Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Vinaigrette ♥

How to roast a whole head of cauliflower in the oven. Yes, I really did say a "whole head" of cauliflower! It comes out all brown and nutty and dramatic looking, easy enough for a weeknight but impressive enough for your mother-in-law. Weight Watchers? All this for just one or two Weight Watchers points! Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

So isn't it gorgeous?! There's just something so spectacular about cooking a whole head of cauliflower. I am my mother's daughter after all, she loved to cook a head of cauliflower and top it with cheese sauce. (Who remembers Whole Cauliflower with Homemade Cheese Sauce?!)

But this is even more dramatic looking, thanks to how the florets get all toasty brown in the oven. It's like a cross between the comfort food of Mom's cauliflower and ease of Roasted Cauliflower, which was the very first – first! – recipe published on Day One of A Veggie Venture back Before the Internet in 2005.
Keep Reading ->>>

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Calabacitas ♥

Today's easy-easy concept recipe: Summer squash, onions and chilis quick-cooked in the skillet, with as much (or as little!) heat as you can stand! Low carb.

2:00 pm E-MAIL from ME: "I have a fridgeful of Hatch chilis that appeared at the grocery over the weekend, am hunting around for something interesting/easy to do with them. Suggestions?"

2:05 pm E-MAIL RESPONSE from my friend SALLY DENTON: "Yes!! Calabacitas. Sauté garlic in a skillet in olive oil. Add chopped onion, sliced yellow and zuccini squash; half a bag frozen corn; and as much green chiles as you can handle. Salt & pepper and serve topped with grated parmesan or cheddar cheese. Yum. Sure sign of fall."

2:10 pm E-MAIL RESPONSE to Sally: "Sold."

How in the world have I missed calabacitas? [How to pronounce calabacitas? kal-uh-BAH-see-tas, correction, it is pronounced kal-uh-bah-SEE-tas] Quick and easy, flexible, adaptable, healthful, fresh, cheap. That makes up half the recipes on all of A Veggie Venture!

The only caveat, know your heat. Let me put that another way, Know the LIMITS to your heat. I took Sally's challenge of "add as many chilis as you can stand" the first time I made Calabacitas, I thought that was two Hatch chilis. OUCH. The dish was great, but the chilis were left in a huge pile on the dish, not edible. I might use a whole poblano chili for this but if it were a jalapeño or another chili with heat, know what you like!

This another "concept recipes" – we do love concept recipes, right?! The basics are the onion, zucchini, yellow squash and chilis, but after that, add and subtract as you see fit. I can imagine lima beans, chopped tomatoes, chopped okra and piles of fresh herbs. What seems right to you?
Keep Reading ->>>

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Savory Stir-Fried Sweet Potatoes ♥

Today's sweet potato recipe: An easy weeknight supper vegetable, grated sweet potatoes cooked with a touch of heat and a splash of soy sauce. Low carb and full of flavor. For Weight Watchers, the sweet potatoes add up to just one point! Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Well hello, fall, so glad you're back.

The acorns may not yet thwack onto the roof but food-wise, I'm ready to put aside the spare bites of summer tomato and sweet corn and even this year's much-beloved okra. I'm ready to gird my table for the hibernation that is winter.

And isn't this the wonder of seasonal eating, loving each and every bite of the season's best, then moving onto the next season, ready to love each and every morsel in its own time? When I was a girl, I listened to Judy Collins sing "Turn, Turn, Turn: To Everything There Is a Season" until the 45rpm wore thin. As I listen now on YouTube, I realize how much the words guide my soul, food and otherwise.

And if this recipe for savory sweet potatoes -- published just yesterday! in the New York Times -- is any indication of repasts to come, hello fall, indeed. Chances are, all the ingredients are on hand, if not, no special trips to Trader Joe's or some specialty place are needed. Yet at least for me, this was an entirely new take on sweet potatoes, dark and toasty, sporting a little heat from a chili, something that will definitely cure sweet potatoes of the anathema of marshmallow sweetness.

I cooked the sweet potatoes an hour or so before supper, then reheated to serve with short ribs, some wonderful couscous (recipe to come, I promise!) and Me & Joe Went Hunting table conversation with two lifetime hunters. All were memorable but especially, yes, fall's first sweet potatoes.

REVIEWS
"It was fantastic!! ... Best part - my husband ate it ALL and said it was definitely something we needed to make again!! SO good!!" ~ Cher
"TWO THUMBS UP!!" ~ Molly

Keep Reading ->>>

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Home made ginger beer - the finished product

Bubbly and gingery. Just what I hoped!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The start of Spring 2010

What an interesting couple of days... washed out of camping in the hills to return home and manage the possibility of flooding here! River is rising and will for next 24 hours or so. Here are some photos from today - it is an absolutely gorgeous spring afternoon. Welcome spring!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad