Seasonal Sundays (Week 08) Mid February

A mid-winter collection of recipes and life ideas in and out of the kitchen, including for upcoming Mardi Gras gatherings. Plus, the winner of Jubilee, the new cookbook!

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays!

Happy post-Valentines! How was yours? ♥ We stayed in, happily, but did make a special night of it, cooking lobster for the first time. We kinda-sorta did a lobster boil with roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts plus a chocolate thingie for dessert. Twas quite lovely! Our kinda night, low key and occasion both at once.

But no living in the past, onward!

THANK YOU! to all who chimed in to offer up small windows into your lives.

This is such a funny job, writing for people who are largely unknown to me. It so helps to visualize some semblance of your lives.

Of course, there was an incentive involved, the chance to win a copy of Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking (affiliate link), the new cookbook. My copy arrived last Sunday and I am super impressed, it's very, very cookable. My husband is fascinated too, we pass it back and forth.

What makes Jubilee especially interesting is all the stories behind the recipes and research. "In Jubilee, Tipton-Martin brings these masters into our kitchens. Through recipes and stories, we cook along with these pioneering figures, from enslaved chefs to middle- and upper-class writers and entrepreneurs."

The winner of the Jubilee giveaway is Lindsay who lives in South Dakota and shared that she was most interested in the last week's challenge to try the vegetable kohlrabi. "I grew up eating it raw with a sprinkle of salt, straight out of the garden, picking it with my dad. Great memories there."

Just send me a quick email via recipes@kitchen-parade.com with your mailing address, Lindsay. A copy of Jubilee will soon be in your hands! I hope you love it as much as we do!

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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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.

So many times, a pot of lentils simmers away on the stove and then for the next few days, the lentils are the base for an impromptu supper salad (greens, cottage cheese, some times a leftover protein, a little fruit, a roasted vegetable ...)

• THE RECIPE Best-Ever Lentil Salad

Readers Chime In!

• "No bag needed (who knows what kind of clean that bag is?!!), just a pyrex bowl with a ceramic plate on top. I use a tsp of olive oil to 1/4 cup organic popcorn kernels. No butter needed IMO." ~ Karen in Miami, FL, about How to Cook Popcorn in a Microwave in a Paper Bag

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.

Ahhh, fresh greens. How so very lucky we are that they're so abundant year-round. This is a combination that we could eat every day.

Don't even think about skipping the pecans, they're amazing and super-super easy.

• THE RECIPES
• Spinach Salad with Fruity Vinaigrette, Fresh Fruit & Maple-Glazed Pecans A big green salad with a rainbow of fruit.
• Maple-Glazed Pecans Crisp and barely sweet. Pecan Pizzazz!

Seasonal Showcase: Mardi Gras

Tis the season!

Once upon a time, I talked my husband into a "small" Mardi Gras party, just a few people, I promised. Then, oh my, somehow I hit the wrong button and the email invite went out to a bunch or people. (I swear, it was really truly an accident.) So we ran with it and what fun we had ...

In 2020, the timing is good for Mardi Gras gatherings, no awkward melding with Valentines, etc. Are you ready?

For a few? A bunch?!

• THE RECIPES
• Gumbo A classic Cajun gumbo, except that the roux is cooked in the oven.


• Vegan Chickpea Gumbo For your plant-eating family and guests.
• Cajun Dirty Rice with Eggplant
• Slow Cooker Sweet Potato (or Pumpkin or Butternut Squash) Grits
• Summer Black-Eyed Pea Salad
• Bourbon Pralines

Something for Supper

Weeknight suppers aren't often so simple ... or so lightened up.

• THE RECIPE Hamburger Casserole

Grocery Store Trends?

Here in St. Louis, we are lucky to have not just one but three local grocery chains, one large (and likely the market leader, even with the Walmart/club store competition), one medium and one small but with a loyal customer base.

Three things I've noticed in that big chain, called Schnucks (rhymes with rooks) just this week.

Are these happening elsewhere? ♥ What are you noticing in your own groceries, as these companies compete with so much new competition?

• No more tobacco products! Hallelujah! That's huge, making tobacco more difficult to buy.
• A new category of cashier: grown men, not retired men, not students, but working-age men. It's honest work, of course, but the wage rate is only $7 - $10 an hour. Is this a sign of a great economy?
• Every aisle has at least one "Instacart" shopper, someone shopping for someone else who'll pickup their groceries later. Mostly these seem to be young moms working during school hours. Who uses Instacart? How does it go?
• Frozen mussels in the frozen dinner sections. Really?

Weight Watchers Corner

Zero-point meal prep, here we come! And that color, especially mid-winter, is glorious.

• THE RECIPE Light Red Cabbage & Carrot Salad

What's New?!

We love brown rice. But our new love? White rice, cooked well.

• THE RECIPE How to Cook White Rice

Never heard of "slump"? Don't worry, it's a silly family name for a oatmeal breakfast my nephew made over and over for us one year. It's a vegan version of the Swiss Muesli I fell in love with when hiking in Switzerland one summer.

• THE RECIPE Carrot & Fruit Oatmeal Slump

Just Updated!

• Chickpea Cakes with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce (pictured)


• Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for February
• Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for March
• Quick Pickled Asparagus
• Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup
• Pride of Erin Soup
• Roasted Asparagus with Feta
• Smitten Kitchen's Avocado-Cucumber Salad

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.

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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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