Fresh green beans and tomatoes cooked in a slow cooker and served with rice. A great recipe for spanning the seasons, late summer through early fall. Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". So.Here's.The.Thing. Slow cookers? You drive me C.R.A.Z.Y. The inspiring recipe from a trusted recipe source, one I have great success with again and again, said to cook these beans and tomatoes for seven hours in a slow cooker. Seven hours? Lucky I checked, mine were done in one hour although I did let them cook another half hour. And then because dinner wasn't planned for another few hours, I just let the beans/tomatoes cool down and served them later at room temperature on top of rice. The result? A wonderful late-summer and season-spanning supper, easy, simple and satisfying.

OH MY. This is salad is food for kings, so much more than the sum of its parts. "All it is" is perfect summer tomatoes, sliced thin, drizzled with olive oil and vinegar, topped with ice-soaked onions and fresh mint. But somehow? So so much more. ~recipe updated 2015 for a little weeknight salad inspiration~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ WAY BACK IN 2008 Whew! For a week or more now, St. Louisans have been worrying whether the 2008 tomato crop would be worth eating. Perhaps because of a long, damp and cool spring, the early tomatoes were mealy and flavorless. The heirlooms were worse, scaly on the outside with dense pockets of inedible flesh inside. What a difference some hot summer sunshine makes! These tomatoes from my hometown farmers market were gorgeous, definitely worthy of this oh-so-simple treatment that adds up to way more than the sum of its parts. There are two tricks here. The first is the effect of soaking thin-sliced onions in ice water for a half ho

Today's easy vegetable frittata: An easy-to-make, quick-to-the-table frittata, soft and custardy and studded with bits of green bell pepper. Weight Watchers Friendly, just PointsPlus 6 for a generous, filling and satisfying serving. Low Cal. Low Carb. High Protein. Naturally Gluten Free. Hello, all! Anyone else having a relaxing long weekend? It's the unofficial end of summer for many, me too, even if it's still hot-hot-hot here in eastern Missouri, even if the cornucopia of late-summer vegetables will be with us for at least another month. You know the ones, right? Eggplant. Tomatoes. Zucchini. Tomatillos. And Bell Peppers! Barrels and baskets of rainbow-colored peppers, orange, red, yellow, purple, gold! And yes, green peppers too although too bad, the most common pepper isn't so popular right now. Me, I love the savory side of the green pepper, slightly bitter. The ones from our garden (and your farmers market) have thinner skins, a more pungent flavor than their

Prepare to swoon ... an intoxicating Tomato Cobbler, a lake of jammy tomato and tomatillo below; herby islands of cornmeal biscuits on top; small boats of goat cheese tucked between. Easy enough for a weeknight but worthy of a special occasion. A definite "must" for tomato lovers in the late waning days of summer. Add a salad for a Meatless Monday meal or steaks from the grill for a Weekend Feast. Summer Gorgeous! Season Change. By calendar, it started mid-August with the first-day walk to school with my favorite first graders, their twin-boy shoulders somehow wider and more square as if readying themselves for the Grade One of Life. By weather, St. Louis was blessed with an entire week of unseasonably lovely-cool, windows-open September-in-August days. And by behavior, the local wildlife is girding for winter, the neighborhood deer and turkeys and just today a flock of Canada geese feed in Dawson Field across the way. In the kitchen, season switch occurs more subtly, fir

Today's easy summer casserole: Just cauliflower tossed with cheese sauce and topped with caprese-style tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. Weight Watchers Friendly, just WW PointsPlus 4. Low Carb. Vegetarian. Could it be, could it? Yes, I think this easy cauliflower casserole could be a TwitteRecipe, 140 characters no more. Let's try. Okay, yeah, piece of cake, 139 characters in the first try! Cook cauliflower florets w salty h20, toss w cheese sauce, top w tomatoes, fresh mozz balls. Bake 350F til hot, broil if needed, add basil. Oh good, because you'll want to remember this recipe. So simple: just cooked cauliflower tossed in a cheesy sauce then, you know, topped with more cheese plus a few tomatoes for virtue's sake. That said? This is a healthy casserole, there's cheese, sure but it's less than you might think, more like tiny "bombs" of cheese versus a heavy coating. Totally satisfying, this! You're gonna love it – at least I hope you wi

Today's stunning eggplant: Roasted eggplant halves topped with an unexpected explosion of flavors, a garlicky yogurt sauce, sour pomegranate, spices and fresh herbs. Just gorgeous, this! Weight Watchers Friendly, WW PointsPlus 6. Low Cal. Gluten Free. Vegetarian. Okay so when was the last time anyone called the appearance of cooked eggplant "stunning"?! It's the pomegranate, of course, also the creamy sauce and thyme leaves that give this dish its "look". But it's the combination of rustic eggplant, juicy pomegranate seeds, creamy sauce, fresh herbs and the Middle Eastern spice za'atar which make this dish stunning both in appearance and an explosion of flavors in a single bite. Fans of Otam Ottolenghi will recognize this eggplant dish, it's the cover of Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi . And it's an eggplant recipe I have wanted to make f-o-r-e-v-e-r, especially after my dear friend Sharon last year or maybe

Today's totally captivating summer salad, a quick mix of ripe watermelon and, get this, celery! Weight Watchers Friendly, PointsPlus 3. Low Cal. Naturally Gluten Free. Paleo. Not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". I know, I know. Of course you're questioning this combination, watermelon and celery. Sure the colors are bright and pretty but do watermelon and celery, you know, go together ? In a word? YES. My friend Ann served this captivating salad at book club last month. She first found the recipe on the New York Times Cooking app and has made it over and over all summer, her now-strapping teenage boys "eat it up". (Side Note #1 I first wrote about her sons when they were little guys, Power Food Broccoli Salad . How the years do pass! Side Note #2 Ann and I both love the NYT app, especially how it stays in synch on the desktop, iPad and iPhone!) Back to the celery. Yes, it works with watermelon! And isn't it rare, you know, to find something that r