Were you the lucky recipient of a shiny new stand mixer over the holidays? Or maybe you bit the bullet and invested in one so that you can finally make bread, cookies, and meringues with ease. No matter how you finally got one, a stand mixer is a great kitchen investment that, with proper care, will last for years if not decades.

Stand mixers like KitchenAids are heavy-duty machines, but like all machines, sometimes need a little tweaking and adjusting to run properly. Here are some things that you should know about your stand mixer so that you run and maintain it like a pro!

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“After yesterday’s darkness and self-indulgence, I open the kitchen door to find the garden refreshed after the rain. The air is suddenly sweet and clean, you can smell the soil, and the ivy and yew are shining bright. The dead leaves are blown away, the sky clear and white. There is a new energy and I want to cook again …

“My energy and curiosity may be renewed but the larder isn’t. There is probably less food in the house than there has ever been. I trudge out to buy a few chicken pieces and a bag of winter greens to make a soup with the spices and noodles I have in the cupboard. What ends up as dinner is clear, bright, and life-enhancing. It has vitality (that’s the greens), warmth (ginger, cinnamon) and it is economical and sustaining, too. I suddenly feel ready for anything the new year might throw at me.” — Nigel Slater

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By the time the first week of January rolls around, all the Christmas cookies are gone, and the refrigerator is bare. Time to restock!

As you head off to the grocery store to stock up for winter nourishment, here are 13 things that always go on our grocery lists in January. We find them essential for cooking in the coldest month, when you need a little extra brightness and warmth.

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I inevitably eat too much during the holidays, especially when I travel back home to Illinois. Because of this, I don’t necessarily look at the New Year as a time to eat healthier, but rather a welcome return to lighter fare and a relief from the heavier foods I just consumed. I like to pull in fresh flavors, use quite a bit of ginger, and include has many leafy greens as I can. Most of the time, those greens are in salad form, but occasionally I’ll make a quick batch of soup, like this flexible, easy Mushroom Chard Soup with Soba Noodles.

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The topics of diet and weight loss are tough for food-lovers; if you just eat good food you shouldn’t ever feel like your weight is a problem, right? Wrong, for many of us. Talk of weight and food is also fraught with a hundred things we try to banish here at The Kitchn: a misplaced sense of guilt, fear of eating the wrong thing, comparisons with other people, dubious science and awkward diets.

And yet food and body are inextricably linked. Is there a way to talk about them together in a healthy, thoughtful way? We think so, and we’re presenting a monthlong column exploring one food-lover and food writer’s journey towards finding her own personal balance. Meet Joy Manning — she’ll be joining us this month with her own stories, practical tips, recipes, and perspective on the real-life struggle between loving food and loving your body.

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Red Lentil Soup

Now that the leftover holiday roasts and sugar cookies have been polished off, and 2015 is officially underway, all I want to eat is soup. Big bowls of hot and satisfying soup that demand an oversized spoon. Soups that are so good you’ll want to eat them all week long. Maybe even longer if you have a big freezer.

There’s no need to go to the grocery store in a panic on Wednesday night when you have one of these leftover soups waiting for you in the fridge. Choose from one of these seventeen hot bowls, including a red lentil soup that’s easy to dress up, to a quick coconut chicken soup that will warm you up with ease.

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For years I assumed that “stock” and “broth” were interchangeable terms for the same thing: liquid flavored with vegetables, meat scraps, and bones used as the base for soups, sauces, and other dishes. And does it really matter what you buy in the store?

But is this actually the case? It turns out that there is a slight but significant difference between stock and broth.

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Q: When baking bread in a non-stick bread pan do I need to spray vegetable oil in the pan first? I do this when I bake bread in a regular bread pan, but I wonder if the crust would get too dark, or be over-baked if I do the same with a non-stick pan.

Sent by Twila

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Did you know you can fit your Mason jar onto your blender to easily make an on-the-go smoothie? Or that you can keep guacamole green by adding a little water on top before storing it? We explored these fun and functional ideas, and more, in this year’s videos. Here’s a look back at the videos that you loved (and we loved!) the most in 2014.

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Fried Cauliflower Rice

Healthy and comforting? The recipes that fall into this magical sliver of the Venn diagram are nothing short of pure mealtime genius. I’m talking about vegetable-forward foods like Lasagna-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash and Grown-Up Tater Tots that still you feel like you’re eating something comforting, plus old favorites like Blueberry Pie Smoothies and Turkey Taco Salad. So good, right?

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