Seasonal Sundays: Fall Recipe Ideas for Cauliflower

This week's "Seasonal Seven" recipe collection is a celebration of the cruciferous vegetable called cauliflower, those gleaming white heads of architectural edibility. I hope you'll find one or two or even three recipes that belong on the week's dinner plan. It may be fall but it's still a little warm to switch to squash, cauliflower is the perfect bridge for seasonal cooks.

~ 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!

Is Your Mammogram Up to Date? Mine Wasn't.

Back in 2019, the words came hard and not without tears and a catch in my voice. But I said them "out loud" here in writing.

"I have breast cancer."

But here it is, 2024, and this week I crossed that five-year milestone where the surgeon did her last exam, I expressed deep, deep gratitude, we hugged and she sent me on my way.

Officially, after 2019's long summer of surgery and radiation treatments plus five years of a daily chemo pill, well, it's over.

"I am a survivor."

The moment was surprisingly teary: the outcome was not unexpected, it has made no real difference in my day-to-day life for a long while.

But I couldn't help think of my mother, Stage IV at age 35 with two little girls (and just this week, a niece's cousin with twin circumstances, Stage IV, age 35, two small daughters). And my grandmother, one of a dozen sisters who had breast cancer long before early detection and treatment advances. And my sister, who's been through a real ringer the last two years.

It used to be that one of nine women would be diagnosed with breast cancer, I remember this number so well, it became embedded in my brain after attending a breast cancer fundraiser where the tables were set for nine. Now? Those tables are set for eight.

And that means that among Kitchen Parade's followers, how many also belong to this same unwelcome club? So so many.

So please take care of your mammogram. And if yours is up to date, then check with your mom, is hers? or your sister's? or your daughter's? or your neighbor's? Ask. And if the answer is no, then ask again. It's so easy to put it off, so easy to procrastinate, believe me, I know.

And then perhaps, for a little good luck, make Survivor Soup (Beet, Potato & Cauliflower Soup). The recipe goes way back to 2005 but it too is a survivor ...

In Praise Of ...

• ... Dark-Early and Moon-Lit trips to the back yard with the dog, 2+ weeks post surgery, 6 more weeks to go on a leash inside and out. He's doing g-r-e-a-t but since until now, he's on his own outside to do his business, it's been a real treat to stand with him, an owl hooting nearby, peering up into a skyful of stars, feeling the dew on the morning grass. Heather Cox Richardson re-tweeted this yesterday, "God spoke today in flowers, and I, who was waiting on words, almost missed the conversation." Lovely.


• ... a mom, her mom and her two grown daughters meeting for breakfast at First Watch, all dressed for fall on the first cool day, so apparent that this was not their first breakfast rodeo :-). All of you who live close to family, I sure do hope you take advantage!


• ... these cute little jack o' lantern cocktail picks, so many people remarked on them at a family party last weekend, I used them to hold together thick deli sandwiches (for St. Louisans, from Viviano's in Fenton, just the right amount of "stuff" and bread, too often there's just too much bread)

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.

Sixteen days.

And to quote Simon Rosenberg, "I'd rather be us than them." And frankly, I'd rather be US than them even should we lose.

We've got momentum. Excitement. A disciplined campaign. Outreach to all constituents, including Republicans.

Trump's public meltdown is escalating. Perhaps more than ever before, a vote for Trump is a vote for his running mate, the inexperienced, the election denier, the misogynist, the one who says women without children don't deserve a vote, the one who says the grandmas should stay home to take care of the grandkids, the proponent of a national ban on abortion, the Christian Nationalist, the purchased surrogate of the billionaire class, the anti-Medicare and anti-Social Security guy, the friend of Putin and on and on and on.

So please, for the country, the world, do all you can. If not time, then money. If not money, then words. (Or all three!) Keep sharing over and over and over how a vote for Harris is the only choice, this year. Vote more than once — not yourself, of course, that would be wrong — by checking in with friends and family, ensuring everyone has a voting plan.

Let's go, people. Sixteen days.

PS And word to the wise, do mentally prepare for a process that goes on much after Election Day. It's gonna be a fraught time and we all have 2020 and 2021 PTSD ...

Made Me Think ...

I have successfully parallel parked exactly twice.

The first time was a spectacle: my 13-year old nephew and I were on our way to the farmers market on a pretty fall day, top down in a bright red Mustang. The o-n-l-y parking spot left was right in front the farmers market, dozens of people were streaming by. I was all ready to park wayyyyyy down the street when Matthew popped out of the car. "Just do this, Auntie Al! I'll show you." And sure enough, this kid, who had never even driven a car let alone parallel parked, coached me deftly into that very public space. People cheered!

The second time? During a driving skills test just three years ago. I'd practiced dozens and dozens of times but never once, until the test itself, did I get it right. And the highway patrol person administering the test? He didn't get why I was laughing soooo hard.

So when I saw a recent headline in the Atlantic, I was intrigued. Is parallel parking really on the way out? And if so, why, then, when my husband took a driving skills test last month, did he have to perform this impossible task — and without the parking assistance technology from his car???

• READ The End of Parallel Parking
• TAKEAWAY "Driverless cars have long supposedly been right around the corner." How 'bout cars just parallel park?! Now that's a new way forward!

---

---

THE SEASONAL SEVEN: Recipe Ideas for CAULIFLOWER

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

• ... range from soups to salads to suppers and of course, especially the sides
• ... are simple everyday fare, nothin' fancy, nothin' that'll have you hunting for hard-to-find pricey ingredients
• ... just might persuade you to buy an extra head (extra pretty, extra big and inexpensive at Sam's Club!)

• THE RECIPE Quick Cauliflower Soup or Quick Broccoli Soup Healthful veggie soups on the table in minutes.
• ANOTHER TAKE No-Cream Creamy Cauliflower Soup Just three ingredients, so creamy but no cream.

• THE RECIPE Cauliflower Salad with Fresh Herbs Steamed cauliflower tossed in a vinaigrette with fresh herbs.
• ANOTHER TAKE Christmas Cauliflower Healthy roasted cauliflower with ribbons of festive red and green.

• THE RECIPE Cauliflower Spanish "Rice" Looks like rice, tastes like rice.
• ANOTHER TAKE Mexican Cauliflower "Rice" Turn a head of cauliflower into a healthy, flavorful stand-in for rice.

• THE RECIPE Cauliflower Cream An easy but almost-decadent ultra-smooth or rustic blend of low-carb cauliflower and sour cream.
• ANOTHER TAKE Mashed Cauliflower (Low-Carb Mashed "Potatoes") So close to mashed potatoes, your mouth will do a double-take. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Cauliflower Mac n Cheese with Ricotta You'll love the no-cook cream sauce. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Whole Cauliflower with Homemade Cheese Sauce Cook a whole head of cauliflower, it's surprisingly unfussy, then drape in a cheesy sauce. Dramatic, yes?

• THE RECIPE Spiced Chicken Tagine with Roasted Cauliflower A one-pot supper with warm spices. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Cauliflower Steaks with Warm Corn & Poblano Salsa Roasted until golden and topped with a warm salsa of summery vegetables.

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 Moroccan Onions Sliced, spiced and roasted onions, the traditional mezgaldi. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE My Homemade Baked Beans Slow-cooked to infuse with maple syrup, molasses and warm spices. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Red Beans & Rice Slow-cooked Creole comfort food. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Comeback Sauce The Southern staple, so good, you'll "come back" for more. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Famous Mustard Sauce (Carolina BBQ Mustard Sauce) A tiny-bit spicy and a tiny-bit sweet and totally addictive.

• 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)

October: Reader Favorites

• 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 Pumpkin Bars Quick and easy, filled with fall spices. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Baked Pumpkin Donuts & Donut Holes Cake donuts warm with spices, coated with buttery sugar. A really special fall treat.

October: Trending

• THE RECIPE Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes A little bit spicy, many rave reviews.
• ANOTHER TAKE Minnesota Sloppy Joes Sloppy joes made from scratch in the crockpot.

• THE RECIPE Turnip Puff or Rutabaga Puff A family Thanksgiving favorite. (PIN This)
  
• ANOTHER TAKE Squash Puff An old family recipe, traditional for Thanksgiving. (PIN This)

October: Recipes Lookin' for a Little Love

• THE RECIPE Mac n Chicken Just mac 'n' cheese with chicken, just mac 'n' cheese with protein.
• ANOTHER TAKE Butternut Mac 'n' Cheese Oh, that crispy, peppery topping!

• THE RECIPE Fresh Brussels Sprouts with Lemon & Parmesan Steamed or boiled then infused with flavor.
• ANOTHER TAKE Fast Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts Glazed with garlicky butter.

The Kitchen Parade Almanac: Looking Ahead ...

• October 31st - Halloween
• October 31st - November 1st - Diwali (Festival of Lights)
• November 1st & 2nd - Days of the Dead (All Saints)
• November 2nd - 3rd - "Fall Backward" Time Change (an extra hour! nice! but how many will show up late for our big fall party on the 3rd? we'll see!)
• November 5th - Election Day (Check Your State)
• November 10th - Marine Corps Birthday (An Honored Tradition)
• November 11th - Veteran's Day
• November 28th (dang, so late this year) - American Thanksgiving
• December 1st - Alanna's Unofficial First Day of Winter

Looking Back ...

THIS WEEK, YEARS PAST
• 2019 Late October (Week 43)
• 2020 Slow Cooking (Week 43)
• 2022 Fall Sides (Week 43)
• 2023 Chickpeas (Week 43) (PIN This)

RECENT WEEKS
• Pumpkin Season (Week 40) (PIN This)
• Fall Baking (Week 39) (PIN This)
• 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)

Soups & Salads Especially for October

• OCTOBER's COLLECTION Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for October It's finally beginning to taste like fall!


• BUT DON'T MISS Whole-Grain Salad with Beets, Beans & Corn Grains + Vegetables = Salad Heaven.
• AND THIS Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Pear & Coconut A fall tradition, a golden bowl of butternut squash soup, slightly sweet (but not too fruity), warmed with curry (but not spicy hot! I promise!) and almost creamy with coconut (but not coconut-y).
• AND THIS TOO Warm Root Vegetable Salad in Horseradish Vinaigrette A celebration of fall on a plate, a medley of root vegetables (you know, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and turnips plus more unusual vegetables like celeriac, rutabaga, parsnips and kohlrabi).

Good to Know!

• STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS How to Cut, Peel & Cube a Butternut Squash and Keep All Ten Fingers
• ALSO USEFUL How to Roast a Whole Butternut Squash (PIN This)

Silly (But Fun?!) Food Holidays

• October 21st — Apple Day (apples)
• October 21st — Garbanzo Bean Day (chickpea (aka garbanzo beans) recipes)
• October 21st — International Day of the Nacho (Chicken Nachos with Homemade Pickled Jalapeño Rings)
• October 21st — National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day (Pumpkin Cheesecake)
• October 22nd — National Nut Day (nut recipes)
• October 23rd — National Canning Day (Practical Home Canning Tips)
• October 26th — Pumpkin Day (pumpkin recipes)

Trader Joe's Test Kitchen

I picked up a bag of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds (not on the Trader Joe's website, sorry, so linking on Amazon so you can see what the bags look like, but they're SO expensive there) and they are ... okay. Crispy. Nicely spiced. But SWEET, so sweet I probably wouldn't use them in a salad or savory dish, say. They were mostly overlooked as a snack item at a family party last week.

These, however? I totally make a batch or two every fall. Putting one on the list, right now!

• THE RECIPE Sweet Pumpkin Seed Crumbles Crunchy clumps of honey-sweetened oats and pumpkin seeds, more nut brittle than granola.
• ANOTHER TAKE Maple-Glazed Pecans Crisp and barely sweet. Pecan Pizzazz!

Something to Read

• The Levee (affiliate link), a novella by Minnesota author William Kent Krueger, it was surreal to read this short book when the news from Kentucky, North Carolina and other places affected by Hurricane Helene was first emerging. I've lived in two places with levees protecting "towns" and "cities" even while subverting a river's natural course, first in northeast Iowa right on the Mississippi River and now in my home city of St. Louis, where levees abound at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi.
• Leaving Atlanta (affiliate link) by Tayari Jones, an unsettling account of a little discussed period in Georgia history, the Atlanta Child Murders when 28 (some times stated to be 29) Black children were murdered, not a hundred years ago, not "after the war" but in my adult lifetime, 1979 - 1981. The stories are told from the perspectives of children whose lives were upended by fear and threat.


• 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 advice for Seasonal Sundays?
• Just one thing that would make it more useful for you?
• Anything else? Chime in, chat away.

---

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.

---

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2024