Seasonal Sundays: Fall Baking

Happy Fall, Y'all! On this first official day of fall, join me in making something special to mark the beginning of a new season. This week's "Seasonal Seven" recipe collection is all about treats, mostly cookies, simple cakes and quick breads but also the first yeast breads since early spring. Fingers crossed, you'll not only find inspiration but also, fingers crossed, a recipe that becomes one of your own family favorites.

~ 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!

Every so often, I update my collection of Favorite Recipes for Fall Baking, it's a great resource for September, October and November.

But for this week's recipes, I wanted to get more specific, to really hone in on this "shoulder" season, these last days of September and early October while summer wanes. As a seasonal cook, what seems "right" really does change from week to week!

Oh. And I have this strict if silly rule: no pumpkin until October 1. If only because, well, apples! This week I spied a couple of new kinds of apples, lemonade, rave and kiku, all of them working to attain the success of honeycrisp, a research product of the University of Minnesota.

So I'm off to bake. Join me?!

PS No pumpkin. Not quite yet!

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: On Friday, my husband and I braved mid-day heat to visit a really interesting (and whew, air-conditioned) exhibit about maize aka corn at the Missouri Botanical Garden. And much to my surprise, even their watered and weeded and gardenered flower beds are looking a little worn. The big showy summer blossoms are gone, leaving the leafy remains of day lilies, hostas and other leafy plants, themselves beautiful but ...

What the world-renowned research garden doesn't have, at least in the sections we passed through, is goldenrod, the tall golden stems that grace roadsides and open fields. My photo is just one blossom among thousands in a meadow at our favorite spot in the highlands of the Ozarks, just an hour south of St. Louis. But! I see a few have taken hold in a new native and sunflower garden we put in this summer, so pretty waving in the wind. PS And no, goldenrod is NOT ragweed that is allergenic for many people.

In Praise Of ...

• ... a birthday pear tree from Stark Bro's which my Texas nephew has used for years to gift fruit trees to my sister and her husband, but come to find out is a multi-generation family-owned company based in the small town of Louisiana, Missouri, an hour or so north of St. Louis! They make it easy to pick the right tree for your specific area, then ship the tree at the perfect time for planting. We just got word that our pear tree will arrive in late October-early November, we'll get more specific info as the ship date arrives.


• ... subscriptions to Canadian Living and Cook's Illustrated on Libby, the app that some/many public libraries use for cardholders to borrow e-books, audiobooks and now some magazines, too


• ... this Midwestern Cherry Bourbon BBQ Sauce, a gift we enjoyed so much, we ordered a case, let's see just how long it lasts! it's not cheap but on sale now, also available from the seller on Amazon but for way more


• PS Nothing sponsored, just stuff I appreciate and think others might too.

Democracy Matters

The country needs calm, thoughtful and assertive voices amid the chaos inflicted by a minority hellbent on taking/retaining generational power by strangling democratic principles and equal rights. None of us have to personally change the world. We just have to do our part. Pick one thing for the top of your To Do List this week.

It's an impossible task, keeping track of all the dangers to women, immigrants, journalists, seniors, climate change efforts, and so much more that a second Trump presidency represents. But this week, I spent about 30 minutes on Twitter, just trying, just for 30 minutes, to document just the few in the "news" that day.

Trump is a master of controlling the news cycle. Remember that the "Jews will be to blame" if Trump loses the election stories were to take eyes off the "Laura Loomer" stories which were designed to take eyes off the "lies about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats" stories which were designed to take eyes off the "Trump's dismal debate" stories which were designed to take eyes off the "Arlington Cemetery" stories which were designed ... it never ends. And it won't, unless we defeat him. And it never will, if we don't.

Here's that 30-minute list.

• CHARACTER Vote for Trump if you want the most powerful person in the country who demonstrates clear signs of dementia; who bullies; who lies; who cheats; who denigrates; who foments chaos.


• UNFIT FOR OFFICE Vote for Trump if you think you know better than the hundreds of Republican officials (in office and out of office, including Trump's own former cabinet members) who publicly state that the former president is unfit for office; whose own vice president will not vote for him.


• DISINFORMATION Vote for Trump whose vice presidential choice is publicly chastised by Catholic bishops from his own state for knowingly spreading false information about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. (Source: Reporter Marty Schladen on X)


• THE COMPANY HE KEEPS Vote for Trump who endorsed Mark Robinson, the GOP candidate for governor of North Carolina who calls himself a "black Nazi" (Source: Podcaster Brian Tyler Robinson on X) and whose email address appears on Ashley Madison, the website for married people seeking affairs (Source: national political reporter Natalie Allison); who wrote, "Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.” (Source: Jim Sciutto, CNN Anchor)


• THE COMPANY HE KEEPS Four white men (Elon Musk whose Twitter purchase was financed by Russian oligarchs in Putin's inner circle; Peter Thiel who bought Vance's VP candidacy, sponsored Project 2025 and says women's right to vote should be repealed; David Sacks; Paul Furber) in their 50s with enormous influence in the MAGA movement grew up in South Africa during apartheid, the white-minority authoritarian regime that subjugated Black Africans, coloureds and Indians (not my terms, the South African terms) for decades, officially ending only in 1994, just a generation ago. (Source: Financial Times, Musk, Thiel and the shadow of apartheid South Africa)

Made Me Think ...

Mornings, I drop off my almost-two year old charge with his daycare provider, then walk the perimeter of the nearby park. (Cooler temps are so motivating, yes?) It's so fascinating! What do you see, out for a walk?

• The first day, nobody but nobody I passed gave that "nod" of acknowledgement let alone said "good morning". This is St. Louis! We're supposedly Midwestern nice! The next day, an almost completely different group of fellow walkers did nod / say hello! (Huh?) Since then, it's a largely UNfriendly group, maybe one in ten makes eye contact.
• The dogs in this neighborhood are largely ... old and slow-moving.
• There are no Lululemon or Athleta fashionistas here: just shorts, t-shirts and well-worn runners.
• There's one young mom who sings to her baby facing her in the baby carriage.
• I adore babies who splay their toes into the fresh air while out on a walk!
• The number of older-than-usual women runners is so impressive! These women are killing it, it's not their first run on the first cool day.
• There are no really overweight walkers. There are few thin walkers.
• Lone walkers never "just walk": everyone has a phone to the ear or ear buds, it's multi-tasking exercise, for sure.

ISO Advice ...

This week I picked up something wayyyyyy out of character, a giant jug of grated Parmesan. No kidding, this monster's as big as a gallon of milk!

First up, I checked my own recipes that call for Parmesan cheese and cool, several ideas.

This isn't the "good" Reggiano Parmesan so for sure, I intend to re-make this Broccoli Parmesan Casserole from way back in 2006 when I accidentally bought some of the stuff from Kraft in the green container.

Help?!

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THE SEASONAL SEVEN: Fall Baking

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

• A mix of cookies, rustic cakes, quick breads, yeast breads, desserts and pies.
• Lots of apples, fall spices, oats, dried fruit.
• Pumpkin free! It's not quite time, not quite yet.

• THE RECIPE Banana Oatmeal Cookies Oatmeal cookies with a banana twist. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Oatmeal Raisin Cookies For raisin-lovers and raisin-haters.

• THE RECIPE Molasses Cookies An old-fashioned favorite. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Snickers Cookies on Sticks (or NOT) Peanut butter cookie dough wrapped around mini Snickers bars. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Swedish Rye Bread Slightly sweet, densely delicious. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Best-Ever Oatmeal Bread Hearty and substantial, slightly sweetened with molasses. A family favorite! (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Shhh Banana Bread Delicious, low-fat banana bread. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Black Walnut Bread A loaf of quick bread, bright with lemon and smoky with black walnuts.

• THE RECIPE Spiced Honey Cake Sweetened with honey, warm with fall- and cold-weather spices.
• ANOTHER CAKE Thanksgiving Cake One cake with fall's favorite flavors, apple, pumpkin, cranberries and warm fall spices. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Baked Apples Fall's best apples baked in a warm apple-flavored browns-sugar sauce. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Extra-Crispy Apple Crisp My very own "perfect" recipe, barely sweet apples firm and tart, topped with an extra-crispy topping, thanks to a secret ingredient. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE American Apple Pie Savor every single tender, flaky apple bite. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Apple Cider Indian Pudding The best dessert you've never tasted, maybe never heard of. (PIN This)

• THE COLLECTION Favorite Recipes for Fall Baking (PIN This)
• AND ANOTHER My Favorite Apple Recipes All my favorite apple recipes, savory and sweet. (PIN This)

What's Brand-Spankin' 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 Comeback Sauce The Southern staple, so good, you'll "come back" for more. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Homemade Onion Dip Retro party favorite returns with a taste revelation, caramelized onions. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Basil-Cream Cheese Spread (Boursin Substitute) A versatile creamy, garlicky and nutty spread, useful three meals a day plus snacks. (PIN This)

September: Reader Favorites

• THE RECIPE Estonian Apple (or Pear!) Cake A wordly, neighborly cake. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Apple Cake with Warm Cinnamon-Butter Sauce My sister's simple, rustic apple cake. (PIN This)

September: Trending

• THE RECIPE Homemade Chili with Dried Beans For a slow cooker or slow-cooking in the oven. No canned beans! (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Crockpot Chili with Spicy Sausage Brown the meat, dump and go. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Fresh-Tomato Chili A meaty homemade chili made with fresh tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes.
• ANOTHER TAKE Beefy Tomatillo Chili A big pot of low-carb rib-sticking chili with chunks of beef and tomatillos.

September: Lost Recipes

• THE RECIPE Cornmeal Muffins with Apple Studded, garnished with fresh apple.
• ANOTHER TAKE Savory Cornbread Muffins Cornmeal muffins spiked with chili powder, a little jalapeño and red pepper. (PIN This)

The Kitchen Parade Almanac: Looking Ahead ...

• September 22nd - First Day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere
• October 1st - Alanna's Unofficial First Day of Fall
• October 2nd - 4th - Rosh Hashanah
• October 11th - 12th - Yom Kippur
• October 14th - Canadian Thanksgiving
• October 14th - Columbus Day (also Indigenous Peoples' Day)
• October 31st - Halloween

13 Reasons for Americans to Celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving ...

• You're Canadian! or have Canadian family you miss like crazy!
• Isn't it just so civilized, an October Thanksgiving? Instead of cramming Thanksgiving and Christmas together in a few weeks, this lets both holidays really breathe.
• You like to experiment with new food traditions but your family prefers the old Thanksgiving standbys.
• You'd like to do a test run on something special, rolls or pie or maybe dry-brining a whole turkey. Or hey, how about that World's Best Green Bean Casserole some, um, blogger, is always blathering about?
• You're a planner: the best way to make sure to have enough turkey stock on hand for gravy in November is to cook a turkey (or maybe a breast in a slow cooker) in October and freeze the stock.
• Your friends are so social, they already have November Friendsgiving plans.
• A much better chance of pretty weather for an outside Thanksgiving!
• You just can't wait until November!
• You have so much gratitude, one Thanksgiving just isn't enough.
• Thanksgiving is at (your mom's, your aunt's, your cousin's, etc) and you really do like doing your own thing.
• You'll be out of town for Thanksgiving itself but still want to celebrate with local family.
• Your kids are going to their in-laws this year on Thanksgiving itself.
• You really want to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. So do! And go out on Thanksgiving itself!

• THE BIG IDEA This Year, Let's Celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving So many reasons for Americans, too, to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October. (PIN This)
• RECIPES & MORE Thanksgiving Menus, Recipes & More (PIN This)
• ESPECIALLY FOR VEGETABLE LOVERS Thanksgiving Vegetable Recipes

Looking Back ...

THIS WEEK, YEARS PAST
• 2019 Late September (Week 39)
• 2023 Savory Cooking with Apples (Week 39) (PIN This)

RECENT WEEKS
• Seasonal Sundays' Five-Year Anniversary: My Signature Recipes (Week 38) (PIN This)
• Fall Meal Prep (Week 37) (PIN This)
• Late-Summer Entertaining (Week 36) (PIN This)
• Recipes That Inspire JOY (Week 35) (PIN This)
• Summer Sandwiches (Week 34) (PIN This)
• Summer's Best Tomatoes (Week 33) (PIN This)

Soups & Salads Especially for September

• SEPTEMBER's COLLECTION Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for September It's back to school but summer's not over quite yet!


• BUT DON'T MISS Beet Salad with Sumac, Yogurt & Pita A quick beet salad turned appetizer when served with garlicky yogurt and fresh pita bread.
• AND THIS Raw Butternut Squash Salad Tender grated winter squash, plus ginger and dried fruit, a delight for the eyes and the tastebuds.
• AND THIS TOO Butternut Squash Soup with Mango & Toasted Coconut Serve chilled or warm, a great "bridge" to transition from summer to fall.

Good to Know!

• THE RECIPE Grilled Flatbread Rye flour, fresh herbs. Great flavor, great texture!
• ANOTHER TAKE Quick Crisp Flatbread Homemade crackers, easy as easy can be.

Silly (But Fun?!) Food Holidays

• September 22nd — National Ice Cream Cone Day (Rustic Fruit Ice Cream)
• September 26th — National Pancake Day (Manna Café Oatcakes (Oatmeal Pancakes))

Sam's Club Test Kitchen

In case you don't know, Sam's Club sells giant heads of fresh cauliflower for $3, a total bargain. I try to buy one every week all winter long, mostly to Roasted Cauliflower but also to make a simple Quick Cauliflower Soup (or broccoli, if you prefer) that hits the table in minutes with just a handful of ingredients.

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 this week.

• THIS WEEK Our neighbor has kept us in okra all summer long, lucky for us, he's had a banner crop but doesn't like it much. This week in three in three kinda rough and scraggly looking squash (maybe hubbards? he thinks they were volunteers), I think it's so easy to forget what "real" garden vegetables look like compared to the perfect specimens we buy at the grocery store. I didn't know what to expect, didn't want to invest too much effort. So into the oven they went for a good 90 minutes and oh! the innards tasted so good, mashed with a fork and a little butter.
• THE RECIPE How to Roast a Whole Butternut Squash No knives, perfect results. (PIN This)

Just Updated!

• THE RECIPE Steak & Tomatoes A Quick Supper, ribeyes pan-seared and finished in the oven atop a delicious bed of tomatoes, onions and late-summer vegetables. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Steak & Poblanos A Quick Supper, how to turn an inexpensive cut into a tender, tasty steak. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Perfect M&M Cookies First grabbed, first to disappear. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE No-Chill Cutout Sugar Cookies Just mix and roll, no need to wait.

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 advice for Seasonal Sundays?
• Just one thing that would make it more useful for you?
• 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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