A New Cooking Calendar for a Year Likely to Get Old Fast

Welcome to 2025! I'm sure it will be fine! Just fine! If you wish, just ignore the exclamation points that are giving the entirely accurate impression that I'm trying way too hard to sell a point that I do not actually believe.

This year, we will attempt to distract ourselves from-- well-- pretty much everything by periodically checking in with Cooking by the Calendar (edited by Marilyn Hansen, 1978). (I thought about inserting a few terrible and outlandish scenarios into the previous sentence, but knowing how reality works lately, I was kind of afraid they would somehow come true, but worse...) In any case, my copy of the book is a library discard and looks like this:

I like the way the design team seemingly failed to think things through, as the months written on the tiles are so low that the last third of the year is covered up by food. (Either that, or the art team thought the year ended in August.)

Each month has a special feature at the beginning, and January's is dishes to make with quick-cooking rice and canned soup. There's a whole spread on skillet dinners:

Plus another one on casseroles for those who want to turn on the oven to help warm the house:

I know that things like quick-cooking rice and cream-of-something soup don't get nearly as much love now as they did in the 1970s, but I have to admit that I am a sucker for that combo. Let me replace diced ham with Tofurky ham or ground beef with some veggie crumbles and I would absolutely go to town on most of these.... (Well, except for the ones with mustard or excessive onions. You know I can never be content with anything!)

The January chapter also has a section on citrus fruits since they're in season, offering ideas like Orange-Tomato Pork Chops.

Not only does this feature oranges, onions, and tomatoes together, but it also adds some avocado slices to heat up at the end. This all just seems wrong to me, but I know my tastes tend toward the safe side, so part of me is cringing and part is wondering if reasonable adults think this sounds acceptable or perhaps even good....?

The final part of each chapter features the vegetable of the month, and January's is onions. There are some old favorites, like French Onion Soup, but I was more amused by a very '70s appetizer: Parmesan Onion Thins.

People really loved baking things with mayonnaise on top back then. I'm not sure how thrilled guests would be about white bread covered with a slice of raw onion topped with hot, cheesy mayo, but maybe it could help the host keep the appetizer plates full. If you make poppable fried shrimp or crowd-pleasing pigs in a blanket, you'll spend the whole night refilling the apps. Offer Parmesan Onion Thins, and hosting duties might be much easier (not to mention cheaper)!

Here's hoping for a cheap and easy new year, I guess? We can hope for anything we want, but reality does not always comply. And on that cheery note, your little sunbeam is ending this post.