Seasonal Sundays (Week 12) Mid March

So here we are, on the bridge between late winter and early spring, ready to move on life- and food- and other-wise without wishing away the days we have. Recipes? Of course! St. Patrick's Day plus plenty of "green" food for the week, all to add a bit of extra fun to lives. As always, I thank you for inviting me into your InBox. I do so hope to kickstart your food imagination for the coming week ...

~ Skip Straight to the Good Stuff ~

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

... oops, I mean, the first ever Monday Morning Afternoon Seasonal Sundays.

But Teacher! I have a good excuse, I really do!

Truth is, a week ago, we packed ourselves and our beach gear into the car and headed south, enduring 800 miles of hard, heavy rain, only to arrive in what turned out to be cold, foggy and very wet Florida.

After a few still-glorious days away, we unpacked our parkas and headed back north – through snow! in Alabama! Tennessee! Kentucky! – only to arrive back in Missouri where Sunday was warm, sunny and the daffodils are just about ready to pop.

Only a crazy woman would pull out her laptop when tempted first by a nap on the summer porch and then a hike through the woods to the top of a hill with thirty-mile views. So here I am, all rested and re-invigorated, happy to be home.

Happy Monday to all!

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: Does anyone else imagine renting a house on the beach all the time? I've long harbored this romantic notion of preparing enormous but seemingly effortless platters of simple but delicious food, packing picnic lunches for sandy shores, lingering at tables long after sunset ...

Even when I write recipes, my mind asks, would I make this if we were renting a house on the beach? how would I, exactly? could this quick cake be mixed by hand? do I need to take along some favorite spices? what if I packed up the dry ingredients to bake bread? I wonder if there's a farmstand nearby?.

Well, well, well. Sure enough, we did cook. Or at least one of us did, my ever-creative husband who arrived from the fish market with piles of pretty shrimp and two whole red snappers which he baked on a bed of roasted new potatoes and lemon slices, definitely a seaside meal living up to my very most romantic of notions ...

---

---

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 Irish Soda Bread Muffins Moist, buttermilk muffins studded with dried fruit and scented with caraway.
• WHY THIS, WHY NOW Muffins are such an easy treat, yes? Plus it's just fun to have another way bring a little more, um, fun, into our lives.

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 Broccoli Rigatoni with Chickpeas & Lemon Another easy pasta supper, lemony, garlicky, cheesy, broccoli good.
• ANOTHER TAKE Lemon & Asparagus Pasta Light and bright for spring.

Compliments!

• "Your website is terrific. I have broccoli on the stove to steam, going back to re-trim. Going to try the beans in the slow cooker, maybe tomorrow." ~ Bob
• THE BROCCOLI RECIPE How To Steam Broccoli (Step-by-Step Photos)
• THE BEAN RECIPE Creamy Slow Cooker Beans

Lucky Leprechaun Food

• THE RECIPE Corned Beef with Red Potatoes, Carrot Chunks, Cabbage Wedges & Cheese Sauce Traditional for St. Patrick's Day.
• PLAN FOR LEFTOVERS Reuben Casserole Just five ingredients, wonderful homemade Thousand Island dressing.

• THE RECIPE Whole-wheat Irish Soda Bread A yeastless bread, wonderful oven-hot and toasted.
• ANOTHER TAKE Finnish Whole-Wheat Flatbread Hot bread to the table in just minutes.

• THE RECIPE Pride of Erin Soup
• ANOTHER TAKE Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup

• THE COLLECTION St. Patrick's Day Recipes including fun ideas for "green food".

Fun "Green Food" for St. Patrick's Week

Sure, I'm happy to recommend a rich beef stew called Emerald Isle Stew a hearty, gravy-rich stew and on Thursday, I'll be making Caraway Corned Beef with Red Potatoes, Carrot Chunks, Cabbage Wedges & Cheese Sauce.

But this might be a good year for a little more fun, especially with kids. So how about meal of all-green food, there are ideas sprinkled throughout today's Seasonal Sundays but here are three not-to-miss recipes.

• THE RECIPE How to Make a Spinach Omelet Quick, healthy breakfast with fresh or frozen spinach.
• Simple French Eggs Simpler than omelettes, light, airy, delicious.
  

• THE RECIPE Spinach Pancakes
• ANOTHER TAKE Pumpkin Pancakes

• THE RECIPE Green Rice with Spinach & Kale Hello, gateway greens.
• ANOTHER TAKE Red Rice with Tomatoes A lovely rouge-tinted vegan summer side dish.

Lunch at the Kitchen Table

• THE RECIPE Very Very Green Green-Pea Soup Satisfying soup from a bag of frozen peas. Really.
• ANOTHER TAKE Laura's Healthy Carrot Soup Creamy without a drop of cream.

Good to Know

Put an Egg on Top aka "How About Eggs for Dinner?"

Why should breakfast get all the eggs?! If eggs for dinner were a club, I'd be president, chief marketing officer, resident evangelist, public advocate and ... hey, wanna join my club? Start here!

• THE RECIPE Spinach Soup with Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs A soup flushed with spring.
• ANOTHER TAKE Laura's Healthy Carrot Soup Creamy without a drop of cream.

Something New to You? A Challenge!

It's one thing to know what we like. It's another to get caught in a rut of repetition. Every so often, I may offer a challenge to try something that just might be new. The challenge is yours to accept – or y'know, not – but I hope to pique your palate!

• THE RECIPE Creamy Spinach with Artichokes Spinach artichoke dip meets steakhouse creamed spinach.
• ANOTHER TAKE Greek Spinach-Asparagus-Potato Gratin (Spinaki me Sparaggia Orgraten) A bit of a production but the best "creamed spinach" ever.

Savoring Sweet Potatoes: A Challenge

So usually my "challenges" are, well, a challenge, an undertaking, an endeavor, a project. But here? For a few weeks, I hope you'll throw a few sweet potatoes onto your grocery list, knowing there'll be a simple recipe to tackle. Who's game?!

• THE RECIPE Sweet Potato Soup with Quinoa & Coconut Milk Rave reviews!
• ANOTHER TAKE “Soul Food” Sweet Potato Soup with Chicken, Kale & Coconut Milk

Meal Prep

• THE RECIPE Quick Jalapeño Pickles No canning required.
• ANOTHER TAKE Spiced Pickled Red Onions A game changer for tacos, salads, eggs and more.

This Week's Soup

• THE RECIPE Chicken or Turkey & Wild Rice Soup A hearty mix of leftover chicken or turkey, wild rice and butternut squash.
• ANOTHER TAKE Creamy Wild Rice Soup The Minnesota classic, creamed with vegetables not cream.

Finnish Food

• THE RECIPE Finnish Carrot Casserole
• ANOTHER TAKE Creamy Carrot Purée

Lookin' for Love

We're all proud of our best recipes that family and friends (and the Internet!) just love. But what about the recipes we love but are, ahem, so far under-appreciated? This recipe is just that, it could use a little extra love!

• THE RECIPE Grape Salad with Almonds & Cilantro An unusual fruit salad, savory and sweet at the same time.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cantaloupe Salad with Feta & Basil A sweet 'n' savory summer fruit salad.

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 Quick Broccoli Soup or Quick Cauliflower Soup Healthful veggie soups on the table in minutes.
• ANOTHER TAKE Spinach Soup with Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs A soup flushed with spring.

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 March

March is such a funny month for cooking, some wintry days (yo, soups!), some spring-like days (hey, salads!) and so many days neither one nor the other, just smack in the middle. So what grabs us depends on the day, yes? 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 March, tons of ideas!

Here's a sample!

• THE RECIPE Carrot & Chickpea Salad with Tahini-Lemon Dressing
• ANOTHER TAKE Simple Chickpea Salad

Feeding a Sugar-Conscious Sweet Tooth

You too? We're cutting back on sweets without demonizing dessert, usually with smaller batches, smaller servings, shareable desserts or fruit desserts in addition to limiting frequency. But some times?

• THE RECIPE No-Chill Cutout Sugar Cookies Just mix and roll, no need to wait.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cut-Out Spice Cookies My all-time year-round favorite cut-out cookie dough recipe.

Timehop

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

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

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 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.

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, tuck a question into a plastic Easter egg, whatever.

---

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.

---

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2022