Now introducing… the wintery side dish or vegetarian main dish that you didn’t know you needed! You’ll love how it comes together with one pot on the stove and one pan in the oven.

This festive green and red dish features roasted Brussels sprouts cooked to crisp-tender perfection with fresh cranberries, which become so lovely as they bake on the same pan alongside the sprouts. Add chopped pecans to the pan toward the end of baking to toast them.

Once your components are done cooking, combine them in a bowl over cooked wild rice blend. Finish it off with crumbled goat cheese, plus a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. The flavors remind me of my popular Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries & Pecans, but you can eat this one as a standalone meal. It’s a winner.

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Cranberry salsa? Why not! This surprising salsa is bold and tangy. The bitterness of the cranberries is tempered with sweetness from orange juice and a little bit of honey. Most cranberry salsa recipes are too sweet, calling for as much as one cup sugar. This one is well-balanced, and you can adjust it to suit your taste buds.

This cranberry salsa recipe was inspired by one my late grandmother brought to our family’s Christmas celebration years ago. It was festive and colorful, and I just loved it.

With my grandmother’s recipe in mind, I improvised this salsa last year when our friend Tessa and her husband came over. My grandmother served her salsa with cream cheese, but I noticed we all ignored the cream cheese and kept going back for more salsa. I don’t think it requires an accompaniment, but you’ll find serving suggestions below.

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These fluffy cranberry orange muffins will make your house smell like the holidays! I hope they become your new favorite holiday muffin recipe. They’re fluffy and moist and delicious—everything I want a muffin to be.

These muffins are bursting with fresh cranberry and orange flavor. This recipe calls for fresh cranberries, which are generally available in United States grocery stores from October or November through December. You can also use frozen cranberries, but I don’t recommend dried cranberries here.

These muffins are made with wholesome ingredients like whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt. They’re naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. You can keep those details to yourself, though—no one will guess that these muffins are healthier than most.

You can easily mix these together by hand. No mixer required. Serve them for breakfast or brunch, or bring them to your holiday parties!

It took me eight tries to get these muffins just right, but they were absolutely worth the effort. I’m sharing the recipe again because they’re just so wonderful this time of year.

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This holiday punch is unlike any I’ve ever had, and I think you’re going to love it. It’s not too sweet. It tastes like pear, vanilla, spice and everything nice. It’s a smooth, easy sipper, even with tequila inside. Yep, tequila!

This pitcher of cocktails was inspired by an oldie but goodie, my Pear Nectar Cocktails with Reposado Tequila. That cocktail is proof that simple ingredients can yield a delightfully complex cocktail. If you’re just making one or two drinks, follow that recipe instead.

You won’t need any fancy liqueurs for this holiday punch recipe, just some pear juice, reposado tequila, plus a few basic ingredients—lemon juice, club soda, cinnamon and vanilla extract.

If you’d like to batch some cocktails for your family or friends, this punch is just the ticket. Serve it at your holiday party! You could also share some holiday cheer by dropping off a jar of cocktails with friends or neighbors. I wrote the recipe to yield eight drinks, and you can divide or multiply it as you’d like.

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Healthy, attainable, feel-good recipes—those are my favorite. Take this simple green salad, which has been my go-to holiday salad for five years now.

I’ve brought it to too many Friendsgivings to count, and my family has enjoyed it at Thanksgiving as well. It’s beautiful, easy to make, and a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

This salad features fresh spring greens, tart Granny Smith apple, sweet dried cranberries and creamy goat cheese, tossed in a simple apple cider vinaigrette (recipe included).

I usually try to outdo myself when it comes to salads, but I kept this one simple. It’s the perfect side salad for all of your cool-weather meals.

Make it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any meal in between!

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This stunning salad came to be by accident. In a state of impending hanger, I threw together the leftovers scavenged from my fridge: fresh arugula, cooked wild rice, baked sweet potato fries (why not?), and ginger dressing.

I topped it with the leftover toasted nuts and seeds sitting in a bowl by the sink, and somehow summoned the energy to add some crumbled feta.

That salad really hit the spot, so I jotted down some notes about it and here we are.

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If you’re looking for a last-minute holiday recipe to bring to a party, I’ve got you covered! No need to make a batch of cookies when you can whip up some chocolate bark.

This chocolate bark recipe is so easy to make, and I bet you have all of the ingredients in your pantry already. Today, I’m sharing my favorite chocolate bark recipe, plus tips on how to change it up.

The chocolate bark you see here features dark chocolate (you can even use good chocolate chips), topped with toasted chopped nuts and seeds and dried cranberries.

I sprinkled it lightly with flaky sea salt, which basically makes it taste like sweet-and-salty trail mix chocolate bark. You could call it gourmet and healthy (in moderation, like everything else). Let’s make some!

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Let’s talk about cranberry sauce! It’s the neglected, afterthought condiment of Thanksgiving, but no holiday table is complete without it. Cranberry sauce adds a very necessary burst of sweet-tart flavor and ruby red color to an otherwise beige meal.

This naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is much prettier than store-bought, not to mention extra delicious thanks to the honey or maple syrup.

Plus, this homemade cranberry sauce couldn’t be easier to make. It’s ready in about 10 minutes. If you need a quick and easy Friendsgiving option, sign up for the cranberry sauce!

Here’s what you’ll need to make this cranberry sauce recipe:

• 1 bag of fresh cranberries
• Honey or maple syrup
• Water
• Zest from one orange, or orange juice

…and a pot to cook it in. That’s it.

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These roasted Brussels sprouts are so good, I have to stop myself from devouring the whole platter. They’re irresistible! While the recipe is simple enough to make on a weeknight, I hope they’ll also appear at your Thanksgiving or Christmas feast.

This festive side dish recipe features roasted Brussels sprouts, plump dried cranberries, toasted pecans and a drizzle of thick balsamic vinegar (or balsamic glaze). I like to add some Parmesan cheese or a few little pats of butter for added richness. Have mercy.

This recipe is famous in my husband’s family. He got the recipe from his sister, and I tinkered with it from there. The original recipe called for pancetta, which I don’t eat as a vegetarian, so I adjusted the ingredients and method and came up with this one.

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I have a story for you. I can’t believe I haven’t told you already! A few Fridays ago, I drove out to Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Missouri. The clouds grew ominously dark on my way out there, so I knew we were in for another storm.

We watched the clouds roll closer and closer as we sampled some amazing cheese and wine (if you live in the Kansas City area, you really must go). Soon, it was pouring rain like it had the night before. Lighting! Thunder! Electricity zig-zagged across the sky. Then, the tornado sirens started wailing.

I really love a good storm, and we couldn’t have picked a better place to get stuck in one. We picked up our cheese plate and our wine glasses and headed down to the basement, making friends with a few ladies on a birthday trip on the way. The representative from the vineyard refilled our glasses, and the tornado never touched down.

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