Tennessee Onions -- The Side Dish That Earns Its Place on the Christmas Ham Table

Brayden is two hundred and six weeks old. Eden is one year and twelve weeks. The Tennessee onions are a small casserole of sliced sweet onions, butter, cheese, and herbs, baked at three-fifty for forty minutes.

Sunday I made the casserole.

Aunt Linda’s small twice-weekly Tulsa-visits continue. She arrives. She holds Eden. She plays with Brayden. She drinks the small coffee. We talk for two hours. The small Aunt-Linda-and-Roy small post-retirement rhythm has settled into the small comfortable-pace they have been building since Roy stopped driving.

Dustin’s small Tulsa-shop work continues. The small shop-manager-and-eventually-owner trajectory is in its small mid-phase. Bobby is moving toward the small retirement-handoff. The small five-year-buyout-structure is in its small operational-rhythm.

The small family-of-four routine continues. Brayden goes to school. Eden goes to daycare. Dustin goes to the shop. I do the small catering-and-cookbook-and-blog work. The small days have the small predictable shape that the small steady-state of the small family-with-two-kids assumes.

The small Tulsa-apartment continues to be the small home. We have not yet moved to a small house. The small house-search continues to be on the small slow-burn. The small five-year-down-payment-savings-plan continues to accumulate.

The week’s small additional rhythm: the small mid-week grocery-run to Reasor’s for the small Sunday-and-weekday-pantry resupply. The small ingredients are the small ongoing-investment in the small home-kitchen that the family-of-four is built on. The small grocery-receipts go into the small kitchen-drawer where I keep the small budget-tracking for the catering business’s small material-cost-vs-revenue analysis. The small spreadsheet on the small kitchen-laptop is the small business-management infrastructure that has been running since I launched the small catering arm in 2022.

Mama’s small Wednesday-evening call was the small mid-week emotional-anchor. Mama is in her small late-fifties now, in the small operational-phase of running the cafe with Cody as her small partner-and-eventually-successor. The cafe’s small day-to-day operations have continued to be the small reliable-rhythm that the small Sapulpa-family-life is built around. Cody has been managing the small new-staff onboarding. Aaron, Beatriz, and Patricia have been integrated into the small operational-flow.

The small Aunt-Linda Tuesday-visit-rhythm continues. She arrives at the small 2 PM mark. She holds whichever small child needs to be held. She drinks the small coffee I keep ready in the small French press. We talk through the small week’s family-news, the small Roy-update (Roy is in his small mid-late-sixties now, post-macular-degeneration adjustment, fully passenger now with Aunt Linda driving both), the small Harper-and-Hadley update, the small Bristow-cousins news.

The small Sunday-evening publishing-and-archiving ritual continues. The recipe gets photographed at the small three PM kitchen-light-window. The post gets drafted at the small four PM workspace at the kitchen-counter. The post gets the small final-pass-edit at the small five PM. The post publishes at seven PM. The small comments and emails come in across the small Sunday-night-and-Monday-morning window. The small ritual is the small spine of the small Recipe Spinoff blog operation.

The small Pantry Rules cookbook companion has continued to sell at its small steady pace. The small kayleeturnercatering.com online-store carries both cookbooks now. The small revenue from the small books is the small adjacent-stream to the small catering-arm revenue and Dustin’s small auto-shop income. The small three-stream household-financial-shape continues to be the small stable-structure the family-of-four has been building around.

Tennessee Onions

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 large Vidalia onions, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray or a thin coat of butter.
2. Layer the onions. Arrange the sliced onion rounds in a single, slightly overlapping layer across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Try to keep the rings intact so each slice holds its shape while baking.
3. Season and butter. Sprinkle the garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper evenly over the onions. Scatter the small pieces of butter across the top so they’ll melt down through the layers as everything bakes.
4. Add the cheese. Combine the mozzarella and cheddar, then spread the blend evenly over the seasoned onions. Finish with an even layer of Parmesan on top for a golden, slightly crispy crust.
5. Bake uncovered. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 40—45 minutes, until the onions are tender and completely soft when pierced with a fork and the cheese is bubbling and golden brown on top.
6. Rest and garnish. Remove from the oven and let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving. Scatter fresh chopped parsley over the top if desired, and serve warm alongside ham or your holiday main.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 11g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 320mg