A Veggie Venture

Raw Eggplant Salad ♥

2009-07-06T10:00:00.002-05:00

Today's unusual salad recipe: Small pieces of raw eggplant tossed with celery, olives and capers. Surprisingly pleasant! Vegan. Low carb. Weight Watchers 0 points. So. Can we eat raw eggplant? Yes! Do we want to eat raw eggplant? Yes again. The inspiration for this simple summer salad came from a few slices of eggplant leftover from another recipe, just hanging out there on the counter

Homemade Bread & Butter Pickles ♥

2009-06-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A recipe from a reader, easy bread and butter pickles. No canning required, can be frozen.Many thanks to an anonymous reader who left her recipe for bread and butter pickles a couple of years back. I actually made these late last fall -- although too late to share -- and then nibbled on them off and on throughout the winter.The pickles are great -- crunchy but not too

Tuna & White Bean Dip ♥

2009-06-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

Today's recipe: An easy bean dip, with a touch of umami from a simple can of tuna. Easy to make with a few quick pantry and refrigerator ingredients. Fresh tasting and endlessly variable. Positively addictive. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.Okay so you might think that this is just one more bean dip, nothing special about that. But I beg, think again. For one thing, it's one of those

Fire-Charred Tomatoes ♥

2009-06-11T10:30:00.002-05:00

Today's tomato recipe: From the new and most-inspiring cookbook "Seven Fires" (much recommended as a Father's Day gift idea), tomatoes cooked on a very hot fire til charred, creating a smoky, luscious bite of summer. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.In 2007, I lucked into spending a day with author and writer Peter Kaminsky just back from Argentina where he'd been cooking over fire with

Pickled Beet Dip ♥

2009-06-07T10:00:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A quick and easy dip made with pickled beets, cream cheese and horseradish. Quite addictive, smeared on bread. Great color for outdoor gatherings. Low carb. No surprise that I loved this beet dip -- yes, when you collect beet recipes, people starting calling you the Beet Queen for good reason. But I didn't expect everyone else to love this beet dip -- but they did! The

Mixed Fruit & Vegetable Salad ♥

2009-05-31T09:30:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: An unusual and refreshing salad, a bright mix of chopped fruits and vegetables tossed with no more than salt and pepper and a little cinnamon. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. Vegan. No added fat. So why is it that 'vegetables' are usually served as a side dish and 'fruit' as dessert? This salad really surprised me. Not only is it pretty -- isn't it pretty?! -- but

Summer Lentils ♥

2009-05-25T10:30:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A hearty lentil salad that's so packed with vegetables it might even be called the 'Great Big Vegetable Salad with a Few Lentils Thrown In Just for Fun'. Great crunch. No mayonnaise so perfect for picnics and outdoor meals. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.As happens on the first day the air conditioning gets turned on, it was just too hot to cook. So I scrapped the

Barely Roasted Asparagus ♥

2009-05-19T10:30:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A lesson in timing, how barely roasting fat spears of spring asparagus turns out something entirely new: crisp with good 'snap', garlicky and glorious. Vegan, low-carb and Weight Watchers 1 point.This is the time of year when a reader might complain, "Alanna, are you cooking anything except asparagus?" (Yes, it really happened, in 2007 with the oh-so-lovely Asparagus

Avocado Dip ♥

2009-05-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A Middle Eastern avocado dip, smoother than guacamole but otherwise similar. Very impressive appearance when served in the empty avocado shells - positively gorgeous, if I may say so myself! Low-carb and vegan. So May 5th passed without the hoped-for, planned-for, considerably-anticipated Cinco de Mayo party, something about a calendar mix-up and a dining room with fresh

Cauliflower 'Spanish Rice' ♥

2009-05-05T07:29:00.005-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A low-carb and high-fiber 'rice' dish, made not with rice but cauliflower yet still tastes like rice! Weight Watchers 1 point.When my friend Sally from the Iowa blog Tip of the Iceberg mailed this recipe, she wrote, "I've used this recipe for years and it truly is excellent. I hope you can share it with the world." Verdict? It is truly excellent and Here, World, it is!

Asparagus Risotto ♥

2009-04-27T10:30:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A classic spring risotto, but instead of using just the tender asparagus tips, the entire asparagus stalk is used so the rice is filled with asparagus flavor and has a lovely light-spring green color. Vegetarian and easily adapted for vegan risotto. Four days ago, the asparagus began to poke from the ground, appearing like alien spears during the night, some fat and

Win an HP Photosmart Wireless Printer

2009-04-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

Please forgive, no recipe today. Instead a special give-away, just for the readers of A Veggie Venture and Kitchen Parade. For just seven days, between now and April 27, 2009, BlogHer and HP are sponsoring a contest where an HP printer will be given away, ONLY to the readers of Kitchen Parade and A Veggie Venture. (Okay, well, anyone can enter the contest but I'm only telling my own readers about

Five-Minute Homemade Cocktail Sauce Recipe ♥

2009-04-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

Don't forget! Through April 27th, leave a comment to win an HP Photosmart All-in-One Wireless Printer, a special offer just for the readers of A Veggie Venture and Kitchen Parade. Today's homemade dip recipe: Homemade cocktail sauce, made with just a few pantry ingredients. Perfect for vegetables or cold shrimp. "Dear Heinz Ketchup, Please, will you make my life easier? You see, I take a lot of

Edamame in the Shell ♥

2009-04-15T14:15:00.004-05:00

Today's vegetable snack: Frozen edamame, quick cooked and served still in the shell. A kid favorite! How long does it take to fill hundreds of eggs for the annual Easter Egg hunt? Hours! Nearing the end of the big job, the kids were fading and supper was still a long ways off. So I whipped out a bag of frozen edamame [pronounced ed-uh-MAH-may], still in the shell and threw them into well-salted

Creamed Eggs with Spinach ♥

2009-04-06T12:30:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A great way to use up leftover Easter eggs, hard-cooked eggs in a cheesy sauce, served over quick-cooked spinach. Beautiful color, hearty enough for supper. Low carb. Weight Watchers 5 points.Okay, so we tried, we really did. My friend Mary and I spent four hours on Sunday making what we hoped would be beautiful Easter eggs using natural dyes like turmeric and onion

Guest Post: In Defense of Food

2009-04-02T10:36:00.001-05:00

Today, a guest post from an A Veggie Venture reader who's just finished Michael Pollan's book 'In Defense of Food'. His essay is a lesson in the loss of connection to real food (in just one generation!) and ideas on what it takes to return. I'd love to know your thoughts and invite you to join the conversation. ~AKThe butcher’s rack in my kitchen shelves my cookbooks. To use a poor albeit

Savory Oatmeal with Scallions & Soy Sauce ♥

2009-03-29T09:00:00.002-05:00

Today's recipe: Something old, something new. Mark Bittman's savory oatmeal, part of his new diet regime. Weight Watchers 1 point. Vegan."Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue." If this were a bride's wedding day tradition, she'd be three out of four with today's healthy breakfast recipe. Something Old: Oatmeal for breakfast. (See How & Why to Cook Oatmeal Every Day.

Asparagus Scallion Salad ♥

2009-03-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: Asparagus and scallions gently poached, then drizzled with a simple vinaigrette and tossed with hard-cooked egg. Dreamy good plus low carb and low cal. Weight Watchers 1 point.How many children have gagged over boiled asparagus? What were we thinking, leeching all color and flavor from the earthy spears, leaving a mushy gushy slimy mess? Ish, no wonder. So please, stick

Quick Radish & White Bean Salad ♥

2009-03-18T14:06:00.002-05:00

How to fall in love with radishes: Toss together a quick medley of chopped radishes and tomatoes brightened with olives, capers, parsley and lemon juice. Add canned beans for protein. Skip the oil. Swoon.Turns out, every year I fall in love with a new vegetable. In 2009, the unlikely addiction is the radish. For the last few months, radishes are such a staple that like lettuce and milk, they need

Parsnip Pear Purée ♥

2009-03-10T14:34:00.003-05:00

Today's vegetable recipe: An unusual side dish, a purée of parsnips and pears, mellowed with cognac, sour cream and allspice.Parsnip Pear Purée. Say that three times, fast. Pppppp. Now join me in wondering how to make something that looks so plain -- it's just a blob of white stuff, right? -- look as pretty as it tastes. Perhaps a plump piece of pork perched upon top? and prepared for a party?

Homemade Black Bean Burgers ♥

2009-02-23T05:00:00.003-06:00

Today's recipe: Quick and easy black bean burgers, made at home with easy pantry ingredients. You can even freeze your own! For years, I have forsworn veggie burgers. (Ewww, the salty-slimy 'Garden' Burger? To my taste, more like a compost heap.) No more, no more!! I've been missing out, completely, because -- yay, rah! -- we can make homemade black bean burgers. And it's easy! And cheap! And --

Warm Butternut Squash & Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing ♥

2009-02-15T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today's vegetable recipe: A warm salad, roasted winter squash tossed with chickpeas and a lemon-brightened tahini dressing. Vegan. Last fall, I asked readers what they wanted 'more of' from A Veggie Venture. The answers came back 'more of the same' (thanks for that vote of confidence!) and 'more vegetarian suppers' (okay, great idea!). But the truth is, at the moment, my diet includes more meat

Roasted Cauliflower with Saffron ♥

2009-01-29T16:24:00.004-06:00

Today's vegetable recipe: Cauliflower roasted with saffron and spices. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.So. I'm learning a lot about vegetables these days, though -- get this -- by eating, no tasting, no, positively hating oxtails. (Note to Vegetarians)It all started before Christmas when my friend Sharon had a recipe calling for oxtails and wanted to know what they were. My answer -- and I was

Finn Crisp with Laughing Cow & Radishes ♥

2009-01-21T07:00:00.005-06:00

Today's recipe: A quick snack or light lunch. Low carb. Weight Watchers one point.I may love to cook but I also love little-assembly-required quick lunches and snacks. They're not recipes, per se, more concepts. But I'm picky. Fast. Cheap. Quick. Easy. No dishes. Crunch. Fresh. Transportable. (And I think other readers must be hungry for such snacks and quick lunches too, as often as you check

Ugly But Delicious Tofu for the Slow Cooker ♥

2009-01-15T07:00:00.003-06:00

Today's recipe: Tofu braised in a slow cooker in soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and other Asian-style flavors. Low carb. Weight Watchers zero points for a snack, 2 points for a meal.Regular readers know that I'm prone to exclaiming, "Isn't it pretty?" (See?!) No chance of that happening here, with these mud-brown cubes of tofu. Ugh, how UNappealing. I couldn't bear for them to ugly-up a beautiful