When your kitchen's not well-suited for the conviviality of cooking with someone else, what to do? Two kitchens! Two kitchens in two states and two time zones! And for good measure, stir in the cookbook of still another cook, in still another state and time zone. On complete whim, Catherine from Albion Cooks and I decided to cook from Cooking by the Seasons , which Brendon from Something in Season recently raved about and which prompted both Catherine and me to hustle up our own copies! (Okay, so now I've met two famous cookbook authors. Mark Bittman and Karina Allrich. Yes. That! Karina! our very own Gluten Free Goddess .) (Catherine and I plan to cook "together" again in a week or so. And since Kalyn 's ordered a copy; and so has Peanut Butter and Purple Onions ; and of course, the guy who started it all, Brendon : Wanna join the fun with the next recipe? Anyone else? Maybe even, I don't know ... Karina???) Catherine picked the first recipe. But

How to roast peppers, all members of the capsicum family, including sweet peppers (like red peppers and green peppers) and also "hot" chili peppers (like poblanos, jalapeños, Hatch peppers and others). If you've ever wondered how to roast chiles at home, this is my favorite way to roast many peppers at the same time, it's done in a very hot oven under the broiler, simultaneously gently cooking the vegetables and making it easy to remove their skins. Real Food, Fresh & Seasonal. Not Just Easy, Summer Easy . Easy Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

In March "spring" appeared on the kitchen table here at A Veggie Venture. Early in the month, I was still cooking wintry vegetables, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower. Then, like a page turning, a leaf opening, a crabapple bursting into blossom like the ones on my street today, suddenly the vegetables that appealed were lighter and simpler, zucchini, beets, Napa cabbage. So what were March's best veggie side, best soup and best vegetarian supper? And because we've been cooking broccoli rabe all month, the best rapini? MARCH's BEST VEGETABLE SIDE DISH Once again, there's no picking just one. A winter-into-spring transition dish with a to-die-for sauce (read : calories), Cauliflower Cheddar Horseradish Gratin . For those slim-on-time and slim-in-diet, opt for the fresh-tasting, low-cal and low-carb Zucchini Lemon-Honey Salad . MARCH's BEST SOUP The oh-so-romantically named (and tasting!) Gypsy Pot . MARCH's BEST VEGETARIAN S

I need to make big salads more often! Even late on a chilly spring evening, this tasted so fresh and alive and paired perfectly with soup. It was light but still filling and flavorful -- all for hardly any calories. The salad itself calls for four strong flavors: watercress, basil, cilantro AND mint. I wondered if they'd fight, if one'd overpower the other, if one'd make shy. But instead, they formed a quartet that works as much in concert as in striking their individual notes. Still, if one had to be sacrificed, make it the watercress. The dressing was a definite keeper, too. There is NOTHING on the grocery store shelves to compare with simple ingredients whisked together in five minutes -- in flavor, in cost, in healthfulness. The mango was still underripe, despite sitting on the counter in a paper bag for three days. Still, the "bones" were good, mango works beautifully with the dressing. NUTRITION NOTES ... For carb watchers, make this salad fit your low-carb

So is this "scratch cooking" or not? Look at the four convenience packages it took to make this simple soup! (It seemed as much like "cooking" as a Minnesota hot dish with a can of Campbell's, frozen vegetables, a few slices of Velveeta and canned onion rings for garnish.) And anyone who's familiar with miso soup will laugh. (Hey! at least I know from someone who lived in Japan that miso is pronounced mee-zo with a fuzzy sz sound.) But apparently you don't eat the kelp? (It didn't kill me. And I kinda liked it. And aren't you supposed to eat your greens, anyway??? NOT eating it would have felt like picking tomatoes off a pizza.) I claim no expertise in miso soup. What did I miss? What should it have looked like, tasted like? How should it have been cooked? What should I have/ could I have added? Is it "scratch cooking"? or not?? Help, please!! My own BIG LESSON: This confusion, these questions, the uncertainty, THIS is what it's lik

So what do you do for a "vegetable" on a day when ... Wind shear takes out eight large trees within a couple of blocks? One tree with a five-foot trunk falls RIGHT where your car travelled only the MINUTE before, when it was barely stormy? And traps a man and his dog who, thankfully, are both okay? And the electricity is out for nearly 24 hours? And the neighborhood takes on a festive air and impromptu block parties spring up and Home Improvement-type guys manfully man chain saws and pass out beers and kids kick balls in the blocked -off streets? Well, AFTER scrambling for the lantern and heading for the basement and AFTER you know everything's okay if pretty dark ... you move to the pantry for Plan B. THE NASTY DRINK ... This tangerine-carrot-apple juice from Bulgaria was worse than Tang. Sickly sweet. Strident in color. Flavorless. One sip and the sink was the final stop. NEXT TIME ... I'll read the label more closely. I actually love these juices in

In recent years, my family's switched from birthday cakes to birthday pies. The contingent in Hot Houston goes for ice cream pies. My Dad lifts his fork with alacrity whatever's placed on the table but is partial to cream pies; earlier this week for his x0th, it was banana caramel cream. (No recipe! No pictures! Just pure pleasure in cooking ... and yes, eating.) For A Veggie Venture's 1st birthday -- yes, it's happening here, too! just like at one blog after another, a birthday celebration -- pie also seemed appropriate, a quiche to be precise, a quiche packed with vegetables, of course! Prepare to meet ... Caraway Cabbage Quiche! And oh man, talk about good. (And oh so different ... and yet the same ...as the inauspicious beginning on Day One .) NUTRITION NOTES ... Bon Appetit's inspiring recipe said, quite seriously, "Serves 4". A quarter of a whole pie? Who are they kidding? Whose waistlines are they deforming? At my house, pie gets cut in EIGHT pieces