A Million Little Delights: Seasonal Recipes Free Tip Jar Option

WORD COUNT: 100–400 words
PAYMENT: $30 flat rate per accepted submission. Payment is issued upon publication.

A Million Little Delights is seeking seasonal recipes with a story to tell.

We love food that belongs to a particular moment: the soup you make on the first genuinely cold evening, the cake that appears at every family birthday, the tomato sandwich you wait all year to eat, the elaborate Sunday breakfast worth dirtying every pan for, or the drink that officially means summer has begun.

We're looking for recipes accompanied by personal, narrative writing—pieces that give us something wonderful to read before we ever reach the ingredient list.

The spirit we're after:

The First Cold Sunday of the Year Calls for Chicken & Dumplings! — a seasonal recipe accompanied by a personal reflection on that first unmistakably cold day, the rituals that come with it, and why chicken and dumplings always seem to belong there.

Please use this as an example of the specificity, voice, and spirit we love—not as a recipe to pitch. This piece is already in development for an upcoming issue.

What we're looking for

Pitch us the recipe and the story behind it.

Maybe it's the pie your family makes during the two-week window when a particular fruit is perfect. Maybe it's what you cook for friends every New Year's Day. Maybe you spent an entire summer trying to recreate something you ate on vacation. Maybe you've developed the perfect dinner for the night you decorate your Christmas tree. Maybe it's a ridiculously simple snack that somehow became a household tradition.

We're interested in breakfast, dinner, baking, desserts, snacks, drinks, dinner-party food, family recipes, regional specialties, seasonal ingredients, holiday traditions, and recipes invented entirely because you wanted something delicious.

The recipe should be tested, clear, and easy to follow, and the accompanying writing should bring personality, memory, atmosphere, or a sense of occasion to the dish.