Vegetable of the month ... sweetcorn

It's vegetable of the month time again! Our champion veggie for October is *drumroll* ... sweetcorn! We'll preface this by saying that of course, all anyone really needs to do with sweetcorn is slather it in butter. Boom - delicious. However, that doesn't make for a great round-up. So, if you're in the mood to branch out a little, read on ...

First of all, how pretty and lovely is Naturally Ella's sun dried tomato and sweetcorn risotto? Very, is the answer. This recipe makes sweetcorn look a whole load classier than we ever imagined it could. Rustic, hearty and perfect for a nippy October evening.

Another option for a simple sweetcorn supper is Love and Olive Oil's sweetcorn ravioli recipe. Home-made pasta is little labour intensive, but absolutely worth the effort once in a while. Show off your hard work with pared-back and delicious flavour combinations - fresh herbs, rich ricotta and a light white wine sauce.

Another fan of the sweet-corn/creamy cheese pairing is Naturally Ella. If we had an 'interesting party nibbles we'd like to try' list, her sweetcorn and cream cheese potstickers would be at the top.

For a casual lunch with friends, A Couple Cooks has come up with a recipe for sunshine yellow sweetcorn muffins that could brighten up the dullest day. Serve with fried root veggie crisps for all the colours of autumn on a plate!

Finally, we need to give an honourable mention to a recipe which sounds totally barmy, but received so many rave reviews on foodie blogs we couldn't ignore it any longer. That recipe is ... (wait for it) ... sweetcorn ice-cream. Click over to Cook Republic for a how-to, and let us know if it's as ridiculous as it sounds!

Vegetable of the month ... courgette

Champion of the veggie patch this month is the courgette. Join us as we round up our fave recipes for you to get stuck in to...

Kicking off our collection is Gourmande in the kitchen's raw courgette ribbon salad which we'll be trying out while there's still a little summer warmth in the air.

This salad was born when garden-less blogger Sylvie offered to help take some home-grown courgettes off her friends' hands - what a good Samaritan! We love that it requires barely any ingredients. A little dressing, some crunchy pine nuts and crumbled goats' cheese are all that's needed to make the courgette shine.

When the weather starts getting a little chillier, Cafe Johnsonia's spicy courgette wedges will be just the thing to warm us up. Blogger Lindsey 'made this up as she went along' and assures us that we can do just the same. We're thinking cumin, garlic and a little paprika...mmm...

Finally, we had been hunting out courgette cake recipes for this post, but when we came across this beautiful harvest cake on Roost we just had to share it with you. This recipe combines courgette with apple and carrot, and is sweetened with honey and vanilla cream. We think it'll taste as wonderful as it looks.

Do you have any favourite courgette recipes? Share 'em below!

Remember to check out the rest of our vegetable of the month series.

Vegetable of the month ... lettuce

All different types of lettuce hit their peak in the balmy summer months, ready to coincide with the days when we're craving a crunchy, crispy salad. Don't you love it when mother nature does that? We've rounded up our top lettuce recipes for you to enjoy.

Proving first off that lettuce can be the star of the dish, is this garlic scape dressing recipe from The First Mess. Blogger Laura thinks a dressing can make or break a salad, and this is her fave (psst... don't worry if you don't have any garlic scapes, regular cloves will do just as well).

Once you've mastered a top-notch dressing, you can go crazy with the extras. If you're having trouble awakening your inner Jamie Oliver, check out Emma's  five favourite summer salads on A Beautiful Mess for some inspiration.

Next we've got something a little different. Sprouted Kitchen's rustic goats' cheese pizza is scattered with a generous handful of dressed lettuce once it's out of the oven. A thin, crispy base and crunchy salad leaves make this pizza light, fresh and perfect for summer evenings.

Finally (and you'll notice we're getting gradually less and less healthy here), we couldn't have a lettuce round-up without featuring everyone's top sandwich, the BLT.

You'd be right in thinking you don't strictly need a  BLT recipe - the acronym pretty much covers everything. However, if you're interested in elevating the already-mighty sandwich to something even more special, click over to Not Without Salt. A touch of slow roasting, a spoonful of basil and ... oh, we'll let Blogger Ashley share the rest. We can't wait any longer, we're off to make one.

P.S. Click to check out the rest of our vegetable of the month posts!

Vegetable of the month ... cucumber

Maybe it's because we're so used to just bunging them in green salads. Maybe it's because they're simply not that photogenic. Whatever the reason, when we started hunting out cucumber recipes for July's vegetable of the month, we had much more trouble than usual. Thank goodness we persevered, though, because we've turned up some delicious new cucumber recipes for you to get excited about.

Kicking off our round up is this frankly beautiful cucumber salad from Epicurean Mom. Blogger Katie's recipe uses crunchy veggies and a light, zingy dressing, then makes it all a bit special with edible flowers.

Secondly we have tzatziki from Pinch My Salt. We're not sure how to pronounce it and we had to check the spelling twice, but we are very happy eating it. Tangy and creamy, it's the perfect dipping partner for toasted pita bread and mouthwatering spooned over barbecued meat in a Greek-style wrap.

To finish off, we thought we'd share some cucumber drinks with you. For health-conscious readers, check out Cafe Johnsonia's cucumber, melon and kiwi juice recipe. It's blogger Lindsey's favourite drink, and boasts an ingredient list that takes care of all of your five-a-day in one fell swoop. Impressive.

For those of you that are less well behaved, we're also intrigued by Cookie + Kate's cucumber cocktails. Choose between Cucumber Caipiranha and Cucumber Cooler with watermelon (we're aware of the excessive amount of alliteration going on in this last paragraph) for a refreshing end to a summer picnic.

Vegetable of the month ... peas

We love peas. Just as good from frozen as they are fresh, no chopping required and they cook in no time at all. What’s not to like?

Well, apparently, not everyone is such a fan of the tiniest of the vegetables. In a bid to change this, we’ve hunted around for the most exciting pea recipes (bear with us) to share with you.

First of all, peas and pasta. Everyone knows that peas go with carbonara but have you ever tried pea pesto? Nah, thought not. Recipe pro Deb from Smitten Kitchen has come up with a pea pesto recipe which looks super-simple and totally gorgeous. Pop over to her blog for a peek.

We can’t help but be intrigued by Beyond [the Plate]’s pea and ricotta spread. Blogger Danielle’s recipe combines creamy ricotta and sweet peas with roasted garlic to give an ‘earthy, aromatic kick’. We’ll be following her example and serving this on toasted bread for a light lunch with a difference.

There’s definitely something about peas that says Springtime. What do we like most about Spring food? Salads. And so, we present this lentil and shell pea salad recipe from La Buena Vida. This salad had been ramped up a notch with feta for creamyness, pistachios for crunch and mint to keep it fresh, and we cannot wait to try it out.

Have we converted you yet?

Click to see the rest of our vegetable of the month series!

Vegetable of the month... rhubarb

Vegetable of the month? Rhubarb? Yep. We haven’t cheated, rhubarb is technically a vegetable.

We were going to blog about asparagus (also in season, also fabulous), but for some reason we kept finding ourselves swayed back towards those bright pink rhubarb stems.

There are plenty of options for this lovely veggie other than rhubarb and strawberry crumble (although that is a classic for a reason – that’s our favourite recipe we’ve linked up). To prove it we’ve lined up a whole day’s worth of rhubarb recipes.

Kicking off bright and early in the morning, we want toast but oh, we’re bored of marmite or marmalade. Fear not, the aptly named Lovely Morning has come to the rescue with her rhubarb jam recipe. Munch it on toast, pop it on some natural yoghurt or wrap a jar up as a gift for a friend, its as versatile as you like.

Next we have a casual garden lunch with friends, which we’ll conclude with a cheeky rhubarb crumb bar from White on Rice Couple. Stomachs were rumbling all round when this recipe popped up on our screens, is it having the same effect on you?

Finally, to round off our tiring rhubarb-filled day, we’ll be knocking up an ice-cold fresh rhubarb cocktail courtesy of Sugarlaws. Phew, we told you we could do it. And not a crumble in sight!

Vegetable of the month...cauliflower

We admit it. We were not overly excited when we discovered the star of the veggie stall this month is the knobbly bobbly cauliflower. With a reputation for being a little pale, nondescript and perhaps even – dare we say it – bland, half the challenge is deciding how to sneak it on to the menu.

Determined not to be beaten we checked out a few of our favourite foodie haunts and were ready to eat our words. First, we found this purple variety at A Cozy Kitchen. Apparently, it’s exactly the same as white cauliflower (it’s colour is caused by anthocyanin, the same antioxidant group found in red cabbage), but so much more beautiful.

Oh, what's that sound?! Our stomachs were definitely rumbling at Sprouted Kitchen’s caramelised cauliflower soup, which combines creamy cauliflower with crunchy nuts. Tasty.

Nicky from Delicious Days has also roasted hers, but she’s added some punchy spices and a yoghurty herby dip, which looks anything but bland.

Have you got a recipe for making a special cauliflower dish? Let us know we would love to hear.