Once a week I go through my refrigerator and assess what produce is still waiting for my attention. This time of year, I usually find enough winter vegetables and greens to make a great soup, or vegetable pie.

Tastes can change. The proof of that is my sister Toni. When we were growing up she loathed mushrooms. In fact, we (her older and meaner siblings) could make her cry simply by waving one of the vile fungi in front of her sweet, cherubic, mushroom-hating face.

This recipe comes from Alton Brown of the Food Network Good Eats fame. Actually, if you call it a recipe, he will quickly correct you and let you know what you're really dealing with is an application. Recipe or application--it's all good eats.

Although we're on the far side of eggplant and tomato season, go ahead and try this recipe now. There's no shame or guilt in buying your produce out of season from the grocery store. Just know that while the finished dish will taste good, come next summer when you make the recipe again using locally grown, seasonal produce, it's going to taste much, much better.

Some recipes become favorites right from the start. That is certainly true for Vince Gill, the unofficial ambassador of country music, who, since 1984, has sold more than twenty-six million albums.

The standard American approach to cooking is to come up with dinner plans and then shop for the ingredients. Buying local takes more creativity. You need to look at what's available at the market and then plan your menu accordingly.

Crepe is the French word for pancake. Unlike the big fluffy golden brown breakfast busters Americans know and love, crepes, like the French themselves, are flat, pale and a bit rubbery.

To go with my cocktail I ordered Second Bar + Kitchen's Chicken Fried Olives. I am already a huge fan of olives--from the inexpensive cans of briny black or green--stuffed or not--fruits, to the more expensive oil cured and otherwise divine bitter bites. These olives were green and fried and delicious.

When I visited Sagra Trattoria in Austin with my friend, photographer Jeff Stockton, Chef Gabriel Pellegrini whipped up a simple, yet incredibly delicious dish he called Roasted Tomato Spaghettata.

Gnocchi are little pasta dumplings. The most common type is made with potatoes, but nearly any vegetable can be utilized to make the savory dish. Chef Jackie Letelier of The Letelier Food Company, shares a recipe for gnocchi that uses fresh beets and sweet potatoes.