Seasonal Sundays (Week 21) Mid May

This week's featured spring-almost-summer recipes: Rhubarb. Snacks Before Supper. Potluck Salads. Plus readers' favorite recipes for May amid the usual collection of seasonal recipe ideas.

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

Spring turning to summer means it's a week of firsts in the garden.

The first clematis. The first iris. The first roses.

But it's also a week of the lasts.

The last tulips. The last dogwood blossoms. The last of our beloved salad greens.

Is anyone else finding it hard to keep up? Not just in the garden but in general? Is everyone asking, "How is the year nearly half over?"

And how is the girl you first met when she was just eight now graduating from college?

As you read this, if life goes according to plan, we'll be just back from my husband's first and favorite granddaughter's graduation from engineering school, ready to put on her big-girl hardhat for her first job and the launch of her career.

Almost fifteen years ago, before her grandfather and I met, she was the BFF who popped over with my backdoor neighbor girl to taste that day's vegetables and called Glazed Turnips and Carrots "Wonderful". She's the bespectacled sweet girl here, "Wonderful" Glazed Turnips & Carrots.

It was something enough, when both girls graduated from high school. And now four years later, another graduation.

So Firsts and Lasts and the natural Circle of Life.

Recommended Activity: Dig out your own graduation pictures, your kids' graduation pictures. Are you? they? the same people? Dig back into your memory banks! Share them! Talk about them! Laugh about the hairdo's and the clothes.

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: The first iris of 2021, I was away and my husband shared the big news via text. Among all the enormous stuff in the world right now, it's nice to celebrate the small firsts, even the small lasts.

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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.

• THE RECIPE Rhubarb Muffins Whole grain, less sweet.
• WHY THIS, WHY NOW Such a lovely spring treat, this week I tried them with King Arthur's gluten-free flour (good! though a tad cake-ier than with regular flour) and a thin slice of rhubarb on top (very pretty, just put it on top of the cinnamon-sugar mixture).

What's New?!

Wondering about a recipe from the last while? Check Recent Recipes from Kitchen Parade and Recent Vegetable Recipes from A Veggie Venture.

• THE RECIPE Mexican Rice For tacos, fajitas, quesadillas and more.
• ANOTHER TAKE Mexican Cauliflower "Rice" Turn a head of cauliflower into a healthy, flavorful stand-in for rice.

Kitchen Parade's May Favorites

• THE RECIPE Afghan Chicken & Rice Casserole (Kabeli Palau) Unusual, amazing combination of ingredients.
• ANOTHER TAKE Black Beans & Rice Skillet Casserole with Smoked Chicken Simple comfort food with smoky flavors.

• THE RECIPE Homemade Egg McMuffin A family favorite!
• ANOTHER TAKE Gashouse Eggs The old-time comfort food, just an egg and bread fried together, with so many names.

• THE RECIPE Laura's Healthy Carrot Soup Creamy without a drop of cream.
• ANOTHER TAKE Paleo Carrot Soup Quiet-inducing, spoon-clinking good.

A Veggie Venture's May Favorites

• THE RECIPE Mixed Fruit & Vegetable Salad An unusual combo, one of Best Recipes of the Year.
• ANOTHER TAKE Babe's Naked Fruit & Veggie Salad Is a salad without dressing even a salad?!

• THE RECIPE Afghan Eggplant & Tomato Casserole (Borani Banjan)
• SERVE WITH Afghan Chicken & Rice Casserole (Kabeli Palau)

• THE RECIPE Make-Ahead Smoothies Go ahead, fill the blender.
• ANOTHER TAKE Green Smoothies 14 Tips + 5 Sample Recipes

Snacks Before Supper:
In Praise of the Gathering Hour Quarter Hour

I've been totally lax in the whole cooking thing keeping a soup and salad in the fridge, ready to go, thing life in general, thing. Time to switch things up! I'm going with a snack before supper.

Now if your mum was like my mum, she's whispering in your ear right now. "Lon. No snacks before meals. You'll ruin your appetite."

Hmmm. What if "ruining" your appetite were half the point?

Yeah. I'm going with that.

Here are some ideas!

• THE RECIPE Cucumber Dip with Feta Creamy dip for vegetables or steak.
• ANOTHER TAKE Miss Jennie's Famous Benedictine Spread Makes up in minutes, famous in Kentucky.

• THE RECIPE Easy Easy Grilled Mushroom Appetizer Two ingredients and a real crowd pleaser.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cucumber Dip with Feta Creamy dip for vegetables or steak.

• THE RECIPE Beet Pesto
• ANOTHER TAKE Raw Beet Sandwiches

Be Still My Spring Heart: Rhubarb

• THE RECIPE Perfect All-Rhubarb Pie A summer masterpiece.
• ANOTHER TAKE Custard with Rhubarb Sauce Creamy custard topped with sour rhubarb.

• THE RECIPE Rhubarb Cake Simple and rustic, less sweet to taste rhubarb's wonderful "sour".
• ANOTHER TAKE Rhubarb Muffins Whole grain, less sweet.

• THE RECIPE Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler With a buttery cornmeal crumble topping.
• ANOTHER TAKE Country Rhubarb Cobbler Layers of sweet biscuit and warm rhubarb.

• THE RECIPE COLLECTION Rhubarb Recipes
• SO USEFUL! All Kitchen Parade Recipes Organized by Ingredient

Potluck Salads

• THE RECIPE Chipotle Chickpea Salad A fresh, summer salad with a smidgin of heat, substantial enough for dinner.
• ANOTHER TAKE Celery & Chickpea Salad A captivating salad, crunchy celery, creamy chickpeas and tangy feta.

• THE RECIPE Mom's Potato Salad All the tricks for great potato salad.
• ANOTHER TAKE Simple "Sweet Potato" Potato Salad with Hardly Any Mayonnaise

• THE RECIPE Best-Ever Macaroni Salad The summer classic, just better.
• ANOTHER TAKE BLT Pasta Salad A fresh approach for a summer favorite.

Lunch at the Kitchen Table

• THE RECIPE Lemony Broccoli Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
• ANOTHER TAKE Roasted Broccoli with Lemon & Garlic

The Dinner Bell

Seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, the dinner bell rings. If we're gonna eat, somebody's gotta cook, some nights fuel, some nights a feast. Let's make it good, a welcome end to our days.

• THE RECIPE Easy Skinny Turkey Roll-ups with Fresh Veggies Just deli turkey, honey mustard and a few veggies.
• ANOTHER TAKE Ten-Minute Foolproof Enchilada Sauce Easy meal prep for Ten-Minute Enchiladas.

• THE RECIPE Roasted Salmon & Asparagus The original sheetpan supper.
• ANOTHER TAKE Maple Glazed Salmon A Quick Supper, sweet & peppery marinated salmon.

• THE RECIPE Easy Garlic-Herb Mediterranean Chicken ("Med Chicken") A real crowd pleaser!
• ANOTHER TAKE Grilled Balsamic Chicken Start in the oven, finish on the grill.

Good to Know

• THE RECIPE How to Microwave Asparagus
• ANOTHER TAKE How to Cook Artichokes in the Microwave

Put an Egg on Top aka "How About Eggs for Dinner?"

Why should breakfast get all the eggs?! If eggs for dinner were a club, I'd be president, chief marketing officer, resident evangelist, public advocate and ... hey, wanna join my club? Start here!

• THE RECIPE Never-the-Same-Twice Vegetable Frittata Protein-packed with silky texture.
• ANOTHER TAKE How to Make a Spinach Omelet

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!

• THE RECIPE Savory Cauliflower Cake A moist, sturdy savory cake, strewn with bits of soft cauliflower with a touch of parmesan.
• ANOTHER TAKE Savory Muffins with Sweet Potato & Feta Totally sugar free, studded with roasted sweet potato and creamy feta.

Savoring Sweet Potatoes: A Challenge

So usually my "challenges" are, well, a challenge, an undertaking, an endeavor, a project. But here? For a few weeks, I hope you'll throw a few sweet potatoes onto your grocery list, knowing there'll be a simple recipe to tackle. Who's game?!

• THE RECIPE Rustic Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots A happy marriage of sweet potatoes and carrots.
• ANOTHER TAKE Mashed Potatoes & Carrots Why haven't we done this forever?

Meal Prep

• THE RECIPE Savory Rhubarb Chutney A savory chutney made with rhubarb, onion and dried fruit.
• ANOTHER TAKE Roasted Rhubarb Rhubarb cooked until just soft in the oven.

Summer = Simple Smoothie Season

• THE RECIPE A Smoothie Lover's Take
• ANOTHER TAKE Rethinking Fruit for Weight Watchers

Finnish Food

• THE RECIPE Smoked Whitefish Spread on Cucumber Healthy, easy summer appetizer.
• ANOTHER TAKE Smoked Salmon Spread Healthy appetizer, tastes rich and indulgent.

Mexican Food

• THE PROJECT Deep Mexico: Ingredient-Driven Mexican Meal Prep Combine food shopping, meal planning and meal prep techniques into good eats and good fun.
• ALL THE RECIPES Mexican Recipes All the recipes for Taco Tuesday and beyond.

Most Useful Recipes, Just One Per Year

When a blogger loves every single one of her published recipes, how in the world does she pick just one favorite? It's stunning, honestly, how each year one Kitchen Parade recipe stands out from all the others that year for sheer usefulness. So that's why I created this collection of best recipes, just one per year, Best-Ever “Most Useful” Recipes 2002 – Present, just one recipe per year from Kitchen Parade. Here's a sample.

• THE RECIPE My Everyday Creamy Herb Salad Dressing Never the same twice.
• ANOTHER TAKE Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing A homemade ranch dressing.

PS Who's noticed? I'm big on highlighting "usefulness". To mark A Veggie Venture's 15th anniversary in 2020, I took a hard look at the first 365 vegetable recipes from the first year to select just 15 which, all these many years and recipes later, remain ever so useful. You'll want to dig into this collection, 15 Favorite Vegetable Recipes, Still Useful After 15 Years.

Lookin' for Love

We're all proud of our best recipes that family and friends (and the Internet!) just love. But what about the recipes we love but are, ahem, so far under-appreciated? This recipe is just that, it could use a little extra love!

• FOR BEGINNERS How to Frost a Layer Cake Step-by-Step Photos & Tips
• PRACTICE HERE Southern Belle Lemon Layer Cake Easy lemony cake with lemony cream cheese frosting. Also cherry layer cake, orange layer cake, many variations!

• THE RECIPE Celery & Chickpea Salad
• ANOTHER TAKE Carrot & Chickpea Salad with Tahini-Lemon Dressing

Soups & Salads Especially for May

The month of May be be "full spring" on the calendar but for vegetable lovers, May is a straddle between early spring (when really, only greens and asparagus are in local season) and full summer (when really, in some parts of the country, evvvvvvery vegetable imagineable is fresh and lovely). For me, that May means gearing up for summer tastes all the while going gumby for reality: there's nothing like a hot bowl of soup on a chilly May day! nor a simple salad supper on a warm May evening! That's why I spent a year gathering all of A Veggie Venture's best soup and salad recipes into easy-to-scan month-by-month collections.

Dig into Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for May, so many ideas!

Here's a sample!

• THE RECIPE Pinto Bean Salad
• ANOTHER TAKE Black Bean & Corn Salad

Feeding a Sugar-Conscious Sweet Tooth

You too? We're cutting back on sweets without demonizing dessert, usually with smaller batches, smaller servings, shareable desserts or fruit desserts in addition to limiting frequency. But some times?

• THE RECIPE Easy-Easy Jam Tart An amazing tart in just 15 minutes!
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Elegant Fruit Tart Part tart, part cheesecake, all impressive, all dramatic.

Trending

My Top 10 Recipes are predictable, hello Should Cooked Pork Be Pink? and (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes (How Long to Bake a Baked Potato). But every week, seasonal recipes catch the internet's attention and start to trend.

• STRAIGHT TALK How to Lose Weight with Weight Watchers Tips from Alanna & Kitchen Parade readers.
• ZERO POINT FOODS Weight Watchers Zero Point "Free" Food Lists
• RECIPES SORTED BY POINTS Weight Watchers Now with myWW green, blue and purple points!
• FEELING STUCK? Rethinking Fruit for Weight Watchers Should fruit be free?
• MOTHER-DAUGHTER CHALLENGE My Everyday Creamy Herb Salad Dressing Can Just One Thing help a mother and daughter get healthy?

• Vegetables 101 What Are Bitter Greens? Everything you'd like to know, including a comprehensive list and recipes.
• Vegetables 101 What Are Crudites? How to create a colorful Instagram-friendly platter of raw vegetables.

Don't Be a Stranger ...

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, tuck a question into a plastic Easter egg, 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. When you make my recipes, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below or better still, on the specific recipe's page.

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