How do you feel about butternut squash? Personally I never liked squash as a kid, but as an adult, I can't get enough of it, and I consider butternut to be the premium type of squash for roasting, using in casseroles, or for making yummy butternut squash soup. When variations of butternut squash soup start showing up on food blogs, you know Autumn is really here.

I'm old enough to remember when spaghetti squash first made an appearance on the culinary scene, but it's now a beloved vegetable among people who are interested in keeping calories and carbs low or avoiding gluten in traditional pasta. Spaghetti squash is a type of winter squash, so called because it can be stored through the winter.

By the time you read this post, the BlogHer Food Blogging Conference will have ended after lots of sharing of blogging knowledge and rhapsodizing over interesting things people have blogged about. I'm writing this in advance so I can't discuss what the conference was like, but I have no doubt, there'll be plenty of talk about interesting things people have eaten.

Let's finish up our celebration of whole grains month with some new thoughts and recipes for brown rice. You may not realize it, but brown rice now appears on the FDA list of whole grains, after being added last year. Sometimes brown rice can get a bit of a bum rap, and there's no denying it's a little trickier to cook than white rice. No worries though because food bloggers have some great ideas for turning brown rice into a menu item that will make you pay attention!

By now surely you've heard that there's a nationwide canning revolution going on. This Canvolution (Canning Across America) is all about getting people into the kitchen preserving the bounties of the harvest.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is one of the big nutritional superstars that's become popular the last few years. Although it's considered a grain, the edible seeds are the most eaten part of the plant, and because it's high in complete protein, quinoa is more nutritious than rice and wheat, making it a popular choice for vegetarians. And just when you think it couldn't get any better, quinoa is easy to cook and adaptable to many uses.

Last week I talked about canning tomatoes and vegetables, introducing BlogHer readers to an ad hoc collective called Canning Across America. This group of cooks, gardeners, food bloggers, cookbook authors, and food writers are promoting a movement they're calling the Canvolution, designed to promote home canning of food. If you've never tried canning, check my introductory post about Canning Across America for links to some good basic information about canning. Once you know the basics, fruit is a good place to start, so here are some ideas to inspire you.

Recently I was visiting my father and happened to pick up a small local newspaper that was on his table, only to discover that September is Whole Grains Month! This was the first I'd heard about it, but I'm a whole grains woman every month of the year, so I'd never pass up a chance to encourage people to eat more whole grains. To get the celebration started, let's take a look at bulgur, a whole grain that doesn't even have to be cooked!

Even though the seasons don't actually change for several weeks, most people regard Labor Day as the unofficial end of summer. It's also one of those traditional grilling holidays when just about everyone who has a grill will be firing it up. Burgers on the grill are such a timeless summer tradition that it seems only fitting I share some new burger options you might like to include on your menu this holiday weekend.

I love this time of year when summer hasn't quite changed into fall and gardens are bursting with vegetables. No matter if you have a garden or are buying from a farmer's market, the plentiful produce combined with perfect weather for being outside makes cooking vegetables on the grill such a delight. And of course, grilled vegetables are wonderfully flavorful. If you don't have an outside grill, you can also make grilled veggies on an electric grill or stove-top grill pan. If' I've convinced you to try veggies on the grill, here are a few tips, plus some recipes to get you started.

Summer cooking is inspired by fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs, which is why I thought it would be fun to write a series of posts about the summer-time sauces that use these seasonal ingredients. So far I've discussed Chimichurri Sauce, Greek Tzatziki Sauce, and Pesto. It's time to talk about salsa, which I'm guessing is the most well-known summer sauce of all.

Usually for Weekend Menu Planning I find five interesting recipes using a seasonal ingredient and suggest you put one of them on your menu. This week however, Mata has reminded me It's Time for Those Addictive Slow Roasted Tomatoes, and since the window for roasting tomatoes is quite short I'm going to entice you to spend the weekend roasting tomatoes, including so many good recipe ideas for slow roasted tomatoes it will take you weekend after weekend of tomato roasting to try them all.