Best Vegetable Recipes of 2012 ♥ Personal Favorites

The best vegetable recipes of 2012 from A Veggie Venture, just one per month, all in one handy spot for easy reference.

It's that time of year, the week when we food bloggers look back over a year's worth of recipes and pick our favorites! I love-love-love this process! It really helps us hone our recipe collections, highlighting the best of the already very good, especially for sites like A Veggie Venture and my food column Kitchen Parade which by design, already post only really good recipes, the ones that work, the ones that are special or especially useful. (Here's the 2012 favorite recipes from Kitchen Parade too.)

But I also love all the many sources of "best of the year" lists for movies, books, gadgets, etc. So this year, I'm collecting "best of the year" lists on Pinterest. Follow me there and you'll see all the new entries over the next couple of weeks on this board, Best of the Year Lists & Favorites.

But okay, here you go, my favorite recipes for 2012. Do we share some favorites? Have I completely missed one you loved? Let me know in the comments!
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Good Luck for 2013: New Year's Soup Recipe ♥ with Black-eyed Peas & Collard Greens

Today's soup recipe: Easy, healthy and satisfying, a good way to kick off the new year (even a few days early!) after the indulgence of the holiday. For Weight Watchers, just 2 points (PointsPlus) and 1 point (Old Points).

So how did 2012 treat you? Mine was just swell, thanks for asking. (And yours? Do tell!) Should credit be given to this lovely little soup that I cooked up for New Years a year ago? Maybe! You see, by southern tradition, black-eyed peas bring "good fortune" to the new year and greens – any green, that's collard greens, turnip greens, kale, chard, etc – bring "financial success".

And no bitter medicine, this soup. It really hits a sweet spot with just a tiny touch of underlying heat. It's a vegan soup, though no one will likely notice. On the other hand, a little ham or bacon wouldn't hurt here (Note to Vegetarians). Meat isn't needed, mind you, but it would just add a protein component and calories that might especially satisfy, say, the menfolk at the table.

DO BLACK-EYED PEAS NEED TO SOAK BEFORE GETTING COOKED? Great news, they don't! So this soup is easy to make right now, ASAP. You might even have all the ingredients on hand!
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Easy-Easy Healthy Holiday Appetizers: Party Rye with Tomato & Cucumber ♥

Today's easy appetizer recipe, red and green for the holidays but fresh and festive for summer, too. Just one Weight Watchers point!

Scramble mode, that's me just before a party's to start, that rush-rush hour or so when there will be exactly enough time to get everything done but not a minute, not a second, more. How does that happen anyway?

But here's an appetizer I used to keep in my back pocket, just in case I really ran short of time and the appetizer I'd planned, more elegant but more fussy, just wasn't going to happen. But now I just put these out on purpose, because people like them. There's nothing unfamiliar or mysterious about this, you also can tell, hey, it looks fresh and healthy. So these just go, one by one, some people back for seconds and thirds, until the platter is empty.

I hesitate to call this a recipe, really, it's more like a visual suggestion, an eyeball reminder. Buy a packet of those small party squares (I'm partial to the rye ones, more flavor), slather on a little Boursin or something similar, then add thin slices of tomato and cucumber. The real trick though? The bit of seasoning salt on top!
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Roasted Delicata Squash

This is dead easy and all you have to remember if you want crispy edges is, "the magic number is three". The Delicata squash half-moons are cooked on one side, turned to cook on the other side and then turned to cook on the original side once more for crispy edges and creamy flesh.

There may be other ways to achieve this, but this is my method learned by trial, error and, finally, success. Sometimes, as I did this time, I add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of brown sugar per squash when I'm tossing them with a very small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper but you can omit that if you wish. Occasionally I sprinkle some balsamic vinegar on the slices instead of brown sugar before they go into the oven. I liberally sprinkled the half-moons with Ras el Hanout, but mostly what I was left with was a mild aromatic flavor and some of the heat from that spice mixture. 

Delicata squash is a more-or-less dirigible-shaped white or yellow squash with green or orange-gold longitudinal striations and a pale yellow-orange flesh. It's classified as a winter squash, but is very thin-skinned. When roasted, the skin is very easy to eat. You can roast it, stuff it and bake it, saute or steam it.. It's not as packed full of beta carotene as some of the other winter squashes, but has good fiber, potassium, and vitamins C and B.

RECIPE: ROASTED DELICATA SQUASH

Serves 4 as a second side dish

Ingredients:

• 2 Delicata squash, 7-8 inches in length and 3-4 inches in diameter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil  + a little to brush on the parchment
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
• kosher salt to taste - a couple of generous two-finger pinches should do it
• 5-6 grinds of freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F, rack in the upper third of the oven.
2. Cover a large jelly roll pan with parchment, a silicone mat or foil and brush very lightly with olive oil.
3. Cut the ends off of the squash, just until the seeds show. Cut each squash in half lengthwise.
4. Scrape out the seeds and the strings. A few strings here and there don't matter.
5. Cut each squash half in 1/2 in pieces along the length and place slices into a large bowl.
6. When you've cut up both of the squashes, toss them with as little of the olive oil as it takes to coat the slices. Sprinkle half of the optional brown sugar, the pepper and the salt over the slices and toss. Repeat with the second half and toss. Lay the slices on the parchment-covered jelly roll pan leaving space between them. Drizzle the liquid from the bowl as evenly as you can, over the slices.
7. Place the jelly roll pan in the pre-heated oven. Set the timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes,  remove the pan from the oven and turn the slices. 
8. Turn the pan 180 degrees and place back in the oven and set the timer for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and turn the slices. Set the timer for 12 minutes.
9. Turn the pan 180 degrees and place back in the oven and set the timer for 12 minutes - check at about 8 minutes. Let the slices sit on the pan for a couple of minutes then serve.

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Get Yer Groats On: Make Ahead Steel Cut (Irish) Oatmeal

Irish (steel cut) oatmeal with mix-ins: chopped, toasted almonds, un-sulphered, organic dried cranberries, a dash of cinnamon and a sprinkle of granola.

Once it gets chilly, I start thinking about adding oatmeal to my breakfast rotation. A bowl of oatmeal can be delicious, warming and nutritious. If you look at the types of oats available: hulled and whole (whole groats), steel cut (Irish), stone ground (Scottish), rolled, quick-cooking or instant, they are all whole grain and bring the benefits of that with them. The downside to the more highly processed oats is that the more a grain is processed, the easier it is digested which raises its glycemic level. To counteract this, eat your oatmeal with some protein, even adding milk can help.

Steel-cut a/k/a Irish Oats Steel-cut oat can come in several sizes (grades): pinhead (the largest), coarse, medium and fine. Which grade is pictured? I have zero clue, but I suspect pinhead. 

Quick-cooking and instant oats are like rolled oats (rolled and steamed) but rolled thinner and steamed longer. Also, if you buy prepackaged and flavored instant oats, check the ingredients. They often come with a bunch of sugar, fats, preservatives and even some mighty unnatural-sounding "natural" ingredients. I like steel-cut oats for their taste, texture and nuttiness.

I toasted these almonds in the toaster oven this morning, but you can do that ahead of time, or buy pre-roasted nuts.

Even if you stick with making your steel-cut oatmeal from scratch YOUR add-ins: milk, half-and-half or cream, fruit, sugar and butter - to name a few - while delicious, might counter-balance the nutritional pay-off. 

I like the taste of steel-cut (a/k/a Irish) oats but to prepare from scratch takes 30 to 40-ish minutes, including bringing the water to a boil. Soaking steel-cut or stone ground oats the night before cuts the preparation time to 10 minutes, but if you want to cut that down to 3 minutes for one or two servings at a time, this method works well.

I bring water to a boil, add the steel-cut oats and boil - not a furious boil, but more of an "angry simmer" - for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring a couple of times. After 10 minutes, I turn off the heat, move the pan to a cool burner and put the lid on. Then I let it sit for a couple of hours without removing the lid. After that I pack the oatmeal in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator where it will easily store for 5-7 days. 

RECIPE: MAKE AHEAD STEEL-CUT (IRISH) OATMEAL

Servings: 4-6

• This method works best when you want to serve one or two people. If you're serving a group, use the link at the end of this recipe to a recipe found on Food and Wine's site ("Method: Feeding a Group: Quicker Cooking Steel Cut Oats by Soaking Overnight")
• When I am adding items to the oatmeal (fruit, nuts, granola, etc.) I serve about 2/3 - 3/4 cups oatmeal per person.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation (Make-Ahead)

1. Bring 4 cups water to a rolling boil in a 2-3 quart pan. Add the salt stir the water and then pour in the steel-cut oats. Stir for a few seconds. 
2. Adjust the heat so that the mixture is at a low boil. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring a few times.
3. After 10 minutes, stir once or twice and remove the pan from the heat and cover with a tight-fitting lid and move it to a cool burner. Let this sit for a minimum of and hour (check after one hour) until, well until it looks like oatmeal. Spoon the oatmeal into a container with a tight-fitting lid. You can store this in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 5-7 days.

To Serve:

For each serving, spoon 1/2 to 2/3 cups into a serving bowl. If the oatmeal's too stiff, add liquid by the tablespoon - water, milk (dairy or non- ) and stir until the oatmeal is as loose as you prefer.

Mix-Ins Before Reheating

Dried fruit, fresh fruit (I like grated apple or pear), spices (cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, etc, five-spice powder - go crazy!) to taste, a dash of vanilla (or other) extract. Sugar or some other sweetener as preferred. It's up to you. I don't add them, but if I did I'd use pure maple syrup, brown sugar or fruit preserves.

Cover each bowl and reheat in the microwave on full power for 1 minute. Check after one minute and stir. Return to the microwave and reheat for another minute.

Mix-Ins After Reheating - ENDLESS!

Granola, toasted nuts, toasted coconut, fresh fruit, peanut butter... I could go on.

Method: Feeding a Group: Quicker Cooking Steel Cut Oats by Soaking Overnight

• Overnight Oatmeal with Almonds and Dried Cranberries Contributed by Grace Parisi in Food and Wine, December 2008

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Silky Smooth Corn Pudding ♥ Recipe

Today's extra-easy Thanksgiving vegetable recipe: An oh-so-smooth custardy corn pudding that takes all of ten minutes to throw together. Now don't turn up your nose that it starts with a can of creamed corn. The resulting custard is slightly sweet, oh-so-smooth that I promise, no one will know. Everyone will think you are a kitchen magician!

Have you developed your own style, a personal preference for taste and timing? I sure have. When it's supper for one or two, my style is to make it fresh, eat it asap, no setting the slow cooker in the morning, no putting aside meals for the freezer.

But for parties and family gatherings? I am the make-ahead queen. That's why virtually every single Thanksgiving recipe here on A Veggie Venture includes tips for making a dish the day before. Last year's Thanksgiving, I cooked and prepped so much on the Wednesday that by Thursday morning, all that was left was to "cook" was the turkey my grandmother's butterhorns in the oven: talk about a relaxing day!

This easy corn pudding recipe strays from style but compensates by prepping – assembling, really is all – in a flat ten minutes. For such simplicity, the results are astounding, this dish looks and tastes like the cook spent time and effort coddling a custard.

T MINUS NINE DAYS Who's still looking for ideas for Thanksgiving recipes? I've got lots to share, from Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables to Vegetarian Entrées for Thanksgiving to a full Six Thanksgiving Menus.
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Simple "Sweet Potato" Potato Salad ♥ Recipe with Hardly Any Mayonnaise

Today's healthy sweet potato salad recipe, made with a bare minimum of mayonnaise, just enough to hold the salad together. Great crunch from celery, a touch of sweetness from honey and a few chopped dried cranberries. When made with vegan mayonnaise, not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Two things to know about this sweet potato salad.

It's really a classic potato salad, except that it's made with sweet potatoes instead of potatoes. Why don't we do this more often?
It's "barely dressed" with hardly any mayonnaise, just enough to hold it all together. This makes the taste and texture all about the softness of the sweet potatoes, the crunch of the celery and the "tiny bit" of sweetness from the dried cranberries. Why don't we do this more often?

But make that three.

You want to make this salad, you really do. It's so simple and somehow, it just works. Besides, you know, don't you? that the sweet potato is the favorite vegetable for Thanksgiving? It is, I tell that story here in Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables. This salad? It totally makes the list.
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Quinoa Pilaf with Kale & Corn ♥ Recipe

Today's new favorite kale recipe: Quinoa and kale cooked in one pot, then tossed with a bright lemon vinaigrette and a few kernels of corn. You might serve it on the side, you might choose it for Meatless Monday.

So. Confession time. You know that household chore you put off and put off and put off some more and then when you finally buck up and just do it, well, it takes all of ten minutes start to finish? (Except for the four months it took to get around to it in the first place.) Kale is like that for me, it's a bit of a chore, something I ought to buy/cook/eat more of but always put off. Then when I finally do, I'm half surprised to realize all over again, that "Hey! Kale is really good stuff!" And no chore at all!

Enter this quinoa, just quinoa and kale cooked at the same time in the same pot – yay, just one dish – then tossed with raw corn kernels and a lemon vinaigrette and topped with a few toasted walnuts and feta. That's it. Why did I put this off? You don't want to make the same mistake.
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Fried Zucchini Sticks vs Baked Zucchini Sticks ♥ Recipe

<< Today's vegetable recipe: My friend Helen's recipe for Fried Zucchini Sticks (what she calls just "Fried Zucchini") plus my test of the same recipe, but baked, so Baked Zucchini Sticks. It's a face-off, Fried vs Baked in taste, calories and Weight Watchers points. Which recipe wins out, the Fried Zucchini Sticks or the Baked Zucchini Sticks? You might just be surprised. >>

Are fried vegetables the "gateway" technique for vegetable haters? I admit a weakness for fried plants: fried onions, fried green beans, fried pickles, fried okra, fried eggplant. Fried eggplant? Yes, it's been known to turn self-proclaimed "we are not eggplant people" into fried-eggplant fiends.

So why no fried vegetables on A Veggie Venture? Well, it's a healthy-eating thing. Because we all know that fried food is bad, right? Right?

Well maybe it is, maybe it isn't. These Fried Zucchini Sticks were fried in a skillet that started with 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) of vegetable oil. When they were done, 5-1/3 tablespoons (1/3c) of vegetable oil was still in the pan. That means that exactly 2-2/3 tablespoons of oil were used to fry the zucchini sticks.

Now granted, 2-2/3 tablespoons of oil is considerably more than the 1 tablespoon of oil I typically allow for a pound of vegetables. But it's also considerably less than the 1/4 cup of oil I often see used in vegetable recipes in magazines and cookbooks.

That said, I really did want to see how Fried Zucchini Sticks and Baked Zucchini Sticks compared, taste-wise, goodness-wise. The verdict?
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Friday Dinner: the Amazing Macaroni and Cheese, Oven Ribs and Creamy Coleslaw

I don't make mac and cheese or any pasta at home, nor do I order it in restaurants. Why? Because the angel on my shoulder reminding me that, "It's not as much about what you eat, it's about portion size." gets smacked into oblivion by "want". However, Friday dinners cooked with my amica in cucina, Lynn are the exception and boy-oh-boy this mac and cheese was fun, easy and delicious.

We compare notes on cooking shows we've watched, or recipes found and this one (Maccheroni al Formaggio) came from Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali's cookbook, "Lidia's Italy in America". I don't post recipes if they are not original, unless we've made significant changes in ingredients, preparation or sometimes both. With the exception of the cheeses and our choice of pasta (shells over the recipe's called-for "pipette"), we made this exactly as written, cutting the amounts in half.

Generally, when we find a new recipe, we do some research but we've never been steered wrong by Lidia - "In Lidia We Trust".

Why did we get so excited about this recipe? There is no Mornay sauce (a béchamel or "white sauce" to which grated cheese is added). The sauce is cheese, milk and two sage leaves. I've seen references to this type of sauce, but hadn't seen any recipes. Another big plus is the topping. Day-old Italian (we used a baguette) bread is hand-grated using the large holes of a box grater, lightly toasted in butter, cooled completely and the crumbs are combined with Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano (we used Romano) cheese. The variation in the crumb size really contributes to the topping's crunchiness.

Oven Ribs and Creamy Coleslaw - oh yeah, we did have a couple of other dishes and they were delicious, too. Lynn made a rub with brown sugar, paprika, onion, garlic, salt and thyme, rubbed down the ribs (1 rack of pork spareribs), wrapped them and refrigerated them for 24 hours and then we cooked them, covered in foil with a little white wine in the bottom of the baking sheet for 3 hours at 250 F, then broiled them for a total of 5 minutes right before serving. We made Al Bergez' sauce to accompany the ribs.

My creamy coleslaw dressing wasn't too creamy or sweet (I never add sugar to my coleslaw dressing) and one important thing to remember - unless you like too much dressing - is to under-dress the coleslaw and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The moisture released from the coleslaw as it breaks down a little will add to the dressing and the salad remains crunchy without a soupy mess of dressing in the bottom of the bowl.

RECIPES: MACARONI and CHEESE and CREAMY COLESLAW

MACARONI and CHEESE
Maccherone al Formaggio from Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali's cookbook, Lidia's Italy in America

Notes: We made a half-recipe and this could serve 4-6 as a side or 4 as a main dish. We used shells and the three cheeses we used were American Sharp Cheddar, Consider Bardwell Farm's "Pawlet" (purchased at Cowgirl Creamery) and Romano.

COLESLAW with CREAMY DRESSING
Serves 4 as a side.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 large head green cabbage, sliced very thin (1/8" to 1/4")
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 rib celery sliced thin
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 2 tablespoons white or white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon + a couple of pinches of salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon sour cream

Preparation:

• Combine the prepared cabbage, carrot, celery and green onions in a large bowl. Season with 2 pinches of salt and toss.
• In a small bowl (1 quart) add the vinegar, Dijon mustard, celery seed, 1/2 teaspoon salt and ground pepper to taste. Whisk to dissolve the salt. Add the mayonnaise and sour cream and whisk until fully homogeneous.
• Add the dressing to the salad in the larger bowl. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for two hours before serving. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to service, taste and, if necessary, adjust the seasoning.

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Baked Oatmeal with Pumpkin & Pears ♥ Recipe

Today's healthy breakfast recipe: Oatmeal baked with pumpkin plus fall fruit, pumpkin-pie spices and nuts. There's just enough pumpkin for color and moisture without making the oatmeal dense and heavy.

Come October 1, American-based food blogs take on a fevered orange tinge – pumpkin orange, that is – as we go cra-zee for pumpkin recipes. I have my own collection, My Favorite Pumpkin Recipes but am always happy to add another! "Never look a gift pumpkin in the face," I say, especially when it's a healthy pumpkin recipe. :-)

The last few weeks, I've been made one pan of Easy Baked Oatmeal after another, twice with blueberries and bananas, twice with apples and pears (and the all-important bananas), then twice more with pumpkin and pears (and more bananas). It took some tweaking to get the right amount of pumpkin and pumpkin-pie-type spices and the baking time right, but the last batch was just excellent.
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Roasted Whole Red Onions Recipe ♥ with Sweet Potatoes & Rosemary

<< Today's colorful vegetable recipe: A double punch of vegetable color from small whole red onions and the cubes of sweet potatoes, roasted together in a sherry-sweetened broth with pungent rosemary. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real". >>

Wow. Talk about a flavor pop, both the onions and the sweet potatoes, roasted in a hot oven. Plus I love cooking two vegetables at the same time, fewer moving parts getting dinner on the table.

The trick is to find small red onions, I don't see them often, these came from the garden of our Minnesota friends the Rassmussens. But once you have small red onions, they're so pretty, it seems a shame to just cut them up. So this was a really special way to use small red onions, showing off their shape and color, really making the onions themselves stand out. If you had enough, you could do a dish with all red onions too, no sweet potatoes. Either one would add color to a buffet table, say. Plus people really like cooked onions!

FYI the photograph was taken before the dish went into the oven but the colors stayed really true out of the oven too.
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Slow Cooker Butternut Squash with Ginger & Dried Fruit Recipe ♥ Recipe

Today's Thanksgiving recipe: A plain-looking but anything-but-plain tasting butternut squash side dish, bright with ginger and slightly sweet with orange and dried fruit. It's cooked in a slow cooker, oh-so easy and oh-so good.

On Saturday, I stood in the detergent aisle at the Walmart, already confounded by too many choices only to be blasted by a perky Jingle Bell Rock from the sound system. As if the detergent decision wasn't enough, to hear, you know, Christmas music in September, I could have melted into an anything-but-red-and-green puddle right then and there.

But an early Thanksgiving? Bring it on! American Thanksgiving is early this year, which actually makes the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas almost manageable. But the Canadians are even more sensible with an October Thanksgiving, this year a week early too, on October 8. Most years, I cook a turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving, a sort of prelude to the big family gathering in November: not so this year, I fear.

But this is an easy, oh-so-tasty side dish for Thanksgiving, especially since it's cooked in a slow cooker because we all know how quickly the oven gets overloaded cooking that big meal.
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Pennsylvania Dutch Green Beans with Bacon ♥

Today's vegetable recipe: A hearty late-summer or fall side dish. (Thanksgiving? Yes that too, especially Canadian Thanksgiving which falls in mid October when it's often still quite warm.) The beans are topped with a sweet 'n' sour sauce, crispy bacon and a chopped egg.

Cookbooks are always welcome gifts but The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food by Ian Knauer was an inspired choice. For starters, these inscriptions were penned by two of my favorite cook's grandchildren. Yes, they brought tears:

Dear PopPop, I like gardening with you. Teach me how to cook from the garden. I love you, A.J.
Dear Grandpa, I like your garden! Here's a book on how to cook with it! Love, E.

Two days later, "PopPop" aka Grandpa and the kids selected recipes from the cookbook, shopped for groceries and set up to cook dinner. What a feast! A venison loin rubbed with mustard, oil and fresh herbs. Homemade biscuits, light as air! Green beans topped with a sweet-sour sauce, bacon and a chopped egg. "How are the green beans?" I asked at the table. "Fantastic!" murmured E., reaching for another bite.

Twas grand.
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Swiss Chard Skillet Supper Recipe ♥ with Tomatoes, Corn, Feta, Fresh Dill & Toasted Walnuts

<< Today's vegetarian supper recipe: A quick 'n' easy way to cook Swiss chard with other vegetables, here, tomatoes and corn. One of the best vegetarian dishes I've made all year! Low carb, low fat, and just Weight Watchers 3 points. Healthy and delicious, no beating that combination! >>

Call me late to this party, the online project that health-conscious food bloggers launched while I was off for awhile this summer. The idea is to explore a new "power food" every week following the list from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients. I'm arriving near the tail end of the vegetables, these are the ones the book identifies as "power food" vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, avocados, beets, bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, kale, mushrooms, spinach, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, tomatoes, winter squash. Of all these? The one I have the least connection with is Swiss chard so after all, the timing is excellent.
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Mighty Perfect Cabbage & Broccoli Coleslaw ♥ Recipe

Today's healthy coleslaw recipe, a mix of colorful fresh cabbage and broccoli, cooked a little - just a little - in the microwave before adding a low-calorie vinaigrette. It's a slaw recipe with ambition, eager to please. Pretty green broccoli slaw? Yep. Low carb slaw? You bet! Weight Watchers-friendly slaw? Of course! Plus not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

So let's talk straight about all the things that can go wrong with a coleslaw recipe, the things that so easily and all too often do go wrong with a coleslaw recipe, turning out cole slaw like this:

Too soggy, too watery. (How many coleslaw recipes are victims of this?)
Too raw and well, cabbage-y.
Too bland and unseasoned. (Such a waste of good cabbage, these coleslaw recipes!)
Too much dressing which translates into "too many calories". (How many coleslaw recipes turn out to be complete disasters, calorie-wise?)
Like a plain-jane slaw with not enough going on, but some times, a cole slaw that just tries too hard, with too much going on. (Poor sad things, these coleslaw recipes.)

This coleslaw recipe fixes all those cole slaw problems! (Maybe we should put the Cooks Illustrated folks onto the European debt crisis.) This recipe is all about technique. (You could even apply the steps to your own favorite recipe.) There are two extra steps:
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Buttermilk Chronicles Part 1: Buttermilk Peach Smoothie

On my way to breakfast at Lynn's house yesterday - buttermilk biscuits, eggs, sausage gravy and fruit - I bought buttermilk for the biscuits. A quart. Why doesn't buttermilk come in pints and half-pints as it did in my childhood so I don't end up with left-over buttermilk? There are a lot of uses for buttermilk, but none of them were on my menus for the upcoming week. All I remember about buttermilk from my childhood is that my dad loved drinking it straight (with a little black pepper) and, as a child, I hated the taste. I had consigned myself to using powdered buttermilk for spur-of-the-moment biscuits ("Buttermilk Biscuits") when I had neither buttermilk nor milk (to transform into a substitute with lemon juice or vinegar).

Why I continued to hold this childhood prejudice against buttermilk I don't know. I love yogurt - the tangy-er the better. I make my own yogurt on the tangy side. Lynn talked me into taking the remainder home and I vowed to use it. This morning I made a buttermilk peach smoothie and I pronounce it... DELICIOUS! Will I buy buttermilk just for smoothies? YES!

I don't use ice in my breakfast smoothies because I think it dilutes the flavors. If all of the ingredients are frosty cold right from the refrigerator, or the fruit is frozen, it's absolutely chilled enough for me.

RECIPE: PEACH BUTTERMILK SMOOTHIE WITH NUTMEG AND LIME

Serves: 1
 - The lime and nutmeg were fun but this would be delicious on its own. I'd may even skip the agave syrup the next time.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium peach (any sweet juicy fruit will do, about 3/4 to 1 cup total)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon agave syrup (optional)
• 1 squeeze lime juice (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
• 1 small pinch kosher salt

Preparation:

• Wash the peach, remove the pit and chop (with peel) into a large dice. If desired, place in a bowl and freeze for 15-30 minutes. Go ahead and stick the serving glass in there as well.
• Add the all of the ingredients to a blender and puree for 1 minute. Serve in a chilled glass.

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