In this harried, indulgent time of year what I actually crave most is food that’s simple and nourishing, something that doesn’t take a lot of time or fuss to eat but provides warmth and balance. In other words, a big pot of soup. This sweet potato lima bean soup is thick, buttery, and comforting (and also completely vegan). I dare say it might even convert the lima beans haters into lovers.
Stocking stuffers are so fun, aren’t they? Take a bunch of things that seem eh on their own, put ’em in a big sock together, and suddenly it’s a party of all things small and cool. Here are a few of our favorite stocking stuffer picks for the cook, from a go-to scrub brush to a multi-purpose funnel and a tiny peacock can opener. And did we mention they’re all under $15? (Oh, right. We did.)
If you are buying one thing this Christmas, make it a Swedish Party Ham, available at Many Kitchens. Nothing says Christmas like ham. When glazed and baked this will be the centerpiece to build your Yuletide feast around. The ham serves about 15 people and is memorable both for its incredible flavor and tender, juicy slices. To prepare your ham, simply follow this recipe for the Perfect Glazed Ham at Many Kitchens.
Learn more about Schaller & Weber, the amazing master charcutiers who have been in business since the 1930s, and check out some other great gifts for the foodie in your life at Many Kitchens.
For a limited time, get 10% off your purchase of a Swedish Party Ham with code ATHAM. Offer expires Friday, December 13th, at midnight EST.
3.79 / 5 Stars | 12 Reviews
by Kristal
“This recipe is great for grouper fillets, but you can also use it with tilapia. It’s both healthy and flavorful! You don’t have to love fish to love this dish. Serve it with rice and cole slaw to complete the meal.”
There’s enough going on with the holidays — let’s make setting the table the easy part, shall we? When my friend Tracy and I were planning our Cozy Holiday Potluck, we agreed that we wanted to keep the table simple, rustic, and festive. The easiest way to do this, we quickly realized, was obvious: bring in the evergreens! Here’s what we did — it’s so easy I have no doubt you can do it too.
Six years ago, I attempted to shift my existing pretzel obsession into the cookie category, with only moderate success. The chocolate pretzel cookies I made were shiny, twisted and gorgeous, but tasted so mediocre — dry, flat in flavor, basically meh. I concluded that the firmness we’d want from a pretzel-shape was probably not something we wanted in a cookie. But silly me, I was just looking in the wrong place.
Last fall, as some of you might remember, I did a little tiny bit of book-touring from November through mid-December and then February through March of this year, just like 28 cities or so in total of us hanging out, no big deal. Okay, it was kind of a big deal, and so many cool things happened over the course of those trips, I never got around to telling you about them maybe because the whole thing was so surreal to me it didn’t seem easily digested in 500-word snippets?
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From the very get-go of planning my Cozy Holiday Potluck, I knew that I wanted to make Bigos Stew. This Polish hunter’s dish is a real stick-to-your ribs kind of affair — pork and sausage (several kinds!), sauerkraut, porcini mushrooms, and a few glugs of good beer. It’s a bit rich to justify for a weeknight meal, but for a midwinter party with a group of friends who love to eat, it’s absolutely perfect.
I come from a generously-sized family, the sort that prompted wide eyes and under-the-breath counting from strangers who glimpsed our brood at the library or grocery store. I’ll spare you the counting and say that I have five brothers and two sisters, so eight of us, plus parents, and now assorted spouses and in-laws. Christmas is an all-day affair for us, with stockings and enough presents to necessitate an intermission about halfway through unwrapping. But as we’ve grown up and gotten married, things have shifted; last year we did Christmas in the evening, instead of in the morning, and every holiday now has a marked absence of a sibling (or two) celebrating with someone else’s family.
But there is one inviolable tradition that still binds our Christmases together, and that is my mother’s cinnamon rolls.