I'm so excited I can barely stand it! And not just because I made it to Day 6 of Kris Carr's Adventure Cleanse, either, which has actually been easier than I anticipated. Even though I got a cold the day before I started, I seem to be recovering quickly. What's more, my energy level is … [Read more...]
Vegetable Fun Facts
Be the hit of your next picnic or cocktail party with these quirky facts about the members of my favorite food group (besides cupcakes)—veggies!
Tear It Up, Quadruple Your Antioxidants
So I was listening to NPR on the way home from the grocery store yesterday (okay, yeah, I listen to NPR), when an interview came on that got my attention. Specifically, Dave Davies of Fresh Air was talking with Jo Robinson, a health writer who recently published a book called Eating on the Wild … [Read more...]
Vegetable National Food Holidays – Don’t Miss ‘Em!
Did you know that last Monday, June 17th, was National Eat Your Vegetables Day?Me neither! (**embarrassed**)Needless to say, I was none too pleased that I'd missed it—after all, this is Veggie Quest. So I vowed then and there to set up a calendar for myself listing all the national vegetable … [Read more...]
What is Jicama? Juicy Root, Poison Peas
Would a yam bean by any other name taste as sweet? No matter what you call it—Mexican potato, chop suey yam, Juicy Root, poison-pea tuber—(okay, I made those last two up), jicama is a refreshing, crunchy veggie treat. Fleshy root of a plant that's a member of the pea family, jicama (pronounced … [Read more...]
Kale: Fun Facts on a Brassica Breakout
There's a lot more to this leafy green than meets the eye. For instance, what do kale, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, collard greens, kohlrabi, and cabbage all have in common? (Besides a tendency to smell a little funky when overcooked?)Go on, guess. I'll wait right here.If you said … [Read more...]
Beware the Butternut Squash: Treacherous, Delicious
I'm beginning to conclude that perhaps the delectable butternut squash does not want to be eaten.First, these squashes seem to come with their own built-in self-defense systems:If you grab said squashes by their stems, tiny talons will deploy, leaving itty-bitty squash-stem-sticker splinters in your … [Read more...]
Black-Eyed Peas and Homonyms
In the interest of securing good luck for 2011, I made a kicky black-eyed pea dip for my friend's Rose Bowl gathering. The dip went over well, and I'll be posting the recipe tomorrow (once I've had the chance to tweak it). Since I like to learn about what I'm eating these days, though, I did a … [Read more...]
Celeriac: Do the Mash
The grubby orbs beckoned to me from across the produce section, their bottoms bedecked with what looked vaguely like octopus-tentacle suction cups.We’re the ugliest vegetables you’ve never tried, they whispered. Come check us out.I was in a hurry that day; no time for a new-veggie meet-and-greet. … [Read more...]
Brussels Sprouts for Skeptics
By popular demand—okay, two of my (approximately) four readers made the same request—I decided to tackle one of the cutest but most maligned of all veggies: the brussels sprout. I found this undertaking especially challenging, because I decidedly dislike brussels sprouts. Indeed, my most vivid … [Read more...]
Turban Squash, Part 1
The kitchen is no place for the timid, so a few weeks back I decided to start my quest with a challenge: the oddest-looking, most obscure vegetable I could find. After cruising the produce aisles of my local grocery store, I decided on this warty, bulbous concoction: Apparently, it’s called a … [Read more...]