Jean Ann Van Krevelen is continuing the long tradition of sharing gardening tips and home-grown recipes with her new book called “Grocery Gardening.”

It may be difficult to decide where to keep your copy of the new “Grocery Gardening” book. Some of you will certainly want to keep it with your other gardening resources, but others will want to keep it handy in the kitchen.

Maybe you need to buy two copies.

Edible gardening is in fashion again and there are more new gardeners planting seeds and growing gardens than ever before.

“We’ve seen a resurgence of interest in edible gardening, but many new gardeners aren’t sure what to do with their bounty,” says author Jean Ann Van Krevelen.

“It’s very different to grow a couple of zucchini vines and harvest the squash than it is to pick up two at the store.”

The 2010 gardening book season is in full swing and these three new titles will help gardeners of every level grow great gardens.

The first crop of gardening books to review arrived in my office this week and now I can’t wait for the growing season to begin.

I’m sure every gardener will find something they can put to use in each of the three new titles from Cool Springs Press, whether it’s a fabulous new recipe, a way to avoid plant problems or how to pinch a few more pennies.

I plan on writing complete reviews of each book over the next several weeks, but thought you might like an overview, just to whet your appetite.

Each attractive cover has an intriguing title, is aimed to a specific audience, and loaded with full-color photos, illustrations and all kinds of interesting tips, tricks and ideas. These are guaranteed to make gardeners want to get growing immediately.

Parsnips are now in season and every kitchen can find a use for this very versatile vegetable.

If you planted a fall garden with vegetables grown for their roots and shoots, you’re probably now harvesting the fruits of your labor.

As for the rest of us (who dragged our feet on planting until it was too late) we’ll have to satisfy our need for winter veggies by stopping by the produce department at our local grocery store.

But after paying nearly $2 a pound for organic parsnips this week, you can bet I’ll be making room in my garden–and time in my schedule–for some fall planting this season.

Actually, it’s worth it. Cold-weather vegetables are high in fiber, low in calories and loaded with vitamins and minerals. Some favorites, like broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, feature cancer-fighting phytonutrients, too.

Molasses sugar cookies are an old-fashioned favorite.

In December I just can’t stay out of the kitchen. For one thing, it’s warm in there so it makes a perfect refuge for days when the thermometer won’t budge much above zero.

The kitchen is also where I love to pull out old recipes and greet them like long-lost friends.

Molasses Sugar Cookies are John’s favorite cookies and I try to bake at least one batch every holiday season. Ingredients like cloves, ginger and cinnamon combine for a wonderful fragrance that reminds me of an old-fashioned Christmas.

These cookies are easy to make and they bake up crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Because molasses is the key ingredient, these cookies are almost good for you.

Molasses, a sugar derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, gives these cookies their delicious dark brown color and adds a deeper kind of sweetness. The thick brown liquid also contains vitamins and minerals, like iron, calcium and potassium.

The day before Thanksgiving is the day to tie on an apron and deliver a loaf of bread or other baked goodie to someone in need.

National Tie One On Day was started by “apron lady” EllynAnne Geisel to help us put the giving back in Thanksgiving.

Her idea is that each of us should use the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a time of sharing instead of stressing. It’s time to temporarily stop fretting over preparing the large holiday meal and focus on others.

It’s easy to get started. Just take a moment out of your day, wrap a loaf of bread or other baked good in an apron or a towel and deliver it to someone who could use a kind gesture.

This year has been a particularly difficult one for so many of our neighbors, family members and friends, I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t appreciate a home-spun surprise like this.

Homegrown jalapeño chile peppers and coriander mix with vinegar, ginger, sugars and spices to make a festive gift for the holidays.

The magazines that clutter my desk from October through December are loaded with recipes for cookies, candy and sweet holiday treats that look irresistibly delicious. But I’m always on the lookout for ways I can use goodies from my garden to create savory treats, too.

One of my favorite gifts to grow, make and give is a jar of spicy pickled grapes. The red and green grapes fit the colors of the season and the recipe lets me use some of my garden-grown jalapeño peppers and coriander seeds. It’s an added bonus if you grow your own grapes, too.

Jalapeño chile peppers are easy to grow and are an essential ingredient for flavoring Mexican food dishes and are used to add some heat to Thai and Chinese recipes, too.

Bitters is a combination of fruits, herbs and spices steeped in alcohol and used to add a finishing touch to cocktails and aperitifs. If you start with a few simple ingredients now, your homemade bitters will be ready to bottle and give as delicious gifts for the holidays.

In the November issue of 5280 Magazine, there’s a Behind the Bar article  about some fine dining establishments in the Denver area that are mixing up their own house-made bitters.

At Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder, the bar manager adds cardamon, orange peel, star anise and cloves to 90-proof whiskey for his take on a bitters concotion popular in the 19th Century.

You don’t have to be an expert mixologist to whip up your own creation. Homemade bitters are easy to make from common ingredients you might already have in the kitchen pantry.

The recipe for Stuffed Pumpkin appears in The Vegetarian Epicure cookbook, but my adapted version requires fewer ingredients and skips several steps.

There’s a lot to like about serving a stuffed pumpkin for dinner. Not only is it a simple vegetarian entree, but it’s fun to prepare and there’s no messy casserole dish to wash at the end of the meal.

It also smells heavenly while baking up into something beautifully delicious.

I discovered this recipe in an ancient copy of The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas and prepared it for a Halloween open house several years ago.

The pumpkin came out of the oven piping hot and I used it as an edible centerpiece for the buffet table.

Not exactly a Martha Stewart moment, but pretty darn close for me.

When I prepared the recipe for the party, I used all of the right ingredients in their precise amounts and followed all of the steps–and there were plenty of them.

Research shows that cruciferous vegetables, like Brussels sprouts, contain certain chemicals which are thought to prevent estrogen-related cancers.

Seeing the tall stalks of Brussels sprouts at the farmers’ market last weekend, reminded me this veggie was once considered a banned substance at our dinner table.

I’d given up serving them until I started roasting the sprouts in a hot oven with a little olive oil, fresh garlic and oregano. Roasting brings out a nutty flavor that is a perfect complement to other fall foods and their crisp texture is a pleasant surprise.

Cruciferous vegetables–like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage–are members of the mustard family (Cruciferae or Brassicaceae) and they get their name from their cross-shaped flower petals.

Your mom was right when she told you to eat your Brussels sprouts. These cool-season vegetables are garden-variety superheroes when it comes to fiber and vitamin C.

Brussels sprouts grow on tall, thick stalks and when they’re ready to harvest they resemble small trees loaded with miniature cabbages.

Clearing out all vegetable garden debris is the first step toward next summer’s healthy plants.

You think I’d be glad to pull up the dead summer squash foliage after the ups and downs of growing it this year.

Early on I complained about the fruit not setting and having to pollinate the squash by hand.

Then I complained because I had so much yellow squash I had to find new ways to use it in the kitchen.

Now that it’s all gone, I’m a little wistful.

I loved looking out my office window and seeing a green and growing garden, that was alive with butterflies, bees and birds. Around here the time to enjoy it is so short compared to the amount of time the garden is empty of plants and pollinators.

But there’s still plenty to do in the garden now and it starts with raking up every bit of garden debris to put the vegetable garden to bed.