I hate it when I lose any kind of food products, whether they are forgotten in the back of the fridge, hidden beneath a couple new rolls of parchment paper in the bread drawer or pushed to the back of the cabinet behind several boxes of cereal. In the best-case scenario, they are old and stale when I find them and, in the worst, they are truly "icky." Alanna, from A Veggie Venture experienced neither situation when she came upon a 10-month old loaf of Wonder Bread that had been long since lost in the depths of her bread drawer. It didn't have a speck of mold on it and smelled fine, with no indication that it might be past its prime. Based on this unintentional experiment, Alanna concluded that Wonder Bread "is truly-truly dead and lifeless cardboard."

I wasn't buying Wonder Bread before and I doubt I'll be changing my shopping habits any time soon. Unless, of course, I'm shopping to replenish my emergency disaster kit and want foods with a really long shelf lift.

Alanna, who writes the column (and blog) Kitchen Parade, has done it again. Even after cooking through a whole year's worth of different vegetable recipes, she still can come up with more! This Asparagus Custard Tart, for example, is a gorgeous example of what to do with fresh, spring asparagus. The tart is much lighter than a quiche and not nearly as eggy, though still very satisfying. It has a short, simple list of ingredients that blend together to produce a brilliant dish. Alanna slices it into eighths and serves it with a side salad as a main course, but with a fruit salad it could also make a lovely brunch or item. Don't be put off by the crust, either. If you're pastry-challenged, you can use Pillsbury refrigerated dough.