Seasonal Sundays (Week 07) Happy Valentine's Day!

A quick read, a mid-winter collection of recipe and life ideas in and out of the kitchen. And ... Jubilee!

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays & Its First-Ever Giveaway

Who's heard of the new cookbook Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking (affiliate link)?

My own copy won't arrive until later today but its recipes are getting rave reviews from cooks who belong to The Kitchn's cookbook club on Facebook, where every month, the group cooks from the same cookbook. It's free to join, fun to participate in, worth watching the recipe reviews come through!

And .... are you feelin' lucky? Because one lucky someone will soon be paging through her/his very own Jubilee.

Here's the deal. I'd love to know more about you. So to enter the giveaway, fill in your own details for these questions, use your own words, no need to follow my lead. Feel free to elaborate if you think it might be interesting or useful.

• #1 I live in ... [small town? city? in state/province? country?]
• #2 I cook for .... [myself? two? a family of 7?]
• #3 I shop for groceries at ... [local chain? Walmart? Costco? Trader Joe's?]
• #4 I'm always on the lookout for recipes .... [for the slow cooker? without meat? for quick dinners? to inspire last-minute baking? easy breakfasts? can be made ahead of time?]
• #5 I consider myself ... [a great cook? a so-so cook? uninspired to cook right now?]
• #6 Today, I am most interested in ... [pick one/more of the recipes from today's Seasonal Sundays]

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVE-AWAY
• Answer the above questions, either in a comment on the post or by e-mail. If you like, copy/paste and then fill in your own answers.
• To answer by comment, please also leave your email address so I can contact you if you're the winner of Jubilee. You're welcome to disguise your address from the spambots, just do something like amanda AT g***mailDOTcom or similar, something I can suss out but the spam bots cannot.
• To answer by email, just hit "reply" if you're an email subscriber otherwise use recipes@kitchen-parade.com.
• Your answers are ever welcome but the contest will close on Saturday, February 15, 2020 at noon CST in the US when I'll randomly select one winner. The winner must be from the US or Canada. I'll announce the winner the next day in Seasonal Sundays (Week 08) but if I can't connect with the winner by Saturday, February 22, I'll select another and try again in Seasonal Sundays (Week 09).

Okay, got that? Thanks for playing along, I'm looking to put faces/real people to Kitchen Parade readers.

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

---

---

PICK ONE

Pick One is for those of us overwhelmed by life's unending choices. If that resonates, then check out this one recipe and then call it a day. It's one that I think could make the most difference, the one I hope will become a regular in your kitchen, as it is in mine.

I swear, this is an unexpectedly magical marriage between two everyday vegetables, a real love story. So good!

• THE RECIPE Rustic Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots Romance and seduction on a plate.

Three Little Words. I.Love.You.

Preparing for a Galentines Feast? Ready to cuddle with your sweetie at home for Valentines Day on Friday?

This salad is elegant and worthy of a special occasion. Yeah, it takes more effort than tossing some greens with oil and vinegar (nothin' but nothin' wrong with that) but a salad like this makes a statement, you get to pick the words.

But maybe I Love You is the place to start? and end?

• THE RECIPE Roasted Pear Salad

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Here's my appeal for mealtime minimalism, the idea that you don't have to think up a new breakfast or a new lunch every day. It's a way to think less about food rather than more. It's maintains that the ritual of healthy satisfying staples can fill you up in a way that the new and the novel cannot.

Olive lovers! Have you made tuna salad with olives? Swooon. A sandwich works, a salad works but so do simple wraps of slightly peppery bok choy (or romaine or a soft lettuce, you get the picture).

• THE RECIPE Kalamata Tuna Salad Bok Choy Wraps

Seasonal Showcase: Chocolate

Close your eyes and think about the best dessert you've had in the last while. Was it creamy? Lemony? Fruity? Or .... chocolatey? I wonder how many of us choose chocolate first?!

What's the flavor profile of your favorite sweets? ♥ Me? Definitely fruit! But this list if for all you chocolate lovers!

• Homemade Chocolate Sauce In-a-Flash, just ten minutes and a few pantry ingredients.


• Easy-Easy Chocolate Sheet Cake, best made a day ahead, feeds a small crowd.
• Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies, my husband says these taste "exactly" like his mother's chocolate chip cookies.
• Easy-Easy Chocolate Coconut Pudding, just five ingredients and ten minutes to pudding.

Food Reveries ...

Does a recipe ever flood your mind with memories?

A long-time reader (hey, Linda!) wrote this week to say that my review of Trader Joe's frozen gnocchi pinged something in her brain. She says, "I haven't thought about this story in years but your talking about gnocchi brought back a lot of happy memories." Cool, eh?!

Here's a fascinating insight into real gnocchi in Linda's words.

" ... gnocchi was a special meal when I was growing up. My grandmother was Swiss Italian and my grandfather, Italian. I don’t think I ever asked her if they made gnocchi (which they called gnocc, don’t know how to spell it as I never saw the word written), but had assumed it was from Switzerland as she never met her Italian in laws.

"Long after my grandparents died my dad visited their home towns and when he was in Italy met a large family of cousins who invited him to spend time with them.

"He was surprised to see that after getting home from work the women got out the ingredients and a big board and made gnocchi for dinner, as my family considered making gnocchi a leisurely day project (of course my grandmother was in her 70s when I remember and may have slowed down some).

"My dad also described his relatives cooking huge pots of tomato sauce outside and then syphoning the sauce in bottles that were most similar to old glass catsup bottles. I was also fascinated to hear that they attached wine bottles over small fruit growing on pear trees so that when the fruit was ripe they could fill the bottles with alcohol, likely grappa. I tried a time or two, but was never successful in keeping the bottle on the tree long enough for the fruit to mature."

Thank you, Linda, for sharing not just your memories but your father's! Food binds us, doesn't it, across generations and cultures.

Something for the Slow Cooker

Even meat eaters approve of this lentil dish, just love the spices!

• THE RECIPE Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes

Something for Supper

A slow cooker is one thing.

But what about slow cooking in the oven? Yep, the oven is my favorite "slow cooker".

There's so much upside. Temperature consistency. Set it and go convenience. Moreover, the flavors and textures don't get all mushed together as too happens in a regular slow cooker appliance.

Have you tried it? A pot roast is definitely a good place to start! I worked for so long on this recipe, because a good pot roast is ethereal ...

• THE RECIPE Slow-Cooked or Slow Cooker Pot Roast Three easy tricks for tender, moist and flavorful pot roast.

Something New to You? A Challenge!

It's one thing to know what we like. It's another to get caught in a rut of repetition. Every so often, I may offer a challenge to try something that just might be new. The challenge is yours to accept – or y'know, not – but I hope to pique your palate!

To try a new vegetable, it helps to keep something familiar. So here, the new vegetable might be kohlrabi but what's familiar is apple and coleslaw. It's a great combo! It's especially good with a little fresh mint ...

Is kohlrabi new to you? Look for them in well-stocked vegetable departments, look for something the size of a turnip with pale green skin. The texture is a little bit like the core of a cabbage, pleasingly dense and moist. Lovely stuff!

PS Feel free to challenge me to a photo update, for sure!

• THE RECIPE Kohlrabi & Apple Slaw with Creamy Coleslaw Dressing

New This Week!

A couple of weeks back, my husband and I tried all three versions of Trader Joe's frozen gnocchi. They're getting lots of attention but should you stock up? Methinks, no way.

• THE REVIEW Trader Joe's Cauliflower, Kale and Sweet Potato Gnocchi Product Review

In my family, we call eggs fried in a hole in the center of a slice of bread "gashouse eggs" and even "Kellogg eggs". But there are dozens of other names, all listed here.

And let's add a new name! This week, fellow St. Louisan Carole says her family calls these eggs "Eggs in a Frame"! What do you call these guys? And doesn't your breakfast need one?!

• THE RECIPE Gashouse Eggs The old-time comfort food, just an egg and bread fried together, with so many names

Just Updated!

• Mexican Gas House Eggs Pictured, the new game in town, an egg fried in a tortilla.


• Green Chile Scrambled Eggs An easy, healthy breakfast.
• Gumbo A classic Cajun gumbo, except that the roux is cooked in the oven.
• Homemade Lentil Soup
• Make Tonight a Pancake Night Move over Taco Tuesday and Pizza Friday.
• Melon Ball & Blueberry Salad Pure summer in a bowl!
• Oil Tanker Burgers Stacked so high, you might call 'em Super Tankers.
• Raspberry-Red Wine Coulis (Reduction Sauce) Sweet-but-tart raspberry sauce, a perfect added-touch for desserts.
• Ratatouille Omelettes A food hit worthy of a hit movie!
• Shhh Banana Bread Delicious, low-fat banana bread
• Shrimp with Tomatoes, Spinach & Feta Shrimp cooked in a nest of tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese.
• Warm Goat Cheese Appetizer with Mini Tomatoes & Capers Weeknight easy, worthy of an occasion.


• Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for January Especially for January.

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, launch a message in a bottle, send a Christmas letter, get the dog to yip, toss me a note wrapped in a rubberband, write a message in the sky, scratch a note in the sand, listen to a seashell, whatever.

---

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.

---

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2020