section, certain I'd need to hit the farmers market later for tomatoes simultaneously big enough and small enough for the summer finger food embedded in my brain. But Trader Joe's had both the mozzarella and the perfect-size tomatoes! And in case you're wondering, no, this isn't a paid post, a sponsored post or anything like that. I'm just in awe. We might should put Trader Joe's in charge of male-female Mars-Venus communication where "reading minds" is helpful skill set.

This Veggie Evangelist came late to the "Avocado Craze" but is catching up, fast! Here you'll find a whole collection of avocado facts and seasonal avocado recipes, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special. And of course, guacamole recipes too! PS Facebook & Pinterest users, if you like A Veggie Venture, be sure to "like" and "share" and "pin" this page. More and more, search engines and even real-live human beings rely on social media indicators to identify favorite sources of trusted information. Besides, aren't your friends avocado-crazy too?! IN A RUSH? Prefer Another Vegetable? Skip Straight to the Recipes or Switch to the A-Z of Vegetables . Avocado 101: THE BASICS Pronounced [ah-vuh-KAH-doe]. Plural of Avocado. Here's how to remember the plural of avocado, tee hee. "One avocado is good, enough avocados for guacamole is even better." Other Names for Avocado. Also called Avoc

Hello, Tomato Lovers! Here's just what you've been looking for, a collection of tips and photos, all the prettiest ways to serve sweet, juicy summer tomatoes. Who else is as excited as all get-out that it is tomato season?! We seasonal eaters, we wait all year long for this moment. A whole two tomato seasons ago now, I got this idea to collect pretty ways to serve the summer's best tomatoes. No cooking, no grilling, no roasting, just good tomatoes straight from the garden served in beautiful but simple ways. You'll see what inspired that idea, it's in the first photo below, a beautiful platter of tomato slices sprinkled with dainty white garlic chive flowers with a tiny tomato bouquet of flowers in the center. Yeah, I know, sooo simple and yet so pretty. I found so-so many ideas but pared them down to just fourteen, all from talented tomato-lovin' food bloggers. And as I studied the photos, trying really hard not to drool tomato juice, I realized th

Heads up, beet lovers! A quick 'n' easy beet salad, it makes up in five minutes. (Really!) This salad totally captivated friends who came for dinner last month, something to do with the earthy clove-y sweet beets in the same bite as bursts of summer blueberries. But if you're cooking for one or two? Good news, that works really well too. Weight Watchers PointsPlus 1. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". Oh, people! This is such a great summer salad! And it's no more than pickled beets, summer blueberries and some fresh mint. (Really, that's it!) It was one of three salads I made for our Midsummer party back in June – all which went-went-went but half to my surprise, it was the Pickled Beet Salad that sooo many people remarked upon. Ours was a mixed gathering of foodies + family. The foodies? All over this salad. (The family? Not.So.Much. So goes my life.) One quote? "I hope no one's counting but I'm going ba