January Suppers for Sharing and Conversation Starters

Dear January,

You come in with such fanfare, but quite frankly you’re exhausting. Did you forget we cross your threshold already bleary-eyed and weary? To be sure, we welcome you on the First with eagerness and celebration. We’re full of resolution, declarations, fresh pens, and planners. This year will be the year! We’ll meal plan, lose weight, read more, worry less, and check every box on our mile long bucket list. We will be better friends, love our neighbors well, and we promise to never, ever take our family for granted. 

But our enthusiasm is no match for your cold and dark days. By the Fifteenth we stare at the crisp, blank pages of our planners with guilt. We trip over the remaining box of Christmas decorations, cursing to will it magically back into the attic. And, when the dryer performs its final tumble on the Twentieth, we wave a dirty, white tea towel in surrender.  

Are you sure you aren’t really 54 days long? 

Forgive me if that came across as rude. It’s the triple shot of espresso talking. 

Gratefully, since this isn’t our first lap around the sun with you, we’ve learned a few tricks to help us thrive. We know you January, and we’re ready. 

We come prepared with one-sheet dinners, slow cookers, and Instant Pots. We have soups to warm us down to our toes. Turmeric to ward off ailments and horseradish to clear our noses. We will share our suppers with those who might not have the strength to endure all 7.7 weeks of you.

We will take a pot of Beef Stew with Root Vegetables to neighbors who are weary. We’ll fortify teachers with mason jars of Nordstrom’s Tomato Basil Soup. We’ll make TWO sheet pans of Chicken, Sourdough Bread, and Bacon and invite friends to join us for a spontaneous supper. And because you are so darned long, there are five Thursdays. We officially rebranded Tuesdays to #TacoThursday which gives us FIVE opportunities to share our slow cooker favorite BBQ Beer Pulled Tacos.

Meals are everything. And, we’re sharing them big time. We are strong, January. We are strong.

Love, 

The Suppers for Sharing Community

For the Week of January 1

RECIPE: Sheet Pan Chicken, Sourdough & Bacon: Food & Wine

CONVERSATION STARTER: Which of your friends most inspires you to be a better person? How does he or she do this?

For the Week of January 5

RECIPE: BBQ Beer Pulled Chicken Tacos: Half Baked Harvest

CONVERSATION STARTER: What are two of your happiest childhood memories? What is one of your most embarrassing memories?

For the Week of January 12

RECIPE: Beef Stew with Root Vegetables & Horseradish: Fine Cooking

CONVERSATION STARTER: In what ways do you think the world is getting better? In what ways is it getting worse? If you could make any three changes in the world, what would they be?

For the Week of January 19

RECIPE: Nordstrom’s Tomato Basil Soup

CONVERSATION STARTER: What do you need?

For the Week of January 26

RECIPE: Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower Soup: Skinny Taste

CONVERSATION STARTER: If you weren’t doing what’s on your bio, what would fill your days?