Kitchen Parade

Finnish Whole-Wheat Flatbread

2012-02-08T08:45:00.001-06:00

When I looked up how to spell flatbread (one word or two? was the question – flatbread, one word, is the answer), I was surprised to see the note, "traditional in Scandinavia". Do you think of flat breads – ahem, flatbread – as universal? So do I. Nonetheless, my flatbread recipe is from Finland, a rustic favorite from when I lived there as an exchange student way back forever ago. It's a tender

Party Nuts with Fresh Rosemary aka "Those Good Nuts"

2012-02-01T07:00:00.006-06:00

Anyone going to or giving a party in the next while? These nuts got more than their share of attention at a Christmas party in December and I’ll roast another trayful for a family party later this month. Story goes, the recipe has lofty provenance! My introduction came from Kim O’Donnel but it may have originated with my favorite famous food person of all time, the late Laurie Colwin who

Laura's Healthy Carrot Soup

2012-01-26T08:15:00.001-06:00

My cousin Laura is famous for her rich-tasting but still low-calorie soup that uses a combination of potatoes and slow cooking to coax out a cream-like quality without a single drop of cream. It's comfort food during the cold months with possible – no promises but some do say – medicinal qualities. Vegetarian and for Weight Watchers just 1 point (Old Points) or 2 points (PointsPlus) per cup.

Mediterranean Eggplant for Meatless Mondays & Beyond

2012-01-09T08:15:00.003-06:00

Yes, it’s that time of year when we vow to make healthy eating choices. Start here, with a simple, wholesome vegetarian supper, just eggplant, zucchini and tomato with a little feta stirred in, quick to make and full of flavor. Weight Watchers, make this a year-round staple: an entrée serving adds up to just 2 points (Old Points) or 3 points (PointsPlus).  Many thanks

How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup

2012-01-01T03:00:00.006-06:00

My new master recipe for making vegetable soup, easy to make on the fly with any and many on-hand and in-season vegetables, winter vegetables for now, but summer, spring and fall vegetables too. The recipe is perfect for cooks who belong to CSAs or shop at farmers markets because it both takes advantage of and helps use up fresh vegetables. (Want to add frozen vegetables too? Good idea!) For

Best Recipes of 2011

2011-12-30T06:45:00.002-06:00

My favorite recipes from 2011, just one "best" recipe per month. Made with "real food" (not processed food), these are everyday recipes, recipes to make again and again throughout the year, throughout our lives. They are recipes that express the hallmarks of the Kitchen Parade style, 'fresh' and 'easy' and 'healthy' and 'flavor-forward' and 'seasonal'. Weight Watchers, all Kitchen Parade recipes

Year in Pictures 2011

2011-12-28T06:40:00.001-06:00

Especially for visual cooks, all of 2011's recipes in one place. Do you have favorite recipes from 2011? Are any of these recipes still on your "to try" list? As the new year approaches, it's natural to look back, to reflect upon acccomplishments, to tally up the wins, the losses, the hits, the misses. Here's something I'm proud of. Late in 2010, I set out to better live up to the

This Year, Let's Give the Gift of Words

2011-12-22T12:40:00.002-06:00

So what if there were a present that required no wrapping? no fancy ribbons? no assembling? no mailing? not even the swipe of plastic? And what if there were a present to last a lifetime? a present to explain a life? a present to cradle a legacy? And what if we could secure this gift, right now, this very moment? This year, let's give the Gift of Words, the written, the listened. JUST WRITE:

Overnight Coffeecake Recipe

2011-12-18T10:45:00.008-06:00

My cousin LeAnne’s long-time go-to make-ahead coffeecake recipe and since last year, mine too. I’ve made it a half dozen times, which suggests how easy, adaptable and forgiving LeAnne's recipe is. It takes about 20 minutes to mix up the night before, then throw it in the oven in the morning. Fresh warm coffeecake on Christmas morning? With a crispy streusel topping? Oh, you’re going to be glad

Christmas Trifle

2011-12-14T09:15:00.002-06:00

My family's traditional dessert for Christmas dinner, a show-stopping English trifle. The "recipe" is ever-so-adaptable but here I share our essentials, a good cake (we use panettone), homemade custard, lots of fruit (mostly canned, it's winter!), pillows of whipped cream – and one ingredient I fought against for years but finally adopted as my own, because, well, aren't our mothers always right

Festive Holiday Salad

2011-12-11T10:00:00.001-06:00

My "signature salad" during the holidays, perfect for carrying to other homes, easy to scale up for lots of people, even to scale down for a single indulgent serving.  "Bring your salad," someone will say. "Okay," I readily agree, happy to have a "signature" salad that everyone loves. For a holiday dinner, a Christmas party, a New Year's Eve supper, this is my answer

No-Roll Christmas Sugar Cookies

2011-12-07T07:30:00.003-06:00

A quick and easy Christmas cookie, chewy, colorful and festive. They are just two buttery bites big and taste like the very best sugar cookies – without the fuss and mess of rolling! Looking for color for your Christmas cookie plate? This is it!  Forget big-name chefs and hot-shot TV-food personalities. The real food celebrities are the countless home cooks who put

Chicken Salad All Dressed Up for Christmas

2011-12-04T10:30:00.003-06:00

Chicken salad made special for Christmas, spiced with cardamom, studded with cranberries and brightened with fresh dill, bound together by a light orange-scented dressing. Perfect for a quick sandwich before an school Christmas concert, a light salad to fuel an afternoon of shopping, even tucked into mini tarts for a cookie swap.  So will Christmas cards fall to the

Holiday Baking Tips from a Certifiable Cookie-Baking Fiend

2011-12-01T10:25:00.007-06:00

Who else loves to spend time before Christmas up to your elbows in flour? If so, this one's for you! It's my collection of practical Christmas cookie-baking tips, packed with ideas for new and experienced bakers both. PS Facebook & Pinterest users, if you love Kitchen Parade, be sure to "like" and "pin" this page! More and more, search engines and even real-live human beings rely on social

Pumpkin-Stuffed Lasagna Rolls

2011-11-16T01:00:00.003-06:00

A festive vegetarian main dish, perfect for Thanksgiving or another late-fall or winter celebration. Worthy of a special occasion, easy enough for a weekend! The pumpkin filling is not to be missed, in itself so good, I can already think of a half-dozen more ways to cook with it. Plus, my tips for an angst-free Thanksgiving.  Aghast at the angst, that’s me about

Champion Chicken

2011-11-10T10:15:00.005-06:00

Easy baked chicken, just chicken topped with Homemade Sazón, a fresh 'n' alive Dominican sauce made with bell peppers, parsley and cilantro, onion and other pantry ingredients. So easy! So good! Plus a new trick for browning chicken!  So yeah, it's November and baseball talk is “so October”. But this story, it strikes me as one with year-round lessons. You see, St.

Homemade Sazon

2011-11-03T06:30:00.004-05:00

It's not catsup. It's not salsa. It's not a sauce. It's sazón, the Dominican mixture made from scratch with fresh whole ingredients – and it packs a punch of flavor!  Honesty here. Until ten days ago, “sazón” was an unknown to me. Not unknown as in “I wonder how to make sazón” or even “Is there a recipe for making sazón from scratch?”. Nope, none of it. Nothing. Nada.

Easy-Easy Pear Sauce

2011-10-26T09:10:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite simple-simple desserts, just pears sautéed gently in a little maple syrup and flecked with ginger. It's a light touch for a bite of sweetness for a weeknight dessert, also wonderful on pancakes and in smoothies. So yes, autumn is settling in here in Missouri, the leaves showing signs of color to come. Soon those leaves will flutter from on high. Soon, as we walk,

Apple Pudding Cake with Cinnamon Butter Sauce

2011-10-19T07:54:00.002-05:00

My sister's recipe for a simple, rustic apple cake that’s dark with cinnamon and then, to top it all off with a little heaven? drizzled with a sweet cinnamon and butter sauce. And look who helped "Auntie Al" bake the cake, that's Bella!  “Have you seen our new cookbook?” asked my sister as we sipped coffee the first morning of my visit last week. We were both still in

Perfect Lamb Chops

2011-10-13T08:50:00.002-05:00

Good lamb meat is quite pricey, you just don't want to mess it up. Here's how I've learned to cook lamb chops perfectly each and every time, just by minding the clock.  At the farmers market a few years back, I overheard a young couple order a whole hog – tip to tail and “everything but the squeak,” as they say – from a farmer who then raised pasture-grazed pigs. It was

Homemade Kabocha Squash Pumpkin Purée: How & Why to Use Squash, Not Pumpkin, for 100% Pure "Pumpkin"

2011-10-05T12:45:00.008-05:00

It took four years but finally, I've found the trick to making 100% pumpkin purée from scratch –– switch to 0% pumpkin and 100% kabocha squash. The squash is roasted whole so there's no cutting into a large, unwieldy pumpkin or squash. The result is sweet, oh-so-pumpkin-y purée, perfect for making pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving and all our favorite pumpkin recipes before and after. <!-- .

Simple Lentil Salad with Seasonal Vegetables (101 Diet & Weight Loss Lessons from My Dog)

2011-09-28T07:20:00.005-05:00

Here's the salad that brought out my "Inner Puppy" all summer long and now again, into the fall. It's a concept recipe, starting with meaty lentils and whatever vegetables are on hand or appeal, topped, if you like, with a soft-centered egg.  I could write a book called 101 Diet and Weight Loss Lessons Learned from My Dog. LESSON ONE "Boring Is Delicious" aka "Hunger

Favorite Recipes for Fall Baking

2011-09-14T07:15:00.001-05:00

I don't think I'm alone here: when the weather cools down, it's finally it's time to fire up the oven! For so many of us, fall is the favorite time of year for baking. Here are some of my favorite fall recipes. What are you baking this year? I'd love to know, leave a note in the comments! ~ Alanna Quick 'n' Easy Quick Breads (hover for a description, click a photo for a recipe)

And the River Was Like Glass: A September 11th Remembrance

2011-09-11T07:46:00.007-05:00

Life Goes On The river was perfectly still, like glass, early the morning of September 11th. I'd been home for a few days. My mother had begun to lose motor control of her right leg. We feared this meant the lung cancer for which she'd been treated in the spring had metastasized into her brain. Our day was already full. Despite the leg problem, Mom was hosting a luncheon for friends

Homemade Granola with Almonds & Apricots

2011-09-08T08:30:00.002-05:00

When Mother Nature provided blessed relief from summer's scorching heat last week, I fired up the oven to make homemade granola with a recipe I've been working on for a couple of years now. One batch after another, my goal has been to reduce the fat and the sugar – for health and diet reasons, of course, but most of all to allow the oats and nuts and dried fruit to be the real stars. Finally,