Snow Pea

Snow Pea is a little sad to see the colorful autumn leaves fade, but he's super-excited for the promise of winter fun.  Sipping hot cocoa, sledding, and building snow(pea)men are just a few of Mr. Pea's favorite cold weather activities.

For those of us who prefer to escape the cold weather and seek refuge in the kitchen, you are in good company with miso vinaigrette snow peas, snow pea salad, stir-fried snow peas, red pepper and shallots, snow peas with mustard seed paste, and snow peas, tofu & ramen stir fry.  If you're in the northern hemisphere, stay warm, and if you live anywhere, stay fed!

Black Bean

In times of gastrointestinal distress and shopping, it's good to have a constant in your life.  Black Bean Friday is a day to appreciate all of the tasty food experiences you've had this year, and then go back to your old standby, Señor Frijol Negro.

Bring on the day of beans with Caesar salad, Mexican bean & rice soup, chilli, homemade vegan refried beans, and black bean brownies!

Cranberry Bean

Happy (American) Thanksgiving Week!  It's the most wonderful time of the year: a time to give thanks for the season's bounty while being grateful for the modern and awesome food innovation of canned cranberry sauce.

It's too bad that Cranberry's not-so-blood-related-cousin, Cranberry Bean, does not take well to canning.  Luckily, Ms. Bean fits in well elsewhere, including fresh cranberry bean hummus with chervil, fresh cranberry bean pilaf, vegetable soup with cranberry beans, farro, and chard, and fresh cranberry beans and tomato stew.

P.S. We owe yet another hat tip to our friend and Kale Crusader A.J. for nominating Cranberry Bean!

Yuca

If Prune can be rebranded a Dried Plum, why can't Yuca (pronounced yuck-ah) rebrand himself as Yuma (pronounced yum-ah)?  He might look less than appealing on the outside, but at least he's trying to make a name for himself.

Whatever pet name you choose for Yuca, he's always delicious in baked yuca fries, yuca con mojo, mashed yuca with cilantro and lime, and  tapioca pudding. Yum!

Persimmon

We interrupt this blog for a Persimmon Service Announcement.  Like Simon, Persimmon says a lot of things that you should listen to, when prefaced with "Persimmon Says."

Asked for his general advice on eating, Persimmon replied, "Eat persimmons, never too much, mostly ripe."  He also wants you to eat persimmon, pear, and clementine salad, raw persimmon fruit pudding, persimmon bars, and persimmon ice cream.

Root Vegetables

Back to our regularly scheduled cartoons! There's something magical when like-minded individuals come together to create something creative, beautiful, and tasty.  Fan favorites like The Roots have been doing this for 25 years, but nothing beats the Root Vegetables, who have been doing this for, um, a much longer time.

Let the Root Vegetables perform music in your mouth with root vegetable pancakes, root vegetable and fennel casserole, root vegetable pot pie, and lil roasted root veggies.

P.S. Don't forget to vote for your favorite Halloween Costume by this Sunday at 12:00 PM EST Vote here!!!

Vote for Your Favorite Costume / T-shirt!

(click to expand image)

If you're in America today, you know that there is a very special election going on: people everywhere are voting for their favorite contestant in the Halloween Costume Parade!

Leave a comment below and/or Tweet @KaleCrusaders to vote for your favorite contestant in the parade.  Comments and Tweets will count as separate votes!

The winning entry will become our first printed T-shirt.  We'll also randomly select two voters who voted for the winner to receive a T-shirt of the winning cartoon!  Voting is open until Sunday, November 11 at 12:00 PM EST.  (Anyone can vote, but we can only ship the free T-shirts within the United States and Canada.)

For a larger view, here's a rundown of all the contestants!
Contestant #1:   Candy Corn
Contestant #2:   Butternut Squash Bar
Contestant #3:   Jelly Belly Wanna-beans
Contestant #4:   Candy Apple
Contestant #5:   Peanut Buttercup Squash
Contestant #6:   Maple Syrup
Contestant #7:   Lime Mime
Contestant #8:   Brocco-saurus
Contestant #9:   Rainbow Carrots
Contestant #10: Cauliflower Child
Contestant #11: Rambutan
Contestant #12: Dandelion Greens
Contestant #13: Elephant Garlic
Contestant #14: Lobster Mushroom
Contestant #15: Cowpea
Contestant #16: Clark Currant
Contestant #17: Monstera the Explorer
Contestant #18: Dick Van Daikon
Contestant #19: Coolio as a Cucumber
Contestant #20: Julia Chard
Contestant #21: Vam-pear
Contestant #22: Seitan Satan
Contestant #23: Ghost Pepper

Good luck!  We are excited to finally release our first T-shirt!