OOO Zesty Green Beans ♥

In this the third summer of an unflagging obsession with vegetables, the season's surprise love affair is with ... beans. Yes, beans.

Ah sure, I've always liked beans. It's just that given a choice, until now I'd choose nearly anything else over beans. No more. Beans are beautiful! Beans are the best! Beans are ... okay, you're probably getting my new love interest, yes? (I've even recruited 'bean look-outs', friends who're tasting beans from various places and reporting especially good ones. )

What changed? My theory (which requires extensive further taste-testing) is that beans simply taste better when well salted. Salt makes beans, well, beans.

Enter Super Natural Cooking from fellow food blogger Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks, which adds both lemon and lime zest to the equation. Swoon.

NEXT TIME Those little OOOs are cute but fiddly. Next time I'll send them through the slicer in the food processor, though they won't be half so cute that way. In a pinch, I'd tuck the zests into a bag of frozen green beans, especially the 'Frenched' ones that are already sliced into thin lengths. I might also cook the beans in the microwave or cook the beans in well-salted water, then add the zest and some butter. It's the zest that's special here. I mean, besides the beautiful beans.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES See the Recipe Box for all the recipes for green beans, including the #1 recipe on A Veggie Venture, the World's Best Green Bean Casserole, which tastes just as good in summer as at Thanksgiving, I promise! Other favorites that I've remade in the last few weeks include the Garlicky Romano Green Beans, Green Beans with Lemon & Pine Nuts (pine nuts not required, these are gorgeous-gorgeous), Green Beans with Onion & Almonds, Romano Beans in Butter-Braised Garlic, and of course the blog-sweeping Fresh Green Bean Salad with Asian Dressing (and what people really love, the soy-cooked nuts) and from just last week, the Fresh Three-Bean Salad, the French Green Beans with Lemon-Garlic Sauce.

Plus, I must-must-must mention 2005's Summer Vegetable Stew. So many of you were clicking on it, just from the name, that I wanted to make it again to add a photograph, make sure the recipe was clear. And OH MY -- talk about a great summer recipe, a wonderful way to cook lots of vegetables at the same time.

A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK Vichyssoise ... can you say VEE-shee-shwaz, don’t leave off the last z sound!

OOO Zesty Green Beans

Hands-on time: about 15 minutes plus regular attention during cooking
Time to table: about 30 minutes
Serves 4

8 ounces fresh green beans, ends snapped, cut cross-wise on an angle to create Os (or zipped through the slicer in the food processor to create whatever emerges)
8 ounces fresh yellow beans, same (Heidi uses only a total of 3/4 pound of beans)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (Heidi suggests 2 tablespoons olive oil or unclarified butter)
2 tablespoons water
Zest of a lemon
Zest of a lime
Chopped fresh chive
Kosher or sea salt, lots of salt

In a large skillet, melt the butter on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the beans and stir to coat with fat. Add the water and COVER. Cover, stirring every so often, til cooked. Remove from heat and stir in the zests and fresh chive. Season with salt to taste.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 62 Cal (39% from Fat, 12% from Protein, 49% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 3 g Tot Fat; 2 g Sat Fat; 1 g Mono Fat; 9 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; NetCarb5; 1 g Sugar; 48 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 8 mg Sodium; 8 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

HOW MANY CALORIES, CARBS & WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS IN GREEN BEANS
Nutrition Information Per 1/4 pound of raw green beans: 35 Cal (3% from Fat, 20% from Protein, 77% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 8 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; 2 g Sugar; 42 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 7 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 0 points

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How to eat more vegetables? A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes with 800 quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.

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Great Brunch Recipe: Tomato Basil Quiche

Who collects great brunch recipes, especially ones that can be completely or partially prepared the night before? This tomato basil quiche, from a 2003 Kitchen Parade column that's published online for the first time, is a real favorite, one I've served summer and winter for many years. Here's the recipe for tomato basil quiche.

And if you're looking for still more ideas, here's my collection of great brunch recipes from Kitchen Parade columns.

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SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

Where A Veggie Venture is 'pure food blog', full of experimentation and exploration, Kitchen Parade features recipes a modern cook can count on. All are thoroughly tested by a home cook in a home kitchen and many are family and reader favorites. All recipes feature easy-to-find ingredients, clear instructions and because I believe so strongly in informed food choices, nutrition analysis and Weight Watchers points. Want to know more? Explore KitchenParade.com, including Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box!

WHY CAN'T I COMMENT ON THIS PAGE? Because I hope that you'll click through to the actual column and comment there!

A Veggie Venture is home of the Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and award-winning vegetable inspiration from Asparagus to Zucchini. © Copyright 2007

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Fresh Three-Bean Salad ♥ Recipe

The traditional three-bean salad but "made over" with fresh green beans instead of canned green beans and "made lighter" with less oil and less sugar.

How is it that so many great potluck dishes rely on canned vegetables? Maybe it's because they're dashed together before church or an afternoon gathering? No matter.

Making a three-bean salad with fresh beans -- here, with a mix of yellow and green, isn't it pretty?! -- does take longer but the outcome is, well, praise-worthy. In fact, it wouldn't take much longer to double the recipe, which is what I'll do next time, this is so good.

The recipe inspiration came from a Cook's Illustrated e-mail. I've lightened it considerably, dropping the oil from 8 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons, the sugar from 3/4 cup to 1/4 cup. These changes really make the salad all about the beans -- and isn't that the point? the recipe name isn't "Oil and Sugar Salad", after all. I questioned the introduction of parsley but in the end, glad I kept it in, for it adds new dimensions of flavor and freshness.

WISH I'D THOUGHT OF THIS This recipe would be great with Splenda -- and might satisfy those who like three-bean salad slightly sweeter.

WHO KNEW? that the standard green bean salad has four Weight Watchers points per serving?! That's awful!!

FRESH THREE-BEAN SALAD

Hands-on time: 30 minutes (over course of about 50 minutes)
Time to table: 50 minutes or 24 hours
Makes 5 cups

BEANS
3 quarts water
1 tablespoon table salt
8 ounces green beans, ends snapped, snapped or cut into one-inch pieces
8 ounces yellow beans, same

1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 a red onion, diced small
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Bring the water to a boil. [To be most efficient time-wise, prepare the liquid now, before continuing with the beans.] Add the salt and the beans, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender-crisp. While the beans cook, fill a large bowl with ice water, using more ice than water. When the beans are done, drain them in a colander, then plunge the colander into the ice water, fully covering the beans by swishing them around if needed. When the beans are cool, remove from the ice water. Give the colander a good shake to remove lots of the water. Let drain for at least 10 minutes and more if needed.

In a large bowl, mix the cooked green beans, onion and parsley. Pour liquid over vegetables and stir well to coat. Transfer to storage dish and refrigerate for 24 hours.

LIQUID
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (reduced from 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil (reduced from 1/2 cup canola oil)
1 teaspoon table salt
Several turns freshly ground black pepper

In a small saucepan, bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per 1/2 Cup, made with 2 tablespoons oil, 1/4 cup sugar: 106 Cal (23% from Fat, 12% from Protein, 64% from Carb); 3 g Protein; 3 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 2 g Mono Fat; 18 g Carb; 5 g Fiber; NetCarb13; 7 g Sugar; 36 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 395 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 2 points

Per 1/2 Cup, if made with 1/2 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar, as specified by Cook's Illustrated: 217 Cal (44% from Fat, 6% from Protein, 50% from Carb); 3 g Protein; 11 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 6 g Mono Fat; 28 g Carb; 5 g Fiber; 17 g Sugar; 36 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 395 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 4 points

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
BEST TIME TO SERVE? The inspiring recipe specifies serving the salad the next day -- and it's definitely more like a traditional (canned bean) three-bean salad that way, sort of pickly. I preferred it served right away though didn't object to it, in the least, the next day.

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MORE FAVORITE GREEN BEAN RECIPES
~ fresh green bean salad with Asian dressing ~
~ garlicky romano beans ~
~ green beans with lemon & pine nuts ~
~ more green bean recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Eggplant & Bean Thai Curry ~
~ Make-Ahead Fresh Green Bean Casserole ~
~ more green bean recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

How to eat more vegetables? A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes with 800 quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.

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Cream of Zucchini Soup ♥

Until food blogging, I learned all I knew about Julia Child from Saturday Night Live caricatures so honestly, just don't share the typical foodie reverence of all-things-Julia. Still when Lisa of Champaign Taste (great name for a food blog from Champaign, Illinois, yes?!) announced the second-annual celebration of Julia Child's birthday on August 15th, I was in, if only to dip my little finger into the big mixing bowl that is Julia Child.

Lucky, my friend Linda sent me home with a Julia Child cookbook -- signed by none other than Julia Child herself!! -- and an impression other than a boozy and wheedling woman at the stove. At culinary conferences, Linda reports, Julia was just another foodie, just another cook albeit a decidedly famous one, somehow able to make each one around her feel special. I like to think that if Julia were still of this world, she would be a blogger, embracing (hugging!) the medium like a few others of cookbook fame, Dorie Greenspan, Rose Levy Beranbaum, David Lebovitz, Harold McGee.

Wanting my world to be rocked, I thumbed the pages for ideas. The book at hand isn't the famed Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One (and Volume Two) but instead Julia Child's The Way to Cook, not French, no, but classic for sure, a great choice for someone with some kitchen skills, more a book of master techniques and applications than a collection of recipes. If price is an indicator of the breadth and extent of this 500-page book, the retail price in 1989 was $50, wow.

The Cream of Zucchini Soup called to me, using a master recipe base of Rice & Onion Soup Base that is also applied to Cream of Chicken & Vegetable Soup, Cream of Cucumber Soup, Cream of Cauliflower Soup, Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Broccoli -- see what I mean about a basic technique with adaptations?

And yes, my world is rocked, not in earth-quake fashion but plenty. The soup was made almost from air - a bit of butter and onion for flavor; rice for substance; broth for volume; zucchini for color and more flavor; sour cream for creaminess. It was gorgeous and perfectly summer-ish even on a 100+ degree, even-the-dog-doesn't-want-out kind of day.

Thanks, Lisa, for the reason to wipe (lick?!) the bowl that is Julia! And Julia? happy birthday!

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FROM THE ARCHIVES See the Recipe Box for all the zucchini recipes, especially if you're looking for recipes for stuffed zucchini or stuffed pattypan squash, both very pretty and way easier to make than they appear.

A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK Baked Parmesan Tomatoes ... "Oh so simple! Just tomato halves topped with a few ribbons of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of just-snipped herbs from the garden, oregano on some, chive on the other."

TWO YEARS AGO Greek Greens ... this has become one of my do-it-all-the-time staples, a great way to 'hold' fresh leafy greens for a day or so

CREAM of ZUCCHINI SOUP

Hands-on time: 35 minutes
Time to table: 75 minutes
Makes 8 cups

RICE & ONION SOUP BASE
8 cups liquid (water or broth or milk or a combination)

2 tablespoons butter
1 - 2 cups diced yellow onion (any onion except a sweet onion is good)
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used brown jasmine)

For ZUCCHINI SOUP
1 1/2 pounds zucchini, ends trimmed, skin on, grated (easy enough with a hand grater)
1/2 cup sour cream (or cream or crème fraîche)
Fresh herbs, for garnish (I used chive, Julia suggested tarragon or parsley)

BASE
Bring 4 cups of the liquid to a boil in the microwave. (This is an optional step that speeds things along. You could heat all 8 cups at the same time but I do it in a four-cup Pyrex dish that fits easily in the dishwasher so do this in two steps with no delay. You really can't conveniently warm milk in the microwave without scorching it so if using all milk, I'd skip this step entirely.) When the first 4 cups have been added to the soup, warm the remaining 4 cups of liquid in the microwave.

Meanwhile, in a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter til shimmery on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the onion and rice, stir to coat with fat. Let cook, stirring frequently and adjusting heat if necessary, til onions turn golden, about 10 minutes. Add the first 4 cups liquid and let cook, stirring occasionally, til rice is soft, about 30 minutes.

For ZUCCHINI SOUP
Stir in 3/4 of the grated zucchini and let cook for about 5 minutes, until zucchini is quite soft. In batches transfer soup to a blender and whiz til smooth. (Since the liquid is hot, to avoid burning yourself and making a HUGE mess, don't fill the blender more than half full and do hold on tight to the top of the blender. Since you're working in batches, you can put the blended soup into the bowl with the remaining zucchini.) Return all the soup and the remaining zucchini and the second 4 cups of liquid to the pot. Let cook for about 5 minutes, til the zucchini is barely cooked. Stir in the sour cream and stir well til diffused throughout the soup and warmed through. (Little pockets of sour cream are great, don't worry if you don't get them all.) Top with fresh herbs, serve and savor!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 129 Cal (38% from Fat, 15% from Protein, 47% from Carb); 5 g Protein; 6 g Tot Fat; 3 g Sat Fat; 2 g Mono Fat; 16 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; NetCarb14; 3 g Sugar; 39 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 523 mg Sodium; 12 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 2 points

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
Adapted from The Way to Cook by Julia Child

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NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

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How to eat more vegetables? A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes with 800 quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.

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Kitchen Parade Extra: Cottage Cheese Pie ♥

Call it my Personal Peach Protest.

You see, if ever there's a lesson on the tension between reward and risk when relying on local food sources, for me it's the peach, the glorious orbs of summer that emerge -- most years, but not in 2007 -- from the peach orchards of Missouri and Illinois, completely within the oh-so-chic 100-mile-diet locavore radius of my home in St. Louis. Although perfect fruit from elsewhere is piled high in the grocery, this year I'm putting my peach dollars into another local product, cottage cheese. Read about it in this week's Kitchen Parade column.

Oh! And this is Kitchen Parade's first recipe in the brand-new 'kitchen' -- so worth an extra gander!

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SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

Where A Veggie Venture is 'pure food blog' and 100% about vegetables, Kitchen Parade features recipes a modern cook can count on. All are thoroughly tested by a home cook in a home kitchen and many are family and reader favorites. All recipes feature easy-to-find ingredients, clear instructions and because I believe so strongly in informed food choices, nutrition analysis and Weight Watchers points. Want to know more? Explore Kitchen Parade, including Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box!

WHY CAN'T I COMMENT ON THIS PAGE? Because I hope that you'll click through to the column to comment there!

A Veggie Venture is home of the Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and award-winning vegetable inspiration from Asparagus to Zucchini. © Copyright 2007

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Melon, Blueberry & Feta Salad with Honey Lime Vinaigrette ♥

What, two watermelon salads in a row, on a food blog for vegetable recipes? Well ...

First of all, there are bite-size tomatoes tucked between the melon balls and blueberries. But more than that, watermelons are big, we need help using them up, we need watermelon recipes! Plus when my dear friend Linda (for those who know her too, Linda Behrends, my food stylist/consultant friend) saw yesterday's recipe for watermelon, cucumber & feta salad, she sent along this one from her friend Linda, and I've got to say, it's a winner too. Thank you, Linda-s!

Still, my taste wasn't keen on the combination of tomatoes and watermelon -- but loved the addition of blueberries and would definitely substitute cantaloupe or honeydew for the tomatoes. Plus, the dressing is just gorgeous, tart with lime and sweet with honey, a keeper in its own right.

This was soo summery, perfect for a light supper on string of 100+ hot days. And it's definitely a "fruit salad" where yesterday's was a "vegetable salad", even though both include watermelon.

KITCHEN TIPS This salad is a perfect example of why I keep four -- yes four -- colanders close at hand. They're smallish (nine inches across, five deep), stack, go in the dishwasher top and bottom, cheap ($1 a piece from the grocery but think the Dollar Store, too) and EVER so useful. Nearly every meal, I use a couple, but am surprised, myself, how often four are going at once. Twice I've bought sets for foodie friends - and definitely recommend thinking about this for your own kitchen.

ST LOUIS NOTES The feta came from Goatsbeard Farm and was completely delicious. Goatsbeard can be found (says their brochure) at The Smokehouse, Wine & Cheese Place, Whole Foods and for me, at the wonderful mid-week farmers market in Maplewood just outside the Schlaffly Microbrewery. It's a festive time on Wednesday afternoons, 4 - 7, worth checking out! Because the feta was warm from the trip home, I learned how good feta is when it's at room temperature - worth making happen on purpose.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES Have you poked around the Recipe Box for tomato recipes? Because they're so different, I even keep special spots for recipes for perfect summer tomatoes and recipes for cherry and grape tomatoes.

TWO YEARS AGO Broccoli, Pepper & Celery Salad, such a favorite that today it's on the lunch menu.

MELON, BLUEBERRY & FETA SALAD

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 20 minutes
Serves 4

SALAD

Salad greens for four
Watermelon balls (about 2 cups but use your own judgment for all, of course)
Cantaloupe or honeydew balls (about 2 cups)
Blueberries (about a cup)
Cherry or grape tomatoes (if you use these, I'd recommend halfing them so the texture is more similar to the watermelon)

Wash well and let drain while making the dressing.

VINAIGRETTE (plenty of dressing for four, fruit and greens)
1/3 cup lime juice (3 limes)
2 - 3 tablespoons honey (warm in the microwave 10 seconds at a time to make easier to pour)
Tabasco to taste (don't skip this, it makes the dressing!)
Salt & pepper to taste
Good olive oil -- how much? I used 2 tablespoons, the inspiring recipe called for 4

Whisk the lime juice, honey, tabasco, salt & pepper. Now -- if you want to limit the oil -- taste the dressing, then add oil a tablespoon at a time, tasting after each addition, until it tastes good to you. I like my dressing on the 'sharp' side but not everyone does. This one's so full of flavor, for example, that it was easy to go light. That said, there's definitely something special about the 'glisten' and 'glow' of really good olive oil on the fruit and on the greens.

ASSEMBLY
2 ounces feta, crumbled, preferably at room temperature

Toss the fruit with about half the dressing (do this first so the dressing can soak into the fruit just a tiny bit). Dress the greens with the remaining dressing and arrange on a serving plate or individual plates. Top greens with fruit, then with feta. Serve immediately.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Made with tomatoes & 2 tablespoons oil, Four Servings, Per Serving: Per Serving: 184 Cal (46% from Fat, 8% from Protein, 46% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 10 g Tot Fat; 3 g Sat Fat; 6 g Mono Fat; 23 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; NetCarb21; 16 g Sugar; 99 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 176 mg Sodium; 13 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers points 3 points

Made with cantaloupe instead of tomatoes & 2 tablespoons oil, Per Serving: Per Serving: 188 Cal (45% from Fat, 7% from Protein, 48% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 10 g Tot Fat; 3 g Sat Fat; 6 g Mono Fat; 24 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 20 g Sugar; 101 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 183 mg Sodium; 13 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers points 3 points

Made with cantaloupe & 4 tablespoons oil, Per Serving: Per Serving: 248 Cal (58% from Fat, 6% from Protein, 37% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 17 g Tot Fat; 4 g Sat Fat; 11 g Mono Fat; 24 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 20 g Sugar; 101 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 183 mg Sodium; 13 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 5 points

SHORTHAND RECIPE
MELON, BLUEBERRY, FETA SALAD 1c watermelon, 1c cantaloupe, 1c blueberry, 2oz feta DRESSING 3limes, 2.5T honey, 2TEVOO, Tabasco, S&P, 4=WW3

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NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

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How to eat more vegetables? A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes with 800+ quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.

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Watermelon, Cucumber & Feta Salad ♥

Today's vegetable recipe: A refreshing summer salad with watermelon, cucumber and feta cheese. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point.

Late Friday, I tripped expectantly into the market armed with a list, for once knowing exactly what was needed for Plan A, supper. Oops. No tomatillos, even though they'd been plentiful earlier in the week. No cauliflower, "Sold the last head an hour ago, more tomorrow." I fussed for a few minutes, looking over all the choices, trying to figure out what ELSE to make when my heart (and the supper menu) was set on one thing.

My heart found inspiration in a beautiful watermelon. I grabbed a cucumber too and knew that theretogether was Plan B's great side salad, and just like Plan A, "summer in a bowl".

NEW KITCHEN! Visit the new 'kitchen' KitchenParade.com, the online home of my food column, unveiled just yesterday!

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MORE CUCUMBER RECIPES
~ Cucumber Lemonade, "summer in a glass"! ~
~ Tomato Zucchini Salad, one of my very favorite easy salads ~
~ Nana's Cucumbers, the classic cucumbers & sour cream ~

~ more cucumber recipes ~

WATERMELON, CUCUMBER & FETA SALAD

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 15 minutes
Makes 8 cups

About 1/4 a watermelon, cubed
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed
1/2 a small red onion, diced small
Fresh basil, cut in thin strips
2 ounces feta, crumbled

Mix all ingredients. Serve, enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Cup: 58 Cal (25% from Fat, 13% from Protein, 62% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 2 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 10 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; NetCarb9; 7 g Sugar; 54 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 82 mg Sodium; 6 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

KITCHEN NOTES
Make only as much as will be eaten at once, this doesn't keep.

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SHOPPING for, errr, with, an iPHONE Oh ~ and while I think about having ready access to vegetable recipes at the drop of a hat, er, pixel, last week I got to meet "food blogger family": Kalyn's Kitchen's brother Rand and his family stopped in St. Louis for a day during a cross-country trek. What fun! We all gorged on ice cream sundaes at the "divine" Crown Candy Kitchen, plus I got to play with Rand's new iPhone (thanks for the tour, Hannah!) and browsed straight to A Veggie Venture to see how it looked. If I may say so myself, it looks and works great!! (good luck over good management, likely) especially if you're at the grocery wondering what to make with such'n'such vegetable. The link to the Alphabet of Vegetables is right in the header - so no scrolling - and then you can easily find the vegetable you're after, pick a recipe, check what other ingredients might be needed and voila! supper's vegetable is covered! Since I don't have my own iPhone (though hmm, couldn't it be considered a business expense?) if you have experience with this and have suggestions, please please do let me know.

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PRINT JUST A RECIPE! Now you can print a recipe without wasting ink and paper on the header and sidebar. Here's how.

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

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How to eat more vegetables? The award-winning A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and the best source of free vegetable recipes with 700+ quick and easy favorite vegetable recipes, the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point recipes and microwave vegetable recipes.

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