Seasonal Sundays (Week 8) Mid February

Hey, All. Recipes for the win. Anyone need a last-minute chocolate idea? Recipes for a New Orleans-style Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday pancakes? Easy February-friendly dinner recipes? And more, naturally, including my first book recommendation in a year and a fun way to mark the beginning of Lent on Wednesday with children.

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

if ever there's a time to grasp the future and lean into the future, this is it, no matter how wearing and wearying the week behind. Spring is near, literally and figuratively.

I'm not wishing away a single day, a single hour nor a single small moment to celebrate something, anything.

Join me, will you?

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: Masks! All these black, medicinal blue and white masks, maybe we've got it all wrong. More glitter, more glam?

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PICK ONE

Pick One is for those of us overwhelmed by life's unending choices. If that resonates, then check out this one recipe and then call it a day. It's one that I think could make the most difference, the one I hope will become a regular in your kitchen, as it is in mine.

• THE RECIPE Lifetime Pancakes Tiny, small, medium and large batches, whatever the size of the table.

Compliments!

• "I didn't have a red pepper and didn't want to use my tofu since lentils have plenty of protein, so I subbed a BIG chopped carrot for the pepper and four diced Yukon gold potatoes for the tofu, tossed with the oil and spices and roasted at 450F till crispy. SO GOOD!" ~ Michelle
• Michelle's potato idea is brilliant! At least here, we're way more likely to have potatoes on hand than tofu. But then take it a little further. Sweet potatoes? Butternut squash? Eggplant? So many possibilities!
• THE RECIPE Lentil, Pepper & Spinach Supper with Crispy Tofu & Indian Spices

IQF: I Quit Facebook

Oh I so love hearing from readers. Thank you!

A special thanks to Joyce who took it upon herself to seek out the children's book with a red and light blue quilt that has embedded itself in my brain for decades. The kindness of (almost) strangers! Can it be a coincidence that this week I became re-connected with a childhood acquaintance who just happens to design quilts?!

Last week, I gave some ideas on how to break up with Facebook. But what if you made the breakup permanent? A reader named Karen wrote to remind me that privacy plays a role as well. Here's her thinking:

"It is also possible to completely delete one's account and stop the time-wasting permanently. I did that about five years ago, rarely even think about it. It seemed that even friends were too often posting curated, slightly made up, visions of what they hoped others thought their lives were like. A few friends who are still heavy users will send me the same info (say about a daughter getting engaged) via text or email, when it's important to us both. I do the same, just without the FB step. I value privacy highly, and that's at cross purposes with FB intent."

What a great reminder. I read her note and deleted Instagram from my phone. Now all that's left is FB on my desktop which is so so slow. I am this close to following Karen's lead ...

Anyone else? Who's done it? Who's figured out their own way?

Last-Minute Chocolate Ideas

• THE RECIPE Light 'n' Easy Chocolate Pudding Sweet and satisfying but won't ruin your diet.
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy-Easy Chocolate Coconut Pudding Just five ingredients and ten minutes to pudding.

• THE RECIPE Chocolate Decadence Cake The ultimate chocolate experience.
• STELLAR WITH Raspberry-Red Wine Coulis (Reduction Sauce) Sweet-but-tart raspberry sauce, a perfect added-touch for desserts.

• THE RECIPE Gourmet Chocolate Mocha Cookies Deeply, darkly chocolate-y.
• ANOTHER TAKE Chocolate Shortbread Cookies A simple chocolate cookie, tender and crisp, barely sweet.

Mardi Gras At Home

• THE RECIPE Gumbo A classic Cajun gumbo, except that the roux is cooked in the oven.
• ANOTHER TAKE Vegan Chickpea Gumbo

• THE RECIPE Cajun Dirty Rice with Eggplant
• ANOTHER TAKE Mexican Cauliflower "Rice"

• THE RECIPE Bourbon Pralines The famous praline recipe from the New Orleans School of Cooking.
• THEN MAKE Mini Tiramisu Cups with Pralines Tiramisu made with eggs that are cooked, not raw.

Pancakes Are Traditional on Shrove Tuesday

• Make Tonight a Pancake Night Move over Taco Tuesday and Pizza Friday.

• THE RECIPE Cornmeal Pancakes with Blueberry Compote My simple recipe for cornmeal pancakes.
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries & Bananas

• THE RECIPE Triple-Banana Oat Pancakes Just oats, banana and egg but the pancake taste and texture we love!
• ANOTHER TAKE My Mom's Pancake Recipe Light and fluffy pancakes, lots of pancake tips and tricks.

Fun for Kids

My memory says that mom made waffles with ice cream and maple syrup every Sunday for Sunday night supper. Yes, supper! Not dessert, supper. Now odds are good that it was only a few Sundays, maybe even once or twice, but oh, the memory is special. So maybe instead of pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, go for waffles, with ice cream!

• THE TRADITION How to Plant Lenten Grass (Easter Grass) An old Finnish tradition, good to mark the season of Lent with children.
• AND ANOTHER A Birthday Cake for Jesus: A Story My sister's gentle way of keeping the spirit of Christmas.

The Dinner Bell

Seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, the dinner bell rings. If we're gonna eat, somebody's gotta cook. Let's make it good, a welcome end to our days.

• THE RECIPE Hamburger Casserole Weeknight comfort food lightened up.
• ANOTHER TAKE Hamburger Soup A hearty soup with chunks of meat and a cornucopia of bright-colored vegetables.

• THE RECIPE Chicken Stew with Chickpeas & Kale A hearty, one-pot supper with warm spices and fresh vegetables.
• ANOTHER TAKE Spiced Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower Tagine A one-pot supper with warm spices.

• THE RECIPE Greens & Grits Spinach cooked with tomato and mushrooms atop quick-cooked grits.
• ANOTHER TAKE Slow-Cooked Greens & Smoked Turkey So good, you'll want to eat the pot.

Feedback, Please?

I'm not looking for compliments but I'd definitely appreciate some feedback. As long-time followers know, I have two sites, Kitchen Parade (you're here) and A Veggie Venture, the month-long lark that almost 16! years later remains an verifiable obsession with all things vegetable.

This week I invested the equivalent of a day updating the A-Z of Vegetables. But it still doesn't strike me as quite right but I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it.

Maybe you'd take a look and give me your thoughts? Your emails via recipes@kitchen-parade.com are always welcome.

TIA! Thanks in advance!

Recipes That Stand the Test of Time

To mark A Veggie Venture's 15th anniversary in 2020, I took a hard look at the first 365 vegetable recipes from the first year to select just 15 which, all these many years and recipes later, remain ever so useful. The result is a fascinating collection of recipes, 15 Favorite Vegetable Recipes, Still Useful After 15 Years. Here's just one.

• THE RECIPE Greek Greens (Flash Cook to Eat Later)
• ANOTHER TAKE Asian Greens

PS Who's noticed? I'm big on "usefulness". See? Best-Ever “Most Useful” Recipes 2002 – Present, just one recipe per year from Kitchen Parade.

Soups & Salads Especially for February

What sparks us in February? Seed catalogs, of course. But for many of us, February is the last real month of winter, almost the last chance for a seasonal cook to revel in cold-weather specialties. So there's soup, of course! And salads, of course! 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.

Dig into Seasonal Soup & Salad Recipes for February, tons of ideas!

Here's a sample!

• THE RECIPE Spicy Cauliflower Soup
• ANOTHER TAKE No-Cream Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Timehop

Who else loves seeing old photos pop up, quick memories from years past? Welcome to a recipe timehop ...

• THE RECIPE Beef Barley Soup with Mushrooms Root vegetables, earthy mushrooms and nutty barley.
• ANOTHER TAKE Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup A concept recipe, all about the vegetables.

• THE RECIPE Kalamata Tuna Salad Bok Choy Wraps
• ANOTHER TAKE Chicken Salad for Sandwiches

Trending

My Top 10 Recipes are predictable, hello Should Cooked Pork Be Pink? and (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes (How Long to Bake a Baked Potato). But every week, seasonal recipes catch the internet's attention and start to trend.

The Sweet Potato Recipes are hot at A Veggie Venture this week!

Something to Read

Did you hear? The wonderful Fredrik Backman book Bear Town will soon be an HBO series?! My book club loved this book and its sequel Us Against You.

These have that Scandinavian darkness, the real contemporary issues come out of nowhere, it seems.

But Backman's latest book, Anxious People, is outright funny. And sweet. And uplifting. Much recommended! Pay special attention to Jim, the police office father.

I haven't recommended a book for almost a year. I don't think I'm alone here, but the pandemic has affected my reading. It's just harder to concentrate. I've started more books than I've finished. Plots help but even then, I can finish a book one week and not remember its basic story line a week later.

As far as troubles go, it's low on the list but still, for someone who loves to read, makes a priority to read, my life is less without being immersed in a good book.

• THE BOOK Bear Town (affiliate link)
• THE SEQUEL Us Against You
• THE LATEST Anxious People

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 Orange & Avocado Salad Simple but sumptuous.
• ANOTHER TAKE Savory Orange Slices A simple and surprising orange salad.

Don't Be a Stranger ...

I'd love to hear from you. Comment, send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com, 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, whatever.

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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 via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. 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. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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