About Kitchen Parade

Kitchen Parade is the food and recipe column written by Alanna Kellogg, a second-generation food writer and a home cook in a home kitchen in suburban St. Louis. It features fresh seasonal recipes for everyday healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

But of course, there's more to the story.

A Mother's Legacy

My mother started Kitchen Parade in 1959 for the weekly newspaper serving my hometown, a Minnesota-Ontario border town of just 1600 people. Mom was a young wife and new mother then, also a home economist and city girl finding her place in a small town. Week in, week out, she wrote the column for twelve years and only stopped when our family moved away. When my parents returned 20 years later, Mom was tickled when local cooks would stop on the street to welcome her home and add, “I got my favorite recipe for such-‘n’-such from your column.” When I visit my dad there now, 35 years after Mom's column ended, people still say, "I made your mother's such-n-such just last week."

My father, my sister Adanna and I remember that during the Kitchen Parade years, meals could be, errr, interesting at our house. But I believe it was the rich mosaic of Mom’s cooking that instilled my appreciation for simple food prepared well.

After my mother’s death in 2002, I read her columns for the first time and learned that Mom was a woman ahead of her time, counseling teenage nutrition and advocating fresh food years before the topics became common. Moved by both grief and admiration, I felt called to resurrect her column in my own style under the Kitchen Parade banner. And as mothers and daughters and life come full circle, today Kitchen Parade is published online and in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis -- and now people stop me on the street and in the grocery store and leave comments online to say, "I made your such-n-such this week!"

I ♥ Food Blogs

I also write A Veggie Venture, the month-long project that took on its own life. For a year, I cooked a vegetable in a new way every single day. Now A Veggie Venture is the award-winning home of 750+ free vegetable recipes, including the Alphabet of Vegetables, Weight Watchers low-point point recipes and five-minute vegetable recipes. From Asparagus to Zucchini, from simple sides to vegetable salads to soups and even desserts, A Veggie Venture is my food playground, a true 'food blog'.

Along with fellow food bloggers Elise Bauer and Kalyn Denny, I'm also a contributing editor for Food & Drink at BlogHer, which all-in-one is a website, a conference and an advertising network all focused on the success of women bloggers.

Occasionally, I do freelance writing. Two pieces for Sauce Magazine are online, one about "vegetable salads that crunch", another about St. Louis food blogs.

The Inspiration

With Kitchen Parade, my goal is to inspire both new and experienced cooks, even as I learn more about food and explore new recipes, ingredients and techniques. Here's what to expect from Kitchen Parade.

• • A familiar, over-the-kitchen-table writing style


• • Recipes made from easy-to-find and 'whole' ingredients
• • Long-time favorite recipes from family and readers
• • Tried-and-true recipes, though often with an unexpected or unusual touch!
• • Recipes tied to the seasons, holidays and family festivities


• • Kitchen tips for busy cooks, or cooks new to the kitchen
• • Nutrition information and Weight Watchers points
• • Product and cookbook recommendations only when I really love them myself

So look around the Recipe Box, see what looks good for a Quick Supper or a birthday celebration. (See a recipe you like? It's easy to print a recipe.)

If you like what you see, come back for new recipes two or three times a month. Or better yet, sign up for a free e-mail subscription so you'll never miss a single recipe. For more information, check the FAQs.

Many thanks for visiting, for reading. I hope you'll come back often. And if you have a favorite recipe Kitchen Parade's readers might like, just drop me an e-mail. I do love hearing from readers! Often, your comments and messages make my day!

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