Holidays

Holiday Recipes

The holiday season is upon us! I’ve got you covered to ensure you have the best holiday season filled with joy, laughter, and incredibly delicious food.

Nothing says the holidays quite like an easy whole day Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve menu bursting with colors, flavors, and that savory scent of holiday ham wafting throughout the house.

Just when the holiday season is getting started, I set out a fall-inspired Baked Goat Cheese Balls so I can mingle with friends. 

If you need inspiration in the sweets department, I’ve got you covered there too. Our holiday celebrations would not be complete without an elaborate display of cookies, cakes, pies, and tarts that are both pleasing to the eye and palate. Somehow, there is always room for a sweet holiday treat such as Paleo Gingerbread Cookies.

Some of my favorite holiday recipe ideas include a colorful bounty of delicious salads and vegetable side dishes (and it takes some of the guilt away from all those holiday goodies).

Whether for one, two, three, or a crowd, you’ll be sure to entertain in style with one or all of these easy holiday recipes.

Appetizers Perfect For The Holidays

Here are some of the best appetizer recipes for the holiday season. Appetizers offer the perfect opportunity to meet, mingle, and jingle your way to the best holiday season. Here is a list of creative and inspired appetizer recipes to entertain your guests with a nibble of incredibly delicious hors d’oeuvres.

Kick off the Thanksgiving holiday with a fall-themed Meat and Cheese Platter that will certainly give you some party tray ideas. Learn how to beautifully arrange the right combination of wine, meats, cheese, and crackers.

If restaurant-style entertaining is more your style, prepare a make-ahead Olive Oil Bread Dip. When ready to serve, all you have to do is bake a fresh loaf of my Olive Bread specked with Kalamata olives. Rustic, crusty, and simply divine.

Easy Christmas appetizers are a must once December comes around. For simple, elegant appetizer recipes, I always make Blackberry Baked Brie that really outshines the traditional brie en croute.

Host a fabulous New Year’s Eve soiree with elegant appetizer recipes including this Baked Goat Cheese Dip that will have your guests going back for more.

I’ve got you covered whether you need easy appetizer bites, a simple snack board, or an entire appetizer spread. Share with your friends, family, and neighbors along with delicious holiday cocktails and good conversation.

Vegetable Side Dishes

If you are in need of great vegetable recipes for the holidays, you have come to the right place! Here are over 35 vegetable side dishes (and counting) perfect for the holidays.

I think I speak for the majority when I say my favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the sides. Although the turkey is the show stopper, nothing says Thanksgiving like an abundance of vegetable side dishes to pass around our holiday table.

My tried and true Thanksgiving recipes will keep you inspired in the kitchen, but if you want some more holiday-inspired recipes, you definitely need to try Sweet Potato Souffle topped with a generous sprinkle of pecan streusel that will impress all your lucky eaters.

One potato recipe is never enough in our house, so we always amp up that potato satisfaction with Easy Mashed Sweet Potatoes or Double Layered Mashed Potato Casserole when one type of potato just isn’t enough.

This time of year means the squash season is in full bloom. To showcase the bounty at the farmer’s market, I like to prepare Roasted Delicata Squash with a beautifully balanced agrodolce sauce. But if I’m wondering what to bring to Christmas dinner, these Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash filled with quinoa, cranberries, apples, and pecans touch on sweet and savory flavors everyone at the table enjoys.

Whether you need Thanksgiving roasted vegetables, Christmas dinner sides, or simple holiday vegetable casseroles, these recipes are sure to become a yearly tradition. Easy, colorful, and festive, no wonder everyone’s favorite part is the holiday vegetable side dishes.

Whole Grain Recipes

Here are the best grain recipes to add some hearty goodness to your holiday table. I love to incorporate a few ancient grains recipes that I know my guests will love. Not only are they delicious, but they add that special touch of elegance to every table.

The beauty behind grain recipes is their ease of preparation. Once you master How To Cook Wild Rice (or Instant Pot Wild Rice, if you’re short on time), you’ll realize that many rice dishes can be made-ahead. This starchy grain also acts as a perfect blank canvas to add nutty goodness to salads, soups, and classic holiday casseroles.

Looking for whole-grain sides to compliment succulent meat dishes and robust holiday vegetable sides? Take the stress away from all that holiday cooking and prepare Brown Rice and Mushroom Bake. All the magic takes place in the oven, giving you time and energy to focus on entertaining.

And if all your holiday cooking is already planned, but you’re in need of an American side dish that will come together in minutes, my every day Lemon Quinoa is the perfect accompaniment to your main holiday spread. Now you are ready to celebrate a wonderfully rich and hearty holiday season.

Holiday Salad Recipes

Ready to make the most delicious holiday salad recipes to celebrate that holiday cheer? Here are the best holiday salads that will take the guilt out of enjoying one too many holiday cookies.

I’ve got you covered with an array of salad recipes filled with leafy greens, fruit, nuts, cheese, quinoa, rice, and more.

Thanksgiving may be all about the turkey and sides, but nothing says fall like a crisp, crunchy, colorful Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with apples. Plus, it’s a wonderful make-ahead green salad recipe for a crowd that will take the stress out of Thanksgiving.

This Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad is another one of my favorite make-ahead meals packed with vegetables and plant-protein I can bring to many of our holiday celebrations.

Hosting your very own Christmas dinner? Winter salad recipes are easy and will add a bright, festive color to your dinner table. A simple Brussels Sprouts Kale Salad flecked with pomegranate and maple-roasted pecans sings all things wintertime. But when I want a hearty and robust salad side, my go-to recipe is  Wild Rice Salad.

Feel free to serve any one of these salads with simple soup recipes or no-knead bread if you celebrate the holiday season with a small group of friends.

Trust me when I say – these easy holiday salad ideas will keep you and your guests satisfied without weighing you down. I like to think of it as an excuse to enjoy an extra cookie (or two).

Holiday Cookie Recipes

Here are easy and delicious holiday cookie recipes that really highlight those sweet, sugary flavors of the snow-covered season. Whenever I think of the holidays, my mind instantly goes towards baking. And more specifically, cookies.

There is such a sense of nostalgia and comfort behind cookie making during the holidays. As soon as November comes around, my mixer is already set out on the kitchen counter for the many sweet, tasty treats I like to enjoy with family and friends.

Nothing says Thanksgiving like the delicate scent of warming spices wafting throughout the house. That’s why I always make sure to make Paleo Gingerbread Cookies. They are soft, chewy, and just so happen to be gluten, grain, refined sugar, and dairy-free.

As soon as Christmas starts approaching, I start receiving invites for the many cookie exchange parties my friends host in celebration of a sweet holiday season. One of the best holiday cookie exchange recipes that my friends simply adore (mostly because they require only 6-ingredients) is Almond Flour Cookies that taste just like shortbread.

But for those Christmas dinner celebrations when I want to take it up a notch, I always make Coconut Sugar Cookies. They are an elegant Christmas sugar cookie with easy icing cut out in any shape or size.

If a beautiful cake, pie, tart, brownie, or cupcake is more your baking style, there are plenty of sweet, simple dessert recipes featured on the blog, too. It’s my way of saying “Cheers” to a sugar-dusted holiday season!

Cocktails

Nothing says the holidays like a few fun and festive holiday cocktail recipes. Here you will find party drink recipes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.

In my opinion, the best holiday drink recipes start with rum. This Cranberry and Mint Rum Punch, a Caribbean-inspired cocktail, is made with rum, cranberry-infused simple syrup and a garnish of fresh mint. Beautifully crisp, tart and crimson, it’s my go-to punch for all of my holiday parties.

If you’re looking for holiday drinks with vodka, this Mango Vodka Cocktail is delicious and will certainly bring a little sparkle to your soiree. But for sweet, spicy, smoky flavors, I love to make Mezcal Pineapple Cocktail.

Any one of these simple holiday drink recipes will complement a delicious holiday spread. So grab your favorite cocktail glasses, sip to your heart’s desire, and cheers to the simple pleasure of company with family, friends, and neighbors.

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