Seasonal Sundays (Week 39 Late September)

A quick read, this week's late-summer and early-fall collection of recipes and ideas. And a big thank you for your response to last week's inaugural edition of Seasonal Sundays!

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Thank You, Thank You!

I was thrilled at the response to last Sunday's very first edition of Seasonal Sundays. So good to hear from so many of you, truly.

But my promise is Less Is More here so before I gush on, let's get into it, shall we?

Just a reminder, I personally select everything that's mentioned here — nothing is sponsored, nothing is paid advertising. Oh and if you happen to buy something via a link to Amazon (just Amazon, no others), Kitchen Parade may earn a small commission. Zero pressure, just an FYI that's required by law and good manners. My Disclosure Promise

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Following Up: Tis a Small World!

Last week, I wrote about being moved by a 9/11 commemoration. Come to find out:

• The 21-mile walk has a name, March to the Arch.
• A good friend's best friend started the walk! Their mothers were "besties"!

Following Up: Baked Potatoes vs Baked Sweet Potatoes

Last week, readers were intrigued by one of A Veggie Venture's top recipes, (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes and then wondered, what about baking sweet potatoes?

Yes, definitely bake sweet potatoes in the oven (see Baked Sweet Potatoes) and also in the slow cooker (see How to Cook Sweet Potatoes in a Slow Cooker).

But the next obvious question is, what about Sloooow Baked Sweet Potatoes? Is there such a thing? Should there be such a thing?

So I bought a big bag of sweet potatoes and conducted a test, baking the sweet potatoes for 90 minutes, 2 hours, 2-1/2 hours and a full 3 hours.

And what happened?

• After 90 minutes: Hmmm, what smells so good?
• After 2 hours: Hmmm, is something burning?
• After 2-1/2 hours: Hmmm, this is going better than I expected!
• After 3 hours: Hmm, well that's interesting.

• THAT BURNING SMELL Each and every sweet potato oozed that gooey gunk that sometimes comes from sweet potatoes, that was the source of the burning smell. The longer the time in the oven, the more gunk but really, not much difference.
• THE SKINS The skins of the two-longest roasting sweet potatoes were inedible, the skins of the two-shortest were fine, maybe a little bit crisper but nothing special.
• THE FLESH The interiors of all four sweet potatoes were remarkably similar in both texture and taste. I'd expected a big difference, instead there was none.

But in fact, this is good news!

Time flexibility means that baked sweet potatoes are super flexible. Just have an hour? Sure, bake sweet potatoes in an hour. But if guests are running late? or the timer doesn't set? or or or? No Problem. One hour, three hours, it's all the same.

Just call me America's ALANNA's Test Kitchen.

Something For Supper

Anyone else in love with sheetpan suppers? Working on more for me, I mean, you, tee hee. If you're hanging onto summer, here's the recipe from A Veggie Venture, Roasted Salmon with Garden Hash & Creamy Avocado Sauce.

Something for Meatless Monday

This recipe was buried deep in A Veggie Venture's 1300+ recipes but I resurrected it last year. Worth the wait! For lentil lovers, this makes a great supper salad, top it with an egg if you like, or serve it as a side salad. Wonderful for fall, it's this recipe, Warm Lentil Salad with Spinach & Goat Cheese.

Something to Read

It's been a dozen years and there's still no giving up a dozen boxes of old Gourmet magazines. (Twelve boxes = Twelve months. No hyper-organization here, nope, nope.)

Save Me the Plums is the latest work from Gourmet's last editor, Ruth Reichl. Her memoir honed my appreciation for the place of reverence where Gourmet rests-in-peace in the minds and kitchens of so many of my favorite cooks.

Not so long ago, I started a winter fire-side project delving through my old Gourmets page by page, looking for culinary artifacts and, well, dinner ideas. I got as far as Maple-Glazed Chicken with Easy Skillet Creamed Carrots & Onions but, who knows, winter shall be here soon enough ...

The book is Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl.

Something Useful

Many thanks to Judy, who wrote: "Thanks so much for the tip on green onions in water. That’s logical, but I never thought of it! I do the same thing with cilantro and parsley. Perhaps you would like to mention that to your readers ... it works!!!"

Here's what's working for Judy, How To Keep Green Onions Fresh for Weeks.

PS She's right about using the same technique for cilantro and parsley!

Something Super Simple

Have you ever tossed hot green beans in a little mayo and soy sauce? Wonderful! That's all there is to know, really, but for anyone who's a stickler for detail, here you go, Green Beans with Mayo-Soy Sauce from A Veggie Venture.

Signs That Fall Is Upon Us Here in the Mississippi River Valley

• Planting the first mums, this year bright yellow and white
• Switching from lemons to apples in a basket on the counter
• The invitation to an annual fall party in the country (yay for hayrides in open meadows, no human lights in sight; once one of the twin grandsons started counting the stars but "gave up at a million")
• A flurry at the hummingbird feeders
• At dawn, the first calls of Canada geese in flight
• Already mourning fresh tomato sandwiches
• Stocking up on canned pumpkin
• Hankering for morning oatmeal again, especially Creamy Oatmeal
• Thinking about celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving the first weekend in October

What's Fall Like In Your Corner of the World?

I took the evening air deep into my lungs
and felt a lightness of spirit.
Summer, aware of autumn's eager approach,
settled peacefully within my state of mind.

Delano, CA (north of LA, west of Las Vegas)

Long-time follower Linda writes, "... Fall is, I think, much subtler here than where you live, just cooler and dustier as the grape harvest is in full swing and the almond harvest is in progress. We are surrounded by orchards that are harvested by machines shaking trees so most almonds drop to the ground. This creates an incredible amount of dust. The next step is machine raking the fallen almonds and scooping them into open topped trucks, and more dust. Eventually the dust will lessen, but it is unlikely we will get much rain to wash the air."

Something for Bird Lovers

Disbelief: This week's news that we've lost nearly a full third of the North American bird population in fifty years. There's no forgetting how quiet the neighborhood turned when West Nile Virus killed up to 90% of certain birds here in Missouri in 1999 (the decimation is accurate, the year could be wrong). My town's beloved "Kirkwood Chickens" aka crows virtually vanished. We do see "murders" of crows again now (yes, word dancers, that's what we call flocks of crows) again but not nearly as many.

Take a minute, this month-by-month bird migration map is mesmerizing ... September is gold, October is light orange. It's from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Something for the Slow Cooker

Fall pulls me into the kitchen, often to spend a few minutes on the "extras" that magically turn into meals once they're on hand. Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions are memorable ...

Something Dramatic

The cauliflower heads this week were so clean and white, it'd be a shame to cut them up. Have you roasted a whole head yet? Here's how, Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Vinaigrette from A Veggie Venture.

Something Sweet

Yearning for a simple little sweet somethin' somethin'? Banana Nut Cake with Caramel Frosting will not disappoint. It's the only cake I remember my mom making. Surely there were more?

Something New

Is it the Instagram Influence? Who else pays more attention, now, to how food looks, how it plates in restaurant parlance? But at least in my kitchen, simple is key, nothing fussy or involved. So I'm tickled with the taste and looks of these simple cornbread-ish muffins. They're studded with chopped apple inside but doesn't that tiny wedge of apple on top make a difference?!

Try the Cornmeal Muffins with Apple! New on Kitchen Parade.

Something(s) Updated

• Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple, so pretty on a buffet, a real reader favorite!
• Homemade Granola with Almonds & Apricots, less sweet, less rich than many almonds, we use it as a topping instead of for breakfast.
• Easy Baked Oatmeal with Apples & Walnuts, sweetened with maple syrup or sorghum or even sugar-free syrup, lots of seasonal variations too!
from Kitchen Parade

Text Me Back!

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com, dot-dash in Morse code, build a fire for smoke signals, whatever.

• Something you'd like to see more of in future Seasonal Sundays?
• It's late September. What foods are inspiring you right now?
• Anything else? Chime in, chat away.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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