Seasonal Sundays: It's a Shrimp Fest! (Week 8)

... and I brought recipes and you're invited! This week's "Seasonal Seven" recipe collection is for shrimp lovers and busy cooks and healthy eaters and ... ... ... I so hope you'll find one or two recipes destined as "keepers" in your own recipe collections.

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

~ PIN This ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

Hey, all. Thank you for following Kitchen Parade, for checking in on these Sunday recipe collections. It means the world to be welcomed into your InBox and RSS readers and most of all, your kitchens. So thank you, thank you. And if you like this week's recipes, perhaps you'll share this newsletter with a friend or social circle? If you forward this message, others may subscribe for free right here. Thank you!

So what's fish but not fish? Shrimp! Easy to find. A touch on the pricey side but handy to put in the freezer to thaw on a whim, thereby avoiding some more-than-pricey barely warm carryout somewhere.

(I'd really have thought, given all the Covid carryout, that restaurants would have gotten better at carryout with special menu items that pack and travel especially well. But NOT. I digress but when winter weather struck on Friday, we did our usual daytime Fri-Date "in" with gourmet cheeseburgers and garlic fries from the very fun Adventure Challenge for Couples. The schtick was to replicate a drive-in movie, something you don't learn until you start cooking which would have meant packing up the hot-from-the-stove burgers and fresh-from-the-oven fries to set out in search of some spot "overlooking the city" to eat. WTF? Like, people, how good are those burgers and fries gonna be stone-cold??? BTW they were quite fabulous "in", onion jam and all. Right. I DO so seriously digress.)

Back to shrimp. They're handy, especially if you're cooking for one or two because you can dole out only what you need, put the rest back in the freezer.

Enjoy!

In Praise Of ...

• ... sleeping cool, helped by two new nightdresses made from bamboo aka viscose, a fabric that I'd always assumed would be thin and scratchy but it's not. I bought two, the fabric is so soft with a little stretch, so comfortable both sleeping and while procrastinating getting dressed in the morning. Check out this pretty blue one with short sleeves and this pretty white patterned sleeveless one (affiliate links). My only wish? Pockets!


• ... investing in a one-day women's retreat hosted by St. Louis therapist and relationship coach Mika (mike-uh) Ross. Anyone on Instagram? She's a must-follow! Her videos and reels about couples communication are not only spot-on but outright hilarious, especially when she plays both sides of a relationship. Yes, there are some times wigs and props! Do consider signing up for her email list. Even though she practices here in St. Louis, every so often she hosts free hour-long courses on a single subject, very worthwhile. (And women do come from a long ways to get facetime with Mika, one woman drove two hours to attend, another flew in from Montana!)


• ... Sitka Seafood Market (formerly Sitka Salmon Shares), the fish subscription service, all wild-caught, all by independent fishing families, all sustainable. We subscribed three years ago and love the monthly deliveries of salmon, cod, halibut, sablefish and some times other seafood. This is NOT a sponsored post, we just really love having good fish in the freezer. The fish thaws in cold water in about 30 minutes and cooks up in in half that time.

Made Me Think ...

• Weight Watchers CEO Explains Why We Got It Wrong, a podcast episode from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviewing WW CEO Sima Sistani who's quite compelling in her evangelization of weight-loss drugs that WW has whole-heartedly embraced. I know many readers have at least some experience with Weight Watchers points, I lived with them for twenty years in varying degrees. I'm unconvinced about the drugs but, still, it's worth a listen if you understand that she presents only the "pro" side from the corporate perspective and none of the "con" downside risk for individuals.


• Unlocking Your Potential: How to Make Your Habits Stick, yeah, another podcast, though I can't find a link to the podcast itself, only the Youtube version. Here Maya Shankar of the wonderful podcast A Slight Change of Plans (Apple named it Best Show in 2021) interviews psychologist and author Adam Grant about making good habits stick. Verrrrry interesting! Did you know that the term "soft skills" originated with the U.S. military? And that your income potential in your 20s is a function of the experience of your kindergarten teacher? Wow.

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THE SEASONAL SEVEN: It's a Shrimp Fest!

For this week's recipes, I aimed for recipes with season-crossing flavors and combinations that ...

• ... range across the courses, from appetizers to soups to dinners
• ... mostly lean on frozen shrimp so easily kept on hand for last-minute quick meals
• ... once the shrimp is on hand, won't bust the grocery budget
• ... won't stress the calorie budget either, in fact, some are outright calorie busters

• THE RECIPE Five-Minute Shrimp Cocktail Sauce for Roasted Shrimp, just five minutes and six ingredients. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Shrimp Bites Four pantry ingredients, a snap to assemble.

• THE RECIPE Quick 'n' Easy Shrimp Bisque Part shrimp chowder, part traditional bisque. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Summer Seafood Chowder Shrimp and scallops in a milky broth, with barely cooked tomato, corn and my favorite vegetable this summer, okra.

• THE RECIPE Warm Baked Feta & Tomatoes with Shrimp The TikTok phenomenon plus shrimp. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Lemon Basil Shrimp Finger-food delicious.

• THE RECIPE Hurricane Rice with Shrimp & Sausage A Cajun skillet, on the table in 30 minutes. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Gumbo A classic Cajun gumbo, except that the roux is cooked in the oven. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Shrimp Veracruz Another Quick Supper, straight out of Mexico. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Stir-Fried Shrimp with Asparagus or Other Summer Vegetables Shrimp and vegetables tossed in an addictive sweet 'n' sour hot sauce. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Shrimp with Tomatoes, Spinach & Feta Shrimp cooked in a nest of tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese.
• ANOTHER TAKE Lazy Man's Ciopinno A simple but celebration-worthy fish and shrimp stew in a light tomato broth.

• THE RECIPE Shrimp Salad Recipes A concept recipe, good for supper, better still the next day.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cold Shrimp in Creamy Dill Sauce with Capers Shrimp in a "creamy" dill sauce that tastes much richer than it is.

• THE COLLECTION Shrimp & Other Seafood Recipes from Kitchen Parade, super-organized, of course.
• SHRIMP IS JUST ONE INGREDIENT IN All Recipes, By Ingredient Helping home cooks save money on groceries, shop your pantry first.

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 One-Pot Chicken with Beans & Vegetables A healthy stew, packed with cooked beans and vegetables. (PIN This)

Whole Foods Test Kitchen

Who's tried the SEEDuction rolls from the bakery? So good! We slice one roll and turn it into Fried Bread (Skillet Toast). So good!

February: Reader Favorites

• THE RECIPE Finnish Fruit Tart For golden raisins, blueberries, lingonberries, sweet & sour cherries, rhubarb and more ... (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Butter Tart Bars Small bites of Canadian nostalgia.

February: Lost Recipes

• THE RECIPE Roasted Applesauce with Raspberries Glorious color and brightness! (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Naturally Sweetened Apple Butter Apple Butter as it should be, naturally sweet with just a touch of butter.

The Kitchen Parade Almanac: Looking Ahead ...

• Fridays During Lent - Friday Fish
• February 19th (Monday) - President's Day
• February 29th (Thursday) - Leap Day 2024
• March 1st - Alanna's Unofficial First Day of Spring
• March 10th (Sunday) - "spring forward" time change
• March 10th (Sunday) - Academy Awards
• March 12th - Equal Pay Day
• March 14th (Thursday) - Pi Day
• March 16th (Saturday) - St. Urho's Day
• March 17th (Sunday) - St. Patrick's Day
• March 19th (Tuesday) - First Official Day of Spring
• March 28th (Thursday) - Baseball Opening Day!
• March 31st - Easter (yikes! soooo early!)

Looking Back ...

THIS WEEK, YEARS PAST
• 2020 Mid February (Week 8)
• 2021 Mid February (Week 8)
• 2022 Mid February (Week 8)
• 2023 Breakfast Occasions (Week 8)

RECENT WEEKS
• Chocolate for ♥♥♥ (Week 7) (PIN This)
• The Best of N'awlins (Week 6) (PIN This)
• The Art of Winter Salads (Week 5) (PIN This)
• Rediscovering the Lowly Carrot (Week 4) (PIN This)
• Staying In, Staying Warm (Week 3) (PIN This)
• Juicing Up on Vitamin C (PIN This)
• January Bucket List (PIN This)
• Best of 2023 (Week 52) (PIN This)

Veggies Forever

• THE RECIPE Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup Perfectly simple = simple and perfect.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cabbage & White Bean Stew Spartan and spare, a welcome reset for our bodies and tastebuds.
• THE COLLECTION Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for February (PIN This)

Good to Know!

• THE TRADITION How to Plant Lenten Grass (Easter Grass) An old Finnish tradition, good to mark the season of Lent with children. (PIN This)

A Quick Peek Into a Real-Life Kitchen

Just so you know, everything's not all pretty pictures around here, in the background is a pile of dirty dishes. And just like many (all?) of us, come five o'clock, I too draw a blank about what to make for supper, despite so many recipes I so dearly love. Here's a quick peek from the last week.

• THIS WEEK I baked these as muffins (a dozen regular size + nine mini muffins) for a little Mardi Gras dinner we did with friends on Saturday. I do need to do the math to scale down the recipe, it won't be hard, there are five eggs. For anyone who's not into buttermilk, or is out of buttermilk but wants to make cornbread, this is your recipe. No flour, just cornmeal! So good!
• THE RECIPE Sweet Potato Cornbread Golden color + naturally gluten-free = a total winner.

• THIS WEEK See? This is why (never say never but ...) I can never write a cookbook. Even in recipes I've made a dozen times, I'm still learning, still perfecting. This is such a great salad but when I served it for our Mardi Gras party, I forgot to season the greens! And then underdressed the greens! And ... so the "recipe" is great, it was my own execution. It'll be better next time, I promise!
• THE RECIPE Big Cajun Chopped Salad Don't skip the olives! (PIN This)

• THIS WEEK I cooked carnaroli rice using this technique for the first time, it worked great. Carnaroli is a rice that's often used for risotto so it's a little starchier. I made it ahead of time, re-warmed it in the microwave in a big bowl and put it on the buffet with an ice cream scoop for our Mardi Gras guests to scoop out as much/little as they wanted. Easy-peasy. So good!
• THE RECIPE How to Cook White Rice Basics done well, for dinner, for the freezer. (PIN This)

• THIS WEEK Because our friend Charlie was bringing Bourbon Pralines to Mardi Gras, for dessert, I opted for scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with a Bananas Foster sauce, a few of these wonderful pecans plus a few blueberries and raspberries. OMG. So Good!!
• THE RECIPE Maple-Glazed Pecans Crisp and barely sweet. Pecan Pizzazz!

Just Updated!

• THE RECIPE Gumbo A classic Cajun gumbo, except that the roux is cooked in the oven. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Vegan Chickpea Gumbo A hearty low-fat plant-based gumbo, packed with vegetables and Cajun flavors.

• THE HOW-TO Charcuterie for Two Practical tips and ideas for convivial meals for special occasions. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Deep Mexico: Ingredient-Driven Mexican Meal Prep A concentrated effort to combine food shopping, meal planning and meal prep techniques into good eats and good fun. (PIN This)

• THE COLLECTION The Homemade Pantry Recipes for foods we could buy but choose to make from scratch. (PIN This)
• LATEST IN A SERIES How to Save Money on Groceries Practical, do-able tips to empower home cooks ready to save money on food costs. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce for the Slow Cooker All of the flavor, a fraction of the calories. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Winter Pesto with Spinach Familiar pesto with a spinach twist. (PIN This)

• ONE QUICK TIP My Most-Used Kitchen Tool, a Garbage Bowl or Compost Bowl (PIN This)
• TEN THINGS I Love About Our New Kitchen (PIN This)

Something to Read

Swamps. Snakes. Sisters. Secrets. And strong women.

The Waters is lovely storytelling, a wandering through the lives of a healer and her three estranged daughters and her granddaughter and the men they keep off their island. I've read it once, slowly, and intend to give it a minute to settle, then will return for another journey. I suspect this is a book that reveals much as it weaves in and out, if only you know what you can't yet see.

The Waters brought back intense memories of my favorite book as a girl, Girl of the Limberlost. Both books are set in rural Michigan, both stories are seen through eyes of a young girl without a father and an absent mother.

THE BOOKS
• The Waters (affiliate link) by Bonnie Jo Campbell
• Girl of the Limberlost (affiliate link) by Gene Stratton Porter


• 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!
• Who looks forward to local fish fries on Fridays during Lent?
• Who's thinking what fun might be had on February 29th, this Leap Year?
• Who's itching for a little beach time?
• 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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