#54: Funny Food Holidays For Meal Planning Inspo

This week we are getting creative with our meal-planning inspiration! We're looking to funny (most of the time made-up) food holidays to try new recipes, get our families involved in the kitchen, and maybe learn some trivia. We had a lot of fun researching and recording this episode and we hope it gives you a new and creative way to build a meal plan. Enjoy! 

The 2023 Food Holiday List from Julie Ho

Roni and Riley's recipes:
Turkey Cubano
Hibachi Steak and Fried Rice

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[00:00:00] 

I'm Riley and I'm Roni. And this is the plan to eat podcast, where we have conversations about meal planning, food, and wellness. To help you answer the question what's for dinner.

Riley: hello and welcome to the Plan to Eat podcast. Today we are talking about. Funny food holidays. I feel like I should be doing air quotes on the holidays thing, um, because they're not real holidays, but they share our fun.

Roni: Yeah, so funny. Food holidays are, you know, those days when. Dunking Donuts or whatever is like it's donut day, come and get a donut or I don't know, just like the random things where they're like, it's chocolate chip cookie day and you feel like you should eat a chocolate chip cookie that day. I'm pretty sure these were just invented to sell us more food.

Right.

Riley: Oh yeah, for sure. I did a bit of research on the history of these fun food [00:01:00] holidays. The United States recognizes only 10 days as national holidays, and they're like Christmas Independence Day, you know, days like that. But sometimes national days were created by a presidential proclamation or a resolution in a house or senate.

For example, on July 9th, 1984, president Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5 1 19 declaring National Ice Cream Day. And he said it was nutritious and wholesome other Na, other Reagan proclamations, I think he was into the sweets. Well I guess maybe into the food holidays. But, uh, he also included National Frozen Food Day, uh, catfish Day, some other things like.

Roni: Wow, catfish

Riley: favorite things. Yeah. Yeah. Catfish day. So, but I think when I was doing a bit of research on that, the majority of them were like short-lived. It was like this year, on this day, today's National Ice cream day, but it wasn't like a long-term commitment of like forever. [00:02:00] This is gonna be ice cream day.

Roni: Oh sure.

Riley: Yeah. But somehow this has caught on. Most of them have been made up by random people. Different states will do these kinds of things and like vote on them. Um, you can send in a suggestion and then like these committees will vote on them. Pretty funny. But most of the history of this is very like lighthearted.

It's nothing serious. And most of it's not really real, which is why when we were talking earlier and I said, this should be in air quotes. I don't know, but they're really fun. So I think that it is an excuse to, I don't know, just have a little bit of fun. So there's this. In Alabama, um, he created a Twitter slash website called foodamentary, um, and it compiles national holidays and he tweets about 'em. Uh, his name is John Brian Hopkins. He's the one who runs foodamentary. Um, And he admits to making up several of them himself, including Tater Tot Day, national [00:03:00] Whiskey Day, and a few others to like fill in his whole calendar since this is kind of like the thing behind what he does. If he, he said, I, I'd wake up in the morning and realize I didn't have anything for the blog that day, and I'd think, what can I, what can I make today?

Roni: Well, I wonder if he's a kid of the nineties because I think all of us nineties kids appreciate national tater tot day.

Riley: Yeah, when I saw that one, that one's on the list. Um, and when I saw that one, I thought, uh, that's pretty funny. I think, I don't remember what day of the year it was. I'll have to look at, look back at the list and see what day it was, but totally a nineties kid kind of thing.

Roni: Yeah, well we certainly wanna get into some of the national food holiday. Quote unquote, for April. But maybe before we do that, let's go into why we're even talking about this today, because this seems like a little bit of a random podcast episode. But Riley and I just thought that this was a really fun way to try new recipes to [00:04:00] get some re inspiration for your meal plan.

And just, you know, we talk about the idea of using, you know, like different listicles to find new recipes. You know, like if you're looking for crockpot recipes or sheet pan recipes or whatever, there's lots of lists online. Of all of those kinds of recipes that you can easily, if you're using Plan to Eat, add to your plan to eat account, and then plan those on your meal plan.

But this just was something that I hadn't ever thought of before as a way to inspire myself to try new recipes. So I think it's really fun and it's pretty creative.

Riley: I mean, there's, I think a lot of what you and I talk about on the podcast is motivating people to stick to their, um, stick to their meal plans, to meal plan at all. And so the, you know, the inspiration for this is that there are these lists out there. And if you are feeling very low motivation, like this is something to inspire you, um, that's kind of really fun.

Now, a lot of these are sweets, so a lot of them, [00:05:00] you know, may not help you make a, like, you know, breakfast, lunch, and dinner plan for your family or for yourself. But, um, I think it just is a unique way to get you out of a rut.

Roni: Yeah,

Riley: And a lot of them focus on seasonal things, um, which I think also helps you stick to kind of the seasonal eating.

Roni: totally. Yeah. Parti, there's lots of recipes that are, uh, based around fruit, you know, like when cherries are in season, there's national cherry day, when blueberries are in season, national blueberry day, that kind of stuff. Yeah, I mean certainly a lot of them are related to sweets, I think. I think as we just all love desserts, right?

But I think that this is a really fun way to, um, you know, this is a springtime right now, but I think this is a really fun thing that you could incorporate in the summer in particular. Like if you have kids, uh, you know, you could go through like, okay, this week, what's like, A funny food holiday and like, what's a recipe we could make based off of that?

It could be a fun way to get your kids involved in not only cooking, but in kind of that meal planning process too.

Riley: Yeah, and you know, if [00:06:00] your kids, you know, are out of school all summer, um, it's a really great way to, in, like, if they can read, you know, potentially sending them to a website where they can go and read the whole list and say, okay. You tell them four or five times a month, we'll do this. So pick a day and we'll do it.

It doesn't have to be an everyday kind of thing, but it inspires them to get excited about what they're making, um, and then help you do it.

Roni: Yeah, and a lot of the things too, you know, one of the ones in April is National Empanada Day. And so it's like, it can also inspire you to maybe branch outside of recipes that you would normally make. Maybe like expose your kids to recipes from different cultures that you're not, that wouldn't normally cook.

So I think there's lots of benefits to just finding inspiration in all sorts of different places, um, for new recipe.

Riley: Absolutely. I ran across, and I'll share these in a little bit, but one of them was like national canning day. Um, and I don't remember what time of year that one was, so it may be a trickier thing, but that's like science. You know? That's a whole experiment. [00:07:00] Particularly if you as the person who's, you know, Guiding children with canning, if you don't know how to do it, then you've gotta learn too.

So that's a whole learning experience for both you and your children. It also could be a really cool way to connect with grandparents who may know how to can, um, and I mean, this is just one example, but you know, that is not even cook, that's not like cooking a meal, you're gonna eat Right. Then it's, it's more of like a, we're gonna prepare for the future kind of.

Situation. I mean, that's what it is. And so getting grandparents involved, or maybe even neighbors or family friends who actually know how to do that, because I think that's, you know, it's a, it's a lost or we're losing that art. Um, and so it could be also kind of a community oriented kind of thing.

Roni: Yeah, I love that way of looking at it. I hadn't thought about that, but I really like that idea of, of taking the idea of learning a new cooking skill or a new technique, and making it more community driven process, rather than just being like, I'm gonna Google how to do this, figure it out. Which is great too.

You know, YouTube University.

Riley: Oh, absolutely. [00:08:00] You know, in, in a lot of my research, um, a lot of them were driven by companies to try to encourage purchasing. Right. But I think that, I think if you look at it with this lens of, okay, um, it's national, uh, Oreo day. How about you try to make your own, you know, like that kind of thing.

Or, it's national rotisserie chicken day, which okay, obviously is not like a brand in and of itself, but, can you make one at home may, do you have an air fryer? Can you do an instant pot one? I don't really know. Could you do it in a Dutch oven? Like, These kinds of things. Um, just inspirational. It doesn't have to mean that you always, always are going to go purchase something, but in that same vein of community oriented, if your local restaurant or coffee shop or ice cream shop is doing a free scoop that day, maybe you go and do something like that.

It, it's kind of supporting that business, particularly if they're doing it, then they're willing to give out the free ice cream. Um, but just kind of doing something fun in your local [00:09:00] community.

Roni: Yeah. Uh, it's not necessarily local, but you know, on July 11th you can get a free Slurpee at 7-Eleven cuz it's 7-Eleven Day,

Riley: Yeah. Which is just fun. And I think, I think that, yes, going back to the overarching theme of this podcast and these holidays is that it's just about fun and I just don't know who needs, who doesn't need an excuse to have more fun.

Roni: right. Yeah.

Riley: So,

Roni: Particularly when it comes to like food and being in the kitchen. Um, you know, we've talked before about how, making dinner every single night is like, practically part of work for the whole day. You know, it's like a part of your work week. And so I think adding a little more fun and a little bit of extra creativity in the kitchen is never a bad idea.

Riley: Yeah, I totally agree. So since it's April, um, I. I think if we can hang, I'm gonna read you all of them. Uh, [00:10:00] you think you can hang for that.

Roni: I think we can hang. Let's do it.

Riley: All right. April 1st, national Sourdough Bread Day. Another experiment you could do with your

Roni: Yeah.

Riley: Yeah. April 2nd is both Love Your Produce Manager Day and National Peanut Butter and Jelly.

April 3rd, chocolate Moose Day, April 4th. Cordon. Blue Day. April 5th. Caramel day. Caramel day. Um, depending on where you're from, what do what, what do you say?

Roni: I say caramel.

Riley: Uh, I say caramel. I can't even, I can't even say

Roni: so

Riley: caramel is like the most strange word coming out of.

Roni: caramel feels very decadent to me. Like, I'm like, ooh, uh, I guess if I'm, okay, I guess here's the thing, if it's like a caramel sauce, then it, you know, like that's different from [00:11:00] a caramel candy. You know, like a, like a caramel salted, like a salt, sea salt caramel or something. To me, they're different in my brain.

I don't know.

Riley: This is one of those situations where we should just go Google and see what Google tells us The pronunciation is.

Roni: I don't wanna be wrong.

Riley: Yeah, but we won't, we won't veer off. So Caramel caramel day, uh, it's April 5th. Also on April 5th is Raisin and Spice Bar Day.

Roni: Interesting.

Riley: A lot of these have duplicates, so I'm gonna read 'em both just cuz it's fun.

April 6th is Twinky Day and here we go again. Caramel Caramel Popcorn day. Okay. I promise I'm not gonna do that. Every time I see that word, I'll say it. Just the way I. April 7th is Burrito Day and Coffee Cake Day April 8th, national Empanada Day, April 9th, Chinese Almond Cookie Day, April 10th, [00:12:00] national Cinnamon Crescent Day. April 11th National Cheese Fondu Day. That's a great day. April 12th is national licorice Day and grilled cheese sandwich Day.

Roni: I'm into that day.

Riley: You and me both. April 13th is make lunch count day. I'm not sure what that means,

Roni: I'm gonna Google it, but keep so keep going through your list. We'll, we'll circle back.

Riley: okay.

But it's also National Peach cobbler. April 14th is National Pecan Day. April 15th is McDonald's Day. April 15th is also National Glazed Spiral Ham Day. April 16th is Day of the Mushroom, it is also National Eggs Benedict Day. I think that you have somebody to tell me. So why don't you jump.

Roni: On April 13th, we have an opportunity to break a trend that has been occurring around the country by joining National Make Lunch Count Day. Many workers eat lunch at their desk at least twice a week.

While [00:13:00] one third have lunch at their desk every day of the week. Don't fear lunching out any longer.

Riley: Well, I. Think that a lunch break is intended to be a break, and so the downside of eating at your desk is that you're not stopping, and that means you're not thinking about what you're eating and that whole thing.

Roni: Yeah, so, so, oh, by the way, this article is from national day calendar.com, so that's, it's explaining what this national day is. Um, yeah, so it's basically explain, explaining that you like your brain and your body needs a break from work. And when you return after your lunch break, you'll be more refreshed and have new ideas.

The observance of national make lunch count days to help American workers increase their creativity and productivity. So ways to observe national, make lunch count day. Join your coworkers and enjoy a real lunch with a stimulating conversation. Basically get away from your desk and go eat lunch somewhere else. The end. Continue. Continue with the.

Riley: I support. Picking up on April [00:14:00] 17th, we have National Cheese Ball Day and National baked ham with Pineapple Day, April 18th, animal cracker's, birthday, animal cracker's, birthday. Okay, you Google that one,

Roni: I am gonna Google that one too.

Riley: April 19th, it's garlic day. April 20th is both Lima Bean Respect Day because Lima beans don't get no. in National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day, April 21st is National Chocolate Covered Cashew Truffle Day. That's a mouthful. April 22nd is National Jelly Bean Day, April 23rd, national Cherry Cheesecake Day. It is also National Picnic Day. April 24th is National Pigs in a Blanket. April 25th is National Zucchini Bread Day, April 26th.

Is National Pretzel Day on the office? Is that the day that they have national? Is that that the day they have

Roni: I wonder if National Pretzel Day is actually [00:15:00] pretzel day on the office. That's a great question.

Riley: Oh

Roni: All right, that's, we're gonna have to also Google that.

Riley: April 27th is National Prime Rib Day. April 28th is National Blueberry Pie Day. April 29th is National National Shrimp. scampy Day and April 30th is National Raisin Day.

Roni: The dunder-pedia says that while National Pretzel Day is celebrated on April 26th, the actual date of pretzel day in the office is unknown.

Riley: Oh, well, let's just assume.

Roni: yeah. I'm gonna think, I'm gonna think that it's that it's the same

Riley: well that's a pretty good list. I, and I do think it's pretty well rounded in that, um, there's days that are, you know, sweet, there's days that are savory. There's days that are actually getting you to do something different like, Picnic day, Lima bean. Respect day. Yeah. Or, but like also national picnic day.

It's, it's, you pick the food, but go have a picnic. You know, that, that's, um, [00:16:00] those kinds of things on the list are really fun to me. And they do get you kind of outta your house, but outta your ruts or whatever, you know, that kind of thing.

Roni: Right. Yeah. I, I, I mean, I like that there's so much variety in here, like Cordon National Cordon Blue Day, like if you've ever made Cordon Blue before, what a great day to try it out. Yeah. Or like, uh, zucchini bread day. I'm sure most people have made zucchini bread before, but if you haven't, what a great rate of, tie it on.

Riley: yeah. I, I wanna mention really quick that these, this list came from julie ho.com and we'll link to that in the show notes. But all of the rest of the dates that we're gonna talk about today are from her list. But I did not want to move on without giving her a shout out.

Roni: So one thing that actually wasn't on this list, because I think the day might change every year, um, in 2022, it was April 27th in 2023, it's April 26th, 

stop Food National Stop Food Waste. day it's the largest single day of action to fight against food waste, and it was started in 2019 by [00:17:00] Compass Group U S A.

It's now recognized globally in every corner of the world to help educate and unite change against food waste.

Riley: I love that. That is something that we are so. Uh, so excited about, it's something that we really like, would love to be more involved with, but we know that just meal planning can help you stop food waste, because you're buying what you actually need and you're actually cooking it, assuming you're sticking to your meal plan, and that automatically is helping you eliminate food waste, which is a really big deal.

Roni: I think the coolest thing, the thing that I like the most about this initiative is it's not just on an individual level. Like the focus is on like food waste as far as like, companies go as far as agriculture goes. You know, there's lots of steps in that. Chain where food is wasted. It's not just when it comes to your house, you know, it's, it's goes from, you know, like the field or the farm all the way through to your house.

So everything in between the grocery store, the trucks, all of [00:18:00] those processes. So I think it's really cool that there are some initiatives out there that are trying to help it in the entire, you know, food chain process.

Riley: Absolutely. Yeah, cuz there's a lot you can do as an individual, but um, it's certainly a problem that it kind of transcends that.

Roni: Yeah.

Riley: Alright, Roni. I went through every month of the year besides April, and I picked some that stood out to me.

Roni: Okay. I wanna hear about 'em cuz I have a couple that stood out

Riley: Oh, okay. Awesome. All right, so January, national Milk Day, January 11th. This is the day that milk deliveries in bottles began in the us and I did not, I did not fact check that, but I just thought that was a really exciting. January 31st is national Pho day. Um, so that Vietnamese or Siese, soup, uh, with noodles and things like that. I love that. And so I was excited to see that it had its own day. February. [00:19:00] Okay, Roni, you're gonna love this one. February 5th is ice cream for breakfast today.

Roni: Yes.

Riley: Yep. Love that. February 22nd is National Cook. A Sweet Potato Day because I really wanted to give you guys a whole picture of these lists because it's not just sweets. You know, the first one in February is telling you to eat breakfast, uh, of ice cream, and the other one is to cook a sweet potato.

But you know, the list is pretty well rounded.

Roni: It's funny to me that it's cook a sweet potato and not eat a sweet potato. I, I understand that, that a sweet potato's not something you eat raw, but because of that, I wouldn't think that it needed to be specified that it has to be cooked.

Riley: Right. Like it could just be cook. Oh, it could be a national sweet potato day.

Roni: Yeah, exactly.

Riley: consume. Consume as desired.

Roni: Yeah.

Riley: Um, okay, March is National Pack your lunch day. That's March 10th. I thought that one was a great one. Because I'm just thinking about New Year's resolutions that people may have had this year and maybe spending less on eating out, because I know so [00:20:00] many people who work in offices and they just end up out to eat because they didn't have time to pack their lunch or whatever.

Um, but I thought March 10th, that's a good one. I know we're way past that at this point, but just having a day to kind of say, okay, remember pack lunch today, get back on the bandwagon of your resolution or whatever. I thought that was. And then March 31st is Oranges and Lemons day.

Roni: I wanted to mention one in March as well, which is March 28th, which is eat something on a stick day.

Riley: Oh, that's so

Roni: really love. Um, you know, it could be popsicles, it could be corn dogs. You know, you could have like a cocktail skewer with shrimp and stuff on it. You could make kebabs. There are so many things that I could think of that you could, that could be eaten on a stick on March 28th.

Riley: A marshmallow that you roast over a fire. I mean, you could use a little stick for that.

Roni: exactly.

Riley: That's fun. I like that one a lot. And again, it's that versatility of like, that day can become whatever you want it [00:21:00] to be. I mean, I just made some teriyaki skewers not too long ago. And it's like that's the same thing they were on, you know, skewers of that.

So May 11th is eat what you want day. Um, which I think is funny. Cuz there's no real suggestion here. But if there's something you've been craving, put that on your meal plan, cook it, and.

Roni: Totally.

Riley: maybe that's the day you go eat at your favorite takeout place. You know, like whatever it is. Like that's kind of just a fun way to meal plan. June, June 2nd, I have National Rotisserie Chicken Day, which I mentioned earlier. And then June 30th is National Ice Cream Soda Day,

Roni: Ooh.

Riley: July. Okay. July 1st is Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. Now I have a lot to talk about.

Roni: Okay.

Riley: There is a, an ice, there's an ice cream shop. Um, I know it's on the west coast and apparently they have one in Florida too. And it's called Salt and Straw. Have you ever heard of it?

Roni: Oh yeah. I've, I had, one time when I went to Portland, I [00:22:00] had salt and star, salt and straw ice cream.

Riley: Yes, I had it when I was in Seattle. Uh, my parents, uh, they lived in Seattle for a while and they were huge fans, but this. This ice cream shop is not like a normal ice cream shop. They have incredibly seasonal flavors. And by that I mean think Thanksgiving and they have an ice cream with cornbread in it or something crazy like that.

It, it, it's a pretty wild, uh, little ice cream shop, but it's kind of one of those places that has just grown and grown and grown in popularity. It's the kind of place you wanna go and sample everything. Just like, give a little tiny spoon and sample 'em all. Some of them I feel like, they scare me as ice cream flavors, if I'm being honest. Think pear and blue cheese.

Roni: Interest.

Riley: Yeah. Yeah. Um, but they do have some really, um, wonderful sounding ones to me. But I'm a, I'm a sweet, sweet ice cream person. I'm not by like doubly sweet. I just mean the thought of having something [00:23:00] savory in my ice cream is a very strange concept to my brain.

Roni: Yeah.

I think it's one of those situations where, so like I'm thinking pear and blue cheese, like I. Particularly like what blue cheese tastes like outside of a sweet context. And so the thought of putting it into something sweet is like I, I'm not sure that I would like that.

Riley: I don't apply the same concept to like a bacon wrapped date with blue cheese in the middle,

Roni: Mm-hmm.

Riley: but that's also kind of sweet. I mean, you can also make those sweeter cuz some people put brown sugar on them, things like that. But I think that the, it's like cold creamy with blue cheese. Something about that throws me off. Um, but there classic flavors include things like strawberry honey, balsamic with black pepper. That's another one. I'm much less,, cautious about that one.

Roni: Yeah.

Riley: Honey lavender, mint chocolate chip. Sea salt with caramel ribbons, caramel ribbons, chocolate gooey brownie. But this place is a pretty, uh, I don't know, [00:24:00] it's just epic.

I, that's what I think about it. It's epic. I know they have a cookbook, that you can get and you can get recipes for a lot of their crazy flavors. But it's created a real. I don't know. Cult following is, I think the, probably the right way to talk about it. Um, just people who are into it are into it and it is just like a special place.

Like it's probably on every list for Seattle and for Portland and I guess maybe Florida of like places you have to go while you're visiting those areas.

Well that's all I had for that, but I'm a big ice cream fan. So, July 15th is National Gummy Worm Day. I also love Gummy worm. Okay, let's move to August. August 8th. This is a fun one. Sneak zucchini onto your neighbor's porch night. But what a fun thing to do with your kids. Like what if you have an amazing garden that is just prolific?

I mean, I feel like zucchini is one of those vegetables that always is prolific. People I know who grows zucchini, they have like hundreds of them.

Roni: Yeah. You don't even need an amazing garden. You just have one zucchini plant and you have enough to feed 25 people.[00:25:00] 

Riley: Yeah. So I love the idea of just going to a neighbor or a friend's house and just putting a little basket with a note on their porch. It's like, here's some zucchini.

Roni: Yeah. That's cute.

Riley: Yeah. A really fun one to do with kids, I think, because you can make it all stealthy and like sneaky

Roni: Yeah. Yeah.

Riley: Uh, August 10th is National S'mores Day.

Uh, okay. Moving into September, September 2nd, uh, is both grits for breakfast day and blueberry Popsicle day,

Roni: Mm.

Riley: and then September 13th is kids Take over the Kitchen Day, which sounds tad frightening. But it's a great way to empower your children who are of an age where you feel confident to go in and make the meals.

And I feel like that would be really fun for them. Plan it. You could even help 'em go shopping for it. and then, you know, cook or help them cook depending on their age or, you know, like ability level. Um, but that one was a really fun one to me.

Roni: So there's a September because this list is arbitrary. Uh, September 13th is actually one of the days [00:26:00] that has multiple holidays on one day. So not only is it kids take over the kitchen day, it's also International Chocolate Day, not just

Riley: Hmm.

Roni: Peanut Day and Snack A Pickle Time. You heard that right?

Snack A pickle time. How to observe snack. A

Riley: How to please tell me how to observe. I felt really like I didn't know what to say

Roni: this day should be observed by snacking on a pickle.

Riley: at any time, not just at a specific time.

Roni: Yeah, pickles can be eaten on their own or with a meal. They could be put on a hamburger, chopped into a relish, put on a hot dog. Sometimes they're served on a stick. Sometimes they're even deep fried. So maybe on your, maybe in March, you also have a pickle on a stick. I don't know. That kind of didn't sound right.

Riley: Well, if you love pickles, um, I don't think that you need an excuse to snack on a pickle, but it is a great day to do that, and I'm so excited. That is also September 13th.

Roni: I'm excited. September. So that's actually my husband's [00:27:00] birthday and he really likes pickles. So I think this year for his birthday, I'm just gonna give him a huge jar of pickles, maybe.

Riley: That's funny. That's a great idea. And you know what I'm thinking about Ronnie right now? You know, I'm thinking about the time we were in Philadelphia and I got pickles

Roni: You got so many

Riley: the, it was like on Amish Pickle Company.

Roni: I think so. In the Redding. In the Redding terminal station, Riley got like a whole pint of pickles. Two hours before we were supposed to go to the airport.

Riley: Look, I 

Roni: we were just walking around Philadelphia and she was eating these spicy pickles and like her mouth was on fire the whole time and it was really funny.

Riley: It was not my best, like I didn't think that one through quite like I should have. Mostly the we're about to fly out thing of just what do I do with these pickles? Yeah. Okay. Well, Too funny. All right. October. October 23rd is National Canning Day, which I mentioned earlier. Um, October 31st is Caramel Apple Day.

Caramel Apple Day. [00:28:00] I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it the whole time. November, November 3rd, uh, national Men Make Dinner Day. Did you see that one?

Roni: No, I like.

Riley: I like that one. And then I have another one, um, November 25th or the day after Thanksgiving, depending on what day that falls. Sinky day. And because that doesn't feel like a familiar thing coming out of my mouth, I'm gonna spell it.

S i N k I e. Sinky day.

Roni: What's a Sinky?

Riley: A Sinky day, or Dine over your Kitchen sink.

Roni: Oh.

Riley: Yes, I was as confused as you were. Um, I looked into it a bit more. It is the day after Thanksgiving, And it is, especially for those of us whom leftovers taste, taste much better when eaten over the sink. I thought that one was hilarious.

Roni: All right. Okay.

Riley: All right. December final. Rounding it out. Finalizing it. December 4th, [00:29:00] national Cookie Day, December 30th, bacon Day. And another funny one, December 30th is also National Bicarbonate of soda today, or baking Soda Day.

Roni: What

Riley: I know. Uh, I thought that one was pretty funny, so

Roni: that one's really.

Riley: it. So that's the list that, those are my favorites. That was all of April's list and a smattering of others.

Roni: This has been really fun. I think even just, if nothing else, I think just, you know, reading through some of these recipe lists, um, whether or not they give you recipe inspiration, they're certainly gonna give you a chuckle because some of these are fun. also I'm thinking about with your kids, just like Riley and I did in this, like we went and found days that we thought were funny and we kind of researched 'em and found what was interesting about 'em.

So, you know, that could be fun things to do with your kids as well. Be like, what Sinky Day and why would we do that, you know?

Riley: Yeah, I could imagine, uh, a kid doing a project on something like this, like [00:30:00] essentially the podcast we just put together, but doing more research on, you know, what these days, how they came about or like what they actually mean, like sinke day, and doing like a presentation on it. I could see that being really fun.

I would've done that as a kid.

Roni: totally.

Riley: Well, I guess that's all I've got for you.

Roni: Do we wanna round out this episode with, uh, talking about a recipe real quick?

Riley: Sure.

Roni: Okay. So a recipe that I ate recently that I really wanna share is a Turkey Cubano sandwich. We recently roasted or. We recently smoked an entire Turkey, and with some of the leftovers we made Cubana sandwiches.

If you're not familiar, Cubana sandwich. It has like mustard Swiss cheese. Usually you have, um, at least ham on it. We had ham and Turkey, um, put pickles on it. And then, you know, everybody, I think everybody does it just slightly differently, but, this recipe called for a panini press. We don't have a panini press, so I just.

Broiled them in the oven, which [00:31:00] got them nice and crispy, but like didn't over crisp the the bread and they were delicious and so easy to make, particularly when you already have, you know, like you could just use deli meat for the sandwiches, but it's kind of like an upgraded ham sandwich.

Riley: Yeah. This is something we've talked about on the podcast before, but the, these, you know, quote unquote simple sandwiches can really feel like you're kind of up-leveling your meal

Roni: Totally. Yeah.

Riley: Ubs, um, Ruben. Yeah. Things like that. Yeah. Or like an Italian grinder or something like that. Just feels a little more special.

Yeah. All right. So the, yeah, the recipe that I am excited to share, which I haven't actually eaten yet, I'm gonna be honest, I'm making it tonight. It's hibachi steak and fried rice, but just a really easy version that you get to make at home. Yeah, it's, I'm making it with ribeye. You marinate it.

And soy sauce and oil and garlic and ginger and honey and things like that. And then you make fried rice, um, with frozen veggies and you know, you know, traditional fried rice, things like eggs and [00:32:00] garlic and things like that. So I'm really excited to try it. Um, I got this recipe from Hungry Happens, uh, and it looked really good on Instagram, so I'm excited to.

Roni: Cool. Well, we will link to those recipes in the show notes. You can also find them on the Plan to Eat podcast, Plan to Eat Eat Account, which it you can find at plantoeat.com/PTEPOD and thanks for listening to today's episode.