Seasonal Sundays: Easter Gatherings

Settle in with a chocolate bunny (or two) to skim through this week's "Seasonal Seven" recipe collection which is all about Easter for those who celebrate next Sunday on April 20th. But it's also a great collection of recipes (plus four bonus menus) for spring gatherings, spring potlucks, spring parties, all things spring. I tend to pull out certain recipes just once a year for Easter, lots of new ideas this week!

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

~ PIN This ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

As ever, thank you for welcoming me into your InBox and RSS feed reader. It's your kitchens, your lives, I conjure while writing ... PS 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!

Let the Easter countdown begin ... who's with me on being "ready" but also "not in the least bit ready"?

Every year, this Easter-planning newsletter is written for you but also for me, pushing me to write an actual menu so that meal prep can begin. Our forecast is for rain, that means planning two gatherings, one if it's pretty, one if it's not.

With so many kids, I'm partial to outside gatherings where it's easy to put up a piñata, do the Easter bag races, the Easter spoon races. Last year, we all laughed sooooo hard, real belly laughs.

Fingers crossed for the same! For all of us ...

In Praise Of ...

• ... this but simple but so practical method to do very loose meal planning by season, the one thing I'm going to add to my own version is the hands-on time and time-to-table time that I put in all Kitchen Parade recipes


• ... getting to smell the "first cut" of grass twice this week, first at our niece's and then at our place too


• ... the old dogwood sporting a massive number of blossoms, the brand-new so-far pencil-like pear tree of leaves!

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 hard to know what to worry about -- and act on -- right now. The fire hose of action coming out of the administration is brutal.

One thing that's becoming increasingly likely? More of us -- a LOT of us -- will need to take to the streets.

So this week I have focused on being smarter than just "which location" and "what my sign says".

Let me much recommend When We Take to the Streets by Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who writes about national security and civil liberties. The woman is brilliant ...

The Words of Wise Women

These are not my words, but the words of an anonymous poster on Facebook, Anita O Pinion. (Get it? I Need Opinion). But her words resonate. Since Facebook makes it so difficult to share a post off Facebook, I'm sharing a recent post to the The 50501 Movement group in its entirety.

I've asked these questions myself ... finally, now, I think I get it.

I know in this group it had been recognized that a majority of the protesters on April 5 were of “age“. Meaning somewhere in their 40s, more likely 50s, 60s and 70 year olds. Also, the majority of the protesters were white. The question was asked, How do we get POC persons involved?

I say let’s not even ask that question. If there is a question to be asked I’d say, How do we get our numbers up with first time, protesters regardless of race or age? POC will know when it’s time for them to participate. They have been at it for generations. They know when it’s time to step in and when it’s time to wait this one out.

Right now with the threat of probable martial law coming down soon it is best that we stick with the majority being white and older generation folks.

Why? We are fighting white supremacy, and fighting an attempt to discredit the left as radicals. That’s usually code talk for angry youth and or people of color. I saw alot of smiles as well as anger in the photos around the country. Hard to capture a photo of an angry face in a sea of smiles.

The media CAN target with photographs and video on a young face and or a person of color, acting angry or possessing what looks like a violent stance.

That image embeds a visual that white fragility fears. They are less likely to capture images that impart fear into people who don’t necessarily consider themselves white supremacist, but harbor white privilege in their lives when they see visuals of people who look like them.

I am a 70 year old white woman. My visual presence is less likely to create fear to white fragility and more likely to create an association with mother, grandmother and the dominat establishment of whiteness and in this country. Older white men are associated with father, grandfather, and even more associated with dominance within this country.

It is an important association for those predominantly white voters who could easily be manipulated into believing this is a leftist movement that warrants martial law.

If violence insigated by MAGA’s were to erupt, how would a visual of a MAGA agressively shouting at a white grandma look?

It happend to me 4 years ago by a burly white man who jumped out of his truck to shout in my face about the distress signal flag. The photo below is a depiction of what it would look like. Now let’s further imagine if it were a close up of a white grayhaired woman with a cane.

Yes, this is threatening. But you see others before us have risked the threat, risked the violence, and some have risked their life to stand up for what they believe in. To stand up for Democracy and the freedoms Democracy promises. The thing is the majority of these people who have stood up for those rights have been many times non-Caucasian, and yes, women banded together as women.

I saw more FIRST TIME protesters on April 5. That is the demographic to go for. Of course it is likely that whites are in part the largest group of first timers.

Why? If you have to ask that question you’re finally waking up to your privledge.

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THE SEASONAL SEVEN: Easter Gatherings

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

• ... range from brunch to casual to sit-down dinners
• ... mostly work well at home but also as dishes to carry
• ... won't break the bank expense-wise or time-wise

• THE RECIPE Armenian Easter Bread The buttery sweet bread called choereg or choreg. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Hot Cross Buns Sweet buns traditional for Easter.

• THE RECIPE Smoked Salmon Quiche Quick to make, reminiscent of a lox and bagel. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Asparagus Custard Tart Visually impressive but oh-so-easy.

• THE RECIPE Twice-Smoked Ham How & why to smoke a smoked ham a second time. (PIN This)
• DON'T FORGET Spicy Raisin Sauce for Ham My grandmother's recipe, always-always served with the Easter ham, the Christmas ham, the Sunday ham. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Party Asparagus with Aioli Great for parties, buffets, composed salads. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Asparagus Tapenade A bright green spread for crackers, sandwiches, pasta, steaks, "scoops" and more. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Seven-Layer Strawberry Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing A fruity riff on the traditional Seven-Layer Salad, colorful layers of fruit plus the usual romaine and red onion.
• ANOTHER TAKE Strawberry Vinaigrette with Chipotle Bright with berry color and flavor, spiked with a touch of heat. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Greek Spinach-Asparagus-Potato Gratin (Spinaki me Sparaggia Orgraten) A bit of a production but the best "creamed spinach" ever.
• ANOTHER TAKE Greek Baked Beans (Gigantes Plaki) Cooked until creamy in the oven. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Carrot Cake Mixed in a food processor, baked as muffins, cupcakes, square snacking cakes and more. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Rhubarb Cake Simple and rustic, less sweet to taste rhubarb's wonderful "sour". (PIN This)

• THE COLLECTION Easter Recipes From brunch to bunny hunts and much more.
• ALL THE HOLIDAYS All the Holidays Year-round food for fun and celebration.

BONUS: Four Easter Menus from Across the Years

Easter Dinner for Two
~ Fast Roast Chicken with Hasselback Potatoes ~
~ Microwave Asparagus ~
~ Simple Arugula Salad ~
~ Chocolate Raspberry Pie ~

Easter Brunch for Six
~ PopPop's Famous Bacon ~
~ Easy Green Chile Egg Casserole ~
~ My Guacamole ~
~ Best Quick Tomato Salsa (Red Salsa) ~
~ Mexican Fruit Salad ~
~ Microwave Asparagus ~
~ Savory Cornbread Muffins ~
~ Chocolate Waffles with Vanilla Ice Cream ~

Easter Smokehouse Lunch for Twenty
~ Ballpark Peanuts in the Shell ~
~ A Mix of Different Root Beers ~
~ Estonian Deviled Eggs ~

~ Twice-Smoked Ham ~
~ Famous Mustard Sauce (Carolina BBQ Mustard Sauce) ~
~ Homemade Yeast Rolls ~

~ Mac n Cheese ~
~ My Homemade Baked Beans ~
~ Mom's Potato Salad ~
~ Big Cajun Chopped Salad ~

~ Perfect M&M Cookies? ~
~ Make-Your-Own Banana Cream Pudding (or Chocolate?) Cups? ~
~ Rice Krispie Bars with Easter M&Ms? ~
~ Derby Pie Squares? ~

Easter Egg Hunt & Family Potluck for Thirty (Lots of Kids!)
~ Tuna & White Bean Dip with Crackers ~
~ My Guacamole with Corn Chips ~
~ Easy Easy Magical Jello Bites ~
~ Kristen's Deviled Eggs ~

~ Crudité Platter with Black Olives (for the kids!) ~
~ Pickles & Raw Vegetables ~
~ Inca Corn Nuts ~

~ Twice-Smoked Ham ~
~ Slider Rolls ~
~ Famous Mustard Sauce (Carolina BBQ Mustard Sauce) ~

~ Easy-Easy Slow Cooker Honey Carrots ~
~ My Homemade Baked Beans ~

~ Finnish Summer Potato Salad ~
~ Laura's Mac n Cheese (oops) ~
~ Dano's Mac n Cheese (oops) ~
~ Kristen's Broccoli Salad ~
~ Katie's Pasta Salad ~

~ Old-Fashioned Black Walnut Chocolate Cake ~
~ Laura's Gooey Butter Cake ~
~ Dano's Coeur de Creme with Blackberry Sauce ~
~ Erika's Easter Cake ~
~ Fresh Strawberries with Peeps ~

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 Easy Pesto Pasta Salad Serve warm now with an easy protein, or chilled later for a side dish. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Pesto Pasta Primavera Another Quick Supper, so many veggies, not much pasta. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Lemon Cream Pie An irresistible balance of tart and tangy, sweet and creamy. One slice may not be enough! (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Brown Sugar Lemon Curd My Canadian family's signature recipe. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Cauliflower Chopped Salad with Dried Fruit & Nuts The salad so good, my own sister bought a food processor just to make it. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Rainbow Salad Pretty pastel vegetables in a Sweet Lemon Vinaigrette. (PIN This)

Join Me? Pie of the Month Club

Who baked a pie this week?

It's all for fun pie. And it's a club without rules except yeah, make a pie. Make my suggested pie or not. Make your own crust or not. Make it a sweet pie or not. Make it on Friday or not. You get the idea ...

Here's April's pie. Join me?!

• THE RECIPE Fresh Strawberry Pie Fresh glazed berries in a homemade chocolate-cookie crust, a real crowd pleaser. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Finnish Strawberry Whipped Cream Cake A real celebration cake. (PIN This)

Sam's Club Test Kitchen

Need a quick dessert during Easter week? Or a dessert to carry>

Everybody but everybody loves the key lime pies at Sam's. It's so big, so good, it's not allowed in the house. 🙄

If you wanted to try making your own, I'd take a good bet that my Lemon Cream Pie would make a fabulous close-enough key lime pie. Me, I'd even make it in a baking pan instead of a pie pan for easy small squares.

April: Reader Favorites

• THE RECIPE Ham & Beans How to make Ham & Beans with a leftover ham bone. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Scandinavian Split-Pea Soup Traditional on Thursdays, without fail. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips A simple chopped salad with a creamy Greek dressing. Great crunch! (PIN This)
• TOSSED IN Homemade Greek Salad Dressing Just a few pantry ingredients plus feta, so much better than store-bought!

Trending NOW ...

• THE INFO Ham 101 What to Know Before Buying a Ham. (PIN This)
• THEN FIRE UP THE SMOKER Twice-Smoked Ham How & why to smoke a smoked ham a second time. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Cook’s Illustrated Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice Moist and nuttry, thanks to a special but easy technique.
• ANOTHER TAKE Perfect Stovetop Brown Rice Water volume and timing make all the difference.

April: Recipes Lookin' for a Little Love

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

• THE RECIPE Green Cabbage Salad with Fresh Lime Vinaigrette Somehow more "salad" than "slaw".
• ANOTHER TAKE Kohlrabi & Apple Slaw with Creamy Coleslaw Dressing Move over, cabbage. There's a new slaw in town.

The Kitchen Parade Almanac: Looking Ahead ...

• April 12 - 20th - Passover
• April 20th (Sunday) - Easter (yikes! comin up fast!)
• April 22nd (Saturday) - Earth Day

Looking Back ...

THIS WEEK, YEARS PAST (An All-Easter Collection)
• 2020 Week 15 (Early April & Easter)
• 2022 Week 15 (Easter Ideas, An Easter Motherlode)
• 2023 Sides for Spring Celebrations (Week 13)
• 2023 Celebration Breads & Cakes (Week 14)
• 2024 Easter Eggs (Week 12) (PIN This)
• 2025 Save Room for Dessert, the Spring Edition (Week 13) (PIN This)

RECENT WEEKS
• Sweet & Savory Strawberries (Week 15) (PIN This)
• Spring Asparagus! (Week 14) (PIN This)
• Save Room for Dessert, Spring Edition (Week 13) (PIN This)
• Green Food, Just for the Fun of It (Week 12) (PIN This)
• Pasta You'll Love (Week 11) (PIN This)
• Fish for Lent & Spring (Week 10) (PIN This)
• Everyday Cajun (Week 9) (PIN This)
• Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner (Week 8) (PIN This)
• Sweet Little Somethings (Week 7) (PIN This)
• Spinach for Any Occasion (Week 5) (PIN This)
• Project Cooking (Week 4) (PIN This)
• Feeding Our Vegetable Cravings (Week 2) (PIN This)
• Best of 2024 (PIN This)

Soups & Salads When It Feels Like Spring But ...

April is such a frustrating month, vegetable-wise! Many days are so warm and almost summer-like but of course, gardens may not even be planted yet, let alone producing food for the table. 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.

• THE COLLECTION Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for April Especially for the warmer days, so many choices!
• BUT REALLY, DON'T MISS Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips A simple chopped salad with a creamy Greek dressing. Great crunch! (PIN This)
• OR THIS Simple Zucchini Ribbon Salad For extra tenderness, use small, young summer squash.

Good to Know!

• COOK THE EGGS FIRST How to Steam Eggs Simple technique for soft-cooked and hard-cooked both at once.
• COOK THE EGGS FIRST Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs Perfect every time for meal prep, deviled eggs, egg salad and more.
• THEN DYE WITH BEET JUICE Perfect Hard-Boiled Ruby Eggs

Silly (But Fun?!) Food Holidays

• April 13 — National Peach Cobbler Day (Naked Peach Cobbler)
• April 14 — National Pecan Day (Savory Roasted Pecans)
• April 16 (3rd Wed)— Banana Day (Triple-Banana Oat Pancakes)
• April 16 — Day of the Mushroom (Stuffed Mushrooms with Cauliflower & Smoked Gouda)
• April 16 — National Eggs Benedict Day (Asparagus Eggs Benedict)
• April 18 — Hot Cross Bun Day (Hot Cross Buns)
• April 19 — Garlic Day (Easy Garlic-Herb Mediterranean Chicken ("Med Chicken"))

The Best No-Recipe Recipe I Made This Week

Carrots + My Spice Mix = Easy, Fun Side

I've long loved these Cumin Carrot Fries but this week, instead, I cut up a bunch of carrots into chunks, tossed them with My Spice Rub, roasted them on one side of a sheetpan for 15 minutes, then added a couple of pieces of fish for another 20 minutes. So good!

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 When we took delivery of our annual beef this week, I was shamed to realize that — goodness — there were already four briskets in the freezer. I thawed one on the spot and came back to this long-time recipe, reminding myself, as so often happens with some older recipes that (1) it's way easier to make than I'd been thinking (2) it's so worth making, especially to make one day and serve the next (3) wow, if you aren't intentional about removing fat, no wonder other brisket recipes turn out so greasy and unpalatable, this one was started off under four pounds but I removed an entire pound and a half of pure fat, ugh. Anyway. It occurs to me that some people may want to cook a brisket for passover gatherings so I'm sharing it now, even though the pictures I took this week haven't yet been updated. The recipe is spot on, even/especially without all the fat, I followed it to the letter. So Good!
• THE RECIPE Real-Food Brisket Slow-cooked to tender perfection with caramelized onions. No canned mushroom soup! No onion soup mix!

• THIS WEEK Our sweet eight-year old great-great niece did her first communion, she looked so pretty in her swirly white dress! (At least at the start of the party! She changed mid-party and since we'd had four solid days of rain, it was muddy in the back yard. By the end of the party? She and her sister were both thick with mud, thigh-high.) Anyway her parents invited "three sides" of the family, her dad's family, her mom's on both sides, we were quite the crew. (And for the record, the gift du jour for girls for first communion: jewelry.) The kids were crazy for the bright blue Berry Mix jello, I could have made a triple batch (but I don't, intentionally). So pretty! So good!
• THE RECIPE Easy Easy Magical Jello Bites Guaranteed to make kids' eyes light up! (PIN This)

• THIS WEEK For the same party, I was charged with bringing an appetizer and decided on a hummus platter. For simplicity, I used this recipe that starts with canned chickpeas. For the record, Trader Joe's chickpeas are soooooo grainy, it took forever (and so much extra oil) in the food processor to make a smooth hummus. But then the real fun begins! I spread the hummus across a pretty oval platter, cut some cucumbers on the diagonal for the two ends, then topped with hummus with some mini tomatoes (quartered), capers, feta and fresh dill. It was so pretty! One nephew was extra enamored and claimed to eat half of it all by himself ...
• HOW TO MAKE A Simple Hummus A quick and simple basic recipe with canned chickpeas.

• THIS WEEK I knew it was going to be a big cooking week so brought home a rotisserie chicken for quick meals. It's easier to "pick" a chicken (take the meat off the bones) while the chicken is still warm so as usual, I did that as soon as I got home from the store. The meat goes into the fridge, the bones and skin go straight into the pot for stock.
• THE RECIPE No-Big-Deal Homemade Chicken Stock How to turn making chicken stock from a production into No-Big-Deal. (PIN This)

Just Updated!

• THE RECIPE Mojito Strawberries Just six ingredients, inspired by a mojito, the Cuban cocktail. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Strawberry Banana Chocolate Crumble Fruity chocolaty goodness, oh my.

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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Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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