Seasonal Sundays (Week 48) December Bucket List

Seasonal Sundays on a ... Monday? It happens, post-holiday festivities and travel. Here I look ahead for December, seven recipes on my list to "must make" in December. (No cookies! Not yet, anyway!) I hope you'll find one or two destined as "keepers" in your own favorite-recipe collections.

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

~ PIN This ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

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I swear, in this home, we do more last-minute carry-out during November and December than the entire rest of the year. Is it because there's so much attention on holiday meals? because each month's usual activities/responsibilities/chores remain but holiday busy-ness loads on top?

Sigh. I'm (still) recovering from Thanksgiving and it's still (barely) November and already, I'm looking forward to the respite that is January.

My two solutions?

• Set a daily 10am reminder to ask myself, "What's Tonight's Dinner Plan?" (As I write, I'd best get this At Last! Black Bean Soup a-cookin'.)
• Make a bucket list at the beginning of the month, recipes that just sound good. I just finished my December bucket list. What's yours?!

In Praise Of ...

• ... My family all had so much fun with Thanksgiving stickers (good for a kids activity but they're big, so everybody wanted one glued to their shirt) and Thanksgiving headbands (fun and showy and stay on!) that I've already ordered similar ones for Christmas. Here are the Christmas stickers and one of the sets of Christmas headbands I've ordered.
• ... unplugging, something I managed to do for eight straight days during our Thanksgiving travel including an overnight with dear friends (and their grown daughter! we think I last saw her when she was maybe six!) from my college days and a wonderful few days with my sister and her family in Texas, no wonder we returned home last night so road-weary but socially-energized!
• ... taking the slow(er) road, at least one direction, to drive through the world-class beauty that is northwestern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma and the Panhandle Plains of north-central Texas. Much to our surprise, there are new roads everywhere, many not on a ten-year old GPS, not all interstate but definitely four-lane
• ... an unexpectedly EXCELLENT hand-formed burger in Kiowa, Oklahoma in a divey-lookin' place with a few pickups parked outside, it definitely goes onto the "stop again next trip" list

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SEASONAL INSPIRATION: December's Bucket List

Why a bucket list? I wrote a bucket just for myself in October, listing all the recipes that appealed for the month, then publicly for November. No surprise, I didn't make even close to all of those dishes in either month but just having the lists really helped with meal planning: for the first time in forever, I bought groceries for specific meals. It fights decision fatigue, that too-many-choices inertia. I've tried similar concepts before: picking a single cookbook, picking a single cuisine (a la Deep Mexico: Ingredient-Driven Mexican Meal Prep). Helpful, maybe?

• THE RECIPE Overnight Coffeecake Mix the night before, bake in the morning to serve warm. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Gingerbread Granola Granola all dressed up for Christmas. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Cabbage & Pepper Chakchoukah aka OogaChaka Eggs A savory Tunisian stew, perfect for nesting runny eggs.
• ANOTHER TAKE Breakfast Casserole with Sausage, Apples & Caramelized Onions A make-ahead breakfast casserole, layers of sausage, apple and caramelized onion.

• THE RECIPE Spinach Pinwheels with Pears & Dried Cranberries A festive holiday appetizer.
• ANOTHER TAKE Party Rye with Tomato & Cucumber Five minutes prep, red & green for the holidays.

• THE RECIPE Apple Yogurt Salad Perfect for holiday & winter brunches. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Festive Celery, Cauliflower and Apple Salad Freshness and crunch extra appreciated during holidays laden with rich foods.

• THE RECIPE Sautéed Collard Greens with Bacon For good fortune and good health in the new year. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Red & Green Warm Spinach Salad An unexpected combination of ingredients with a Middle Eastern feel.

• THE RECIPE Christmas Chicken Salad Chicken salad all dressed up for Christmas.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cabbage & White Bean Stew Spartan and spare, a welcome reset for our bodies and tastebuds.

• THE RECIPE Elk Meatloaf Adapted from the easy Quaker Oats meatloaf with ground beef, elk, bison, venison or even turkey. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Spanish Stew with Roasted Pepper (Chilindron) With a mysterious dark-red color.

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 Savory Bread Pudding with Butternut Squash, Chard & Cheddar Very special, make in advance for a holiday brunch or buffet. (PIN This)

The Kitchen Parade Almanac: Looking Ahead ...

• December 1st - Alanna's Unofficial First Day of Winter
• December 1 - 23 - PikkuJoulu (Finnish "Little Christmas")
• December 21st (Thursday) - Winter Solstice (Official First Day of Winter)
• December 24th (Sunday) - Christmas Eve
• December 25th (Monday) - Christmas Day
• December 26th (Tuesday) - Boxing Day
• December 31st (Sunday) - New Year's Eve
• January 1st (Monday) - New Year's Day
• Jan 7th (first Sunday) - Alanna's Take Down Christmas (or Else) Day

• A COLLECTION OF MANY YEARS My Christmas Recipes
• ALL THINGS SWEET Holiday Baking

• THE COLLECTION New Year's Recipes Bringing the year to a close in style.

Looking Back ...

• Holiday Salads (Week 47) (PIN This)
• My Dream Thanksgiving (Week 46) (PIN This)
• Sweet Potato Season (Week 45) (PIN This)
• November Bucket List (Week 44) (PIN This)
• Chickpeas (Week 43) (PIN This)
• Soups to Sustain the Spirit (Week 42) (PIN This)
• Special Sweets for Fall (Week 41) (PIN This)
• Fall Sides for Everyday & Canadian Thanksgiving (Week 40) (PIN This)

A Quick Peek Into a Thanksgiving Kitchen

We did 15, I think it was, at my sister's house in Texas, including 5 Littles, complicated time constraints and me numbed by cold medicine that kept me on my feet but not especially productive. Since we were gathering at 10am and eating at 11am and focused on fun kid-friendly activities, we opted for a less-traditional menu of turkey sandwiches plus a couple of sides and (too many!) desserts.

Our 2023 Menu
"It's Tradition: Pie for Thanksgiving Breakfast"
Pumpkin & Blueberry (from Walmart, they were quite good!)

Thanksgiving Lunch
Trader Joe's HoneyCrisp Apple Cider (so good!)

Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast (chilled & sliced)
on Slider Buns with Mayo, Mustard & Tomato

Orange & Lemon Jello Squares! (totally into these)
Baked Beans (canned but doctored with homemade BBQ sauce)
Mac n Cheese
Cornbread Stuffing
Sausage Stuffing (Turkey Dressing)

Trade Joe's Pepita Salsa (spicy but good!)
Cranberry Salsa with Chips
Pilgrim Hat Cookies (made by the Littles :-) )
Mini Pecan Tarts (from Walmart, quite good!)
Key Lime Pie
Banana Pudding (with an extra cream cheese & sweetened condensed milk layer)
Apple-Cranberry Dump Cake

• THIS WEEK We cooked two turkey breasts in one slow cooker the day before, sliced them for sandwiches in the morning. This worked well in one way, but I think next time I'd actually cook a whole turkey the day before and then slice it for serving on Thanksgiving. So much of the stress (for me, anyway) about cooking a turkey is timing it right with all the sides especially with a single oven ... plus dark meat! After we'd headed back to St. Louis, my sister was happy to find a container of turkey juices in the fridge to make not Saturday Soup but Sunday Soup to use up lots of leftovers but it could've gone into the freezer, too, a la How to Freeze Stock in Canning Jars.
• THE RECIPE Slow-Cooker Turkey Breast Plus Turkey Stock and Turkey Gravy. (PIN This)

• THIS WEEK I left out the chicken and topped an oven casserole version with panko-bacon crumbs but a single batch would have been enough, especially since the kids (and maybe everybody?) wanted "more cheese". I need to take another look at this recipe, especially if it's going into the oven, that means the sauce gets sucked up by the noodles.
• THE RECIPE Mac n Chicken Just mac 'n' cheese with chicken, just mac 'n' cheese with protein.

• THIS WEEK This is one of the few recipes that I swear, my sister and I make the same. So good!!
• THE RECIPE Sausage Stuffing (Turkey Dressing) Our grandmother's recipe for sausage stuffing.

• THIS WEEK A single batch was a bit much for a smaller food processor, midway, I wished I'd done half at a time. I also used an entire bunch of fresh cilantro and it was not too much! So good!!
• THE RECIPE Cranberry Salsa An explosion of flavors with a Christmas vibe.

Just Updated!

• THE RECIPE Slice 'n' Bake Coffee Cookies with Chocolate-Covered Espresso Beans Big results, small effort. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Mini Coffee Cookies with Currants Perfect for dunking.

Something to Read

This book is for all of us who are struggling to understand the long-time conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. It's a beautiful but (likely doomed) love story, think "Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story". I say "likely doomed" because I haven't finished All the Rivers yet and can only fear the ending.

The book was published in 2017 and is set after 9/11 but is really a book for the moment. You know how easy it it to fight over the ketchup or some small household something? Imagine all those little arguments PLUS the baggage of knowing that your lover's people aim to kill your people. IMAGINE. I.Mean.This. REALLY TRY TO IMAGINE.

The language is lyrical, it flows with compelling storytelling. The open political discussions are raw and personal, mostly it's just quietly woven into everyday small interactions. Weirdly, some moments are out-loud funny: this non-joke-remembering person learned a joke I hope to remember forever!

Much Recommended. Definitely a candidate for my own Best Book of 2023.

• THE BOOK All the Rivers (affiliate link) by Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan


• NO TIME TO READ? How I Read 4X More This Year Than Last What I gave up, how I read so much, what I read.

Don't Be a Stranger ...

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail (my current address is in the FAQs), 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.

• Any ideas for Seasonal Sundays? Share away!
• It's almost December. What foods are on your bucket list?
• Did you make something extra-good this week?
• Who's stocked up on butter?! Who's baking cookies?!
• For those who celebrate, is there a certain moment when Christmas somehow just begins?
• 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, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. 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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