“Life in the Seven Kingdoms is never dull . . .” –Jen McConnel, School Library Journal

Veggie of the Week Challenge: French Lentils meet Indian Spices

palm trees with a white plaster railing and the mountains and ocean of Sicily behind

The Veggie Challenge started because writing can be TOO absorbing. If the family writer is also the family cook, mutiny threatens! The goal is to keep the family healthy while I draft the second Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tale. A brief word from our sponsor: Trouble With Parsnips is part of a special Buy 3 Get […]

Veggie of the Week Challenge: 3 Ways to Fight a Dinner-Isn’t-Ready-Crisis

Homemade pumpkin pie with puffs of whipped cream

I’ve missed a few posts, so I thought I’d write about three panicky dinners and the tricks I used to get something half-way healthy with vegetables on the table in a hurry. The good news: my family has noticed that I’m remembering to cook for them every once in a while. Even though I’m working […]

Another Veggie of the Week Challenge: Romanesco to the Rescue!

After years of studying chronic disease epidemiology, I’m convinced that vegetables are hugely important (And delicious.) But. . . .when I’m writing a story, I forget how much I like healthy food. Soooooooo. . . . Each week, I’ve been celebrating a vegetable in a Half-way Healthy supper. ***************************************************** The Veggie of the Week Challenge […]

Veggie of the Week Challenge: The Colors of Italy Pizza

pizza baked on a stone with pepper and zucchini length-wise slices, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and an Italian flag toothpick in the center.

Red pepper, zucchini pizza. © Jan Decher, 2018. The summer the first Seven Kingdoms Fairy tale came out, my brand-new middle grade book, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, took up the vegetable portion of my brain (I heard that) so dinner was often shoot-your-own-sandwich. We interrupt our veggie challenge for a moment to bring you a word […]

Veggie of the Week: Tendersweet Cabbage + Sausage Stir Fry

wok with sliced cabbage, carrots and kielbasa sausage next to a pot of brown rice and a flat variety cabbage cut in half

Germany is the land of cabbage! Here’s a half-way healthy stir fry to warm up the cold, rainy evenings. © Jan Decher. The Veggie of the Week Challenge In short, cooking went on the back, back burner, while I published my first book, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, so dinner was unimaginative for a few months. By […]

The Veggie of the Week Challenge is Back: Ruby Chard

garden bed in early spring, no weeds, but red poppies blooming

***************************************************** The Veggie of the Week Challenge ***************************************************** And we’re back! In case you missed last week, this’ll catch you up: My family endured, uh,  . . . minimalist cooking during the publishing of my first book, TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS. But they need vitamins and writers can’t run on chocolate forever. Hence the Challenge: —No […]