If you're taking the plunge into gluten-free eating this year, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed right about now. With so much information and so many products out there, where do you even start? This straightforward guide to gluten-free flours and explanation for making your very own signature flour mix from Shauna Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef is just what you need to get going. More
The thought of using food to recreate priceless works of art doesn't sound particularly beautiful (or appetizing). But wait until you see the efforts of chef/stylist Caitlin Levin and photographer Henry Hargreaves who recreated some of Mark Rothko's paintings with rice. More
Mason jars have become ubiquituous across the blogosphere, transporting everything from soup to cupcakes to oatmeal in practical, sensible style. This practicality means they won't fall out of favor any time soon, we predict. Look at the latest in-jar meal we're crazy about: Layered salads, beautiful and bright. More
We've all been there. The Most Difficult Dinner Guest Ever is coming to dinner. The vegan, gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, how-in-the-world-do-I-feed-them friend. Rise to the occasion — we have five delicious meals that will not only work but satisfy and delight in even the most ingredient-constrained circumstances! More
I love salad bars—not the scary, wilted-food kind, but the good ones at awesome grocery stores. And when you're cooking for one or two, they can be a lifesaver for dinner. Here's how you can shop for dinner ingredients at the salad bar: More
If you’re trying to eat healthier, incorporating a lot of fresh, whole veggies is probably one of the best and easiest steps you can take–which can mean a lot of salads. But what you top your leaf piles with could be the difference between a clean, delicious meal, and a bowl of kale and spinach drowning in additives, preservatives and corn syrup.
Because salad dressing tends to include a lot of less-than-stable ingredients (like cheese, buttermilk, or oils that cloud or get weird-looking when they sit on the shelves), many of the bottles you find on your grocer’s shelves don’t just contain “natural ingredients“–they contain emulsifiers and other additives like propylene glycol, and maltodextrin to ensure consistent texture and flavor. Unfortunately, these preservatives may not be something you’d like to consume. Additionally, in an attempt to be “fat free,” many dressings which would otherwise include olive oil and other healthy fats instead use a combination of water and fillers to imitate a creamy or oily texture.Some store-bought salad dressing does the trick just fine, without too much crud–though they may have some ingredients you wouldn’t personally add, like xanthan gum or lots of sugar. But, if you’re adventurous (and have a few extra moments), you can whip up a super-simple batch of your own drizzle that not only tastes amazing, but is full of good-for-you, less-processed, less-artificial ickiness. And all you need is the stuff you probably already have in your kitchen, like olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and vinegar.
Here are some of the best dressings you can buy (because, let’s be real, some of us have stuff to do)–as well as some of the easiest and tastiest recipes if you’d like to take a stab at making your own. Which, after seeing how simple these recipes are, you definitely will.Image: Thinkstock
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There is certainly no shortage of food blogs on the internet. Nor is there a shortage of food shows on television. But websites with a video component geared solely towards kids? Now this is pretty cool.
Apparently if you come to my house for a party, I'm bound and determined to send you home with miniature drinks. Remember those hot apple cider shots? Well this time around it's hot chocolate... in an ornament. Fill them up and drink straight from it, because this ornament isn't for decoration, it's for deliciousness.
Last year Blisstree published a series of great cookie recipes with a healthy spin to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas. We’ll be posting new healthy recipes for this year, sourced from around the web, but while we’re busy finding more cookie exchange ideas, get started with these 12 top cookie recipes.
 | Brown Sugar Pecan Sandies The good news is that these are extremely simple to make (you don’t even need cookie cutters), but they taste and look like you’ve labored over them over your entire holiday weekend. |
 | Cherry-Pistachio Biscotti Biscotti keep forever, are great for shipping, and the pistachios and cherries in this recipe make them especially festive for the holidays. Plus, they’re one of the few cookies that we don’t feel guilty eating first thing on Christmas morning. |
 | Healthy Orange-Cardamom Madeleines Madeleines aren’t a conventional holiday cookie (and they’re not usually that healthy) but they’ve always been one of my favorite treats, so I’ll always lobby to put them on a holiday cookie platter. This recipe includes whole wheat flour for an extra healthy treat. |
 | Raspberry-Filled Swedish Rye Cookies I adapted these cookies from a recipe on one of my favorite cooking blogs,101 cookbooks, and have loved them ever since. They’re completely whole grain, and though they do contain sugar, they’re not over-sweet, making them healthy and, in my opinion, delicious. |
 | Raspberry Involtini Involtini is Italian for “roll-up” (or at least that’s my rough translation), and can be applied to meats, vegetables, and in this case: pastry. These roll-up cookies can be made any time of year, but they’re so good-looking and tasty that I think they make a perfect addition to the Christmas cookie plate. |
 | Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies These peanut butter kiss cookies are family classic during the holidays. Problem is, they’re not the healthiest Christmas cookies in the recipe box. The substitution of Hershey’s dark chocolate kisses and organic peanut butter help control the guilt factor on these amazing cookies. |
After the jump you’ll find 6 more amazing cookie recipes to keep your holiday treat cravings sated.
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Spreading the holiday love. Photo: TheChanel
MANY OF THESE drinks are tied to customs that are thousands of years old and meant to warm the body at the coldest and darkest time of the year. Here’s to bringing people together to celebrate life — let’s hope it never goes out of style. If you want to drink the old fashioned way, here are some holiday drinks you can make with a chaser of history.
Could be trouble brewing. Photo: jeremytarling
The drink has not always been associated with a benevolent seasonal spirit, though. In the Middle Ages, wassailing was a time for peasants to knock on the doors of the feudal lords and demand food, drink and charity in exchange for well wishes of ‘Waes Hail’ or ‘Good Health’. If the rich did not oblige they were likely to be cursed or have their estates vandalized.
The Christmas carol we sing today, “Here We Go a Caroling” is originally “Here We Go a Wassailing.” And the classic, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” makes more sense if you consider that the wassailers would stand outside the door and call for the master to bring them a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer (wassail). They wouldn’t leave until they got some.In commercial versions of these carols the words sometimes get changed, so try singing the originals this year and offer some steaming wassail to any carolers you encounter.
Here are some wassail recipes from History.UK.com.Traditionally, Twelfth Night was a holiday marked by wild celebration and general raucous merriment when the royal and wealthy acted like the peasants and vice versa. A king’s cake would be baked with a bean in it, and the peasant lucky enough to get the bean in his slice was dubbed the Lord of Misrule and permitted to officiate over the feast and the entire upside-down night — that is until midnight when all returned to order.
At contemporary dining tables the king’s cake is often reserved for the children of the family. The bean finder may get a small gift or be the honorary lord of the feast while the adults indulge in a few pints of lambswool.If you want to try making lambswool, you can go to HistoricalFoods.com to see how.
A man serves up a hot toddy on a chilly winter road. Photo: nickyfem
Hot toddy was also probably invented to appeal to the non-drinkers of Scotland. The whiskey had a harsh, earthy flavor and was drunk more easily when heated and mixed with sugar. The origin of its name is debatable, perhaps derived from a liquor of the same name fermented from palm tree sap in India, or perhaps from Todian Spring which supplied Edinburgh with its water.
This winter, on those frigid nights when the breath plumes from your mouth like a chimney, why not duck into the dim light of your neighborhood pub, hang your hat by the frosy door, and dip into a steaming stein of hot toddy with the regulars?About.com has a five minute recipe you can follow.
At a time when the sanitary standards of drinking water were questionable, sterile liquor was a popular beverage, so people came up with creative ways to prepare their drinks. Hot buttered rum was also a great way to warm the lungs during the frozen Northeastern American winters.
Originally the drink was associated with secular holidays like Thanksgiving and New Year due to the Puritan belief of abstaining during religious holidays. But as restrictions mellowed, its popularity met in the middle and became a staple Christmas beverage.Traditionally hot buttered rum is made with dark rum aged in oak barrels to mature the molasses flavor, though it can also be made with Captain Morgan for a spicier flavor or Bacardi for something milder. You can celebrate Hot Buttered Rum Day on Jan 17, which coincidentally or not is also the date of the original Twelfth Night celebration before the Christian calendar was introduced.
Here’s a recipe for hot buttered rum from Emeril Lagasse on FoodNetwork.com.In 1615, Spanish princess Anna of Austria introduced the drink to her new husband, King Louis XIII of France. News of the rich potion quickly spread throughout Europe and by 1657 the first chocolate houses were established in London and Paris. Later in the 17th century milk was added to the recipe, and in 1828 — 200 years after the drink was first conceived in Europe — a Dutchman named Hendrick Van Houten developed a technique of squeezing the cocoa butter out of the seed then cooling, pulverizing and sifting the remaining part. The result was something similar to the instant cocoa powder we pour into hot water or milk to make hot chocolate today.
Hot chocolate is a winter drink, and you can choose to see it as a commercial emblem of the holiday season. Even so, after digging out the car and shoveling the driveway, or battling blizzards on a cold commute, a warm cup of cocoa is hard to beat.Check out five variations on hot chocolate at ChocoBlog.com.
A posset pot from the Netherlands in the late 17th or early 18th century. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A posset has three distinct layers: the frothy layer called the grace, a custard layer in the middle, and the alcohol at the bottom, which was served in a special posset pot. The pots were often made of silver and extremely ornate and were given for gifts at weddings and special occasions. They look like a hybrid between a teapot and a baby’s sippy cup, and the traditional way to imbibe is to sip directly from the spout rather than pour a cup.
Contemporary posset resembles a custardy desert that can be indulged in year-round, but the historical drink makes the list for perhaps its most lasting holiday legacy: egg nog.Don’t be scared. You can make it by following one of the recipes at HistoricFood.com.
He's a nog chugger. Photo: CosmoPolitician
The drink was originally only reserved for the English aristocracy as dairy products were scarce and expensive, as were the brandy or fortified wines they spiked them with. In America — where there was no shortage of cows and chickens, or inexpensive rum for that matter — the drink was widely drunk.
Egg nog has become a quintessential holiday drink in America and far more popular there than where it was originally conceived. You can make your own or buy a few cartons at your local supermarket, pour it in a large punch bowl and mix in some rum, whiskey, brandy, or if you’d like to go more traditional, ale. Then serve it to your friends and family as ultimately this drink is best suited for parties.You can peruse recipes to make your own egg nog at EggNogaholic.com.
The Tom and Jerry was a holiday staple for a century in America, until the ’60s when it all but disappeared from the country’s cocktail vernacular. This holiday season why not resurrect egg nog’s fallen comrade and drink a piece of Americana?
A Tom and Jerry should be served in an Irish coffee glass or a coffee mug. But if you want an authentic drinking experience, there used to be official white Tom and Jerry mugs that can still be found in thrift stores or on eBay.The recipe for a Tom and Jerry can be found on WineIntro.com.
Cider. Mmmmm. Photo: Special*Dark
Cider was omnipresent in America, brewed by the tens of barrels for just one family for one season. In fact, the drink was such an essential part of American dining that when prohibition all but halted the production of cider, thousands of orchards were cleared for new crops as the famers saw no other useful purpose for the trees. Because of prohibition, this once-essential drink now has only a small niche market of drinkers in America.
Because of the timing of harvest and the low shelf life of virgin cider, Thanksgiving and Christmas became cider’s high season. During these cold months it was often mulled or mixed with hard liquors. The most popular cider cocktail was called a stone wall, which you can easily make today at your next family gathering by mixing cider with rum.Making your own cider is a serious undertaking, but instructions on how to do it can be found here.
For your glugging pleasure, it's glogg. Photo: IIP State
Because Glogg has origins with the Yule celebration and St. Lucia’s Day falls on December 13, it has become a drink for the entire holiday season. Additionally, in older times, wine would often reach the end of its shelf life during the winter months, so those who wanted to continue drinking palatable wine warmed it and added sweeteners and spices to mask the acidic flavors.
Historically in Sweden it was bad form for visitors to leave your house during the holiday season without being offered some hospitality, otherwise, the Christmas spirit would leave your home. To foster a warmer and more festive holiday spirit in your home, you can try it yourself. Glogg is often served in a glass, mixed with raisins and almonds and the best accompaniment is freshly baked gingerbread cookies or gingersnaps.Here’s a recipe for Swedish glogg from Food.com. 
Unlike store-bought pie crusts, which contain ingredients like Yellow 5 and 6 and partially hydrogenated lard (sorry, vegetarians), a homemade pie crust requires just water, flour, salt, and butter (or vegan butter, which I’ve been told works like a charm, but sort of negates the whole “simplicity” factor). Even if you make no attempts to make your crust more healthy, by using whole wheat flour or adding flax or something, your pie crust made at home will be way better for you and your guests than anything in a store.
The two biggest things to worry about with a pie crust is first, to make sure the water and butter are both chilled–it’ll keep everything from getting creamed together. Second, make sure you have plenty of it. Water is what keeps your crust pliable, and will keep it from shattering apart when you try to put it in your pie tin. The salt is a little less important, so if you’re using salted butter or are watching your sodium, you can cut back a little on that.The recipe is pretty much universal–most pies are the same size, and the amounts of each ingredient are fairly static–but of course, you can gussy it up in any way you like. Basically, it’s this:
Making the crust is also supremely easy. Click through for the directions:
Images : Mine
Photo by janineomg
In Food Rules, Michael Pollan tells us to “eat as much [junk food] as you want as long as you make it yourself.” Would you eat Doritos with lunch everyday if you had to make the tortilla chips and powder them yourself?
If you give any of these homemade foods a shot, do it in bulk. Most of them have a decent shelf or freezer life, and the health benefits you’ll reap from controlling exactly what goes into your body will be worth the extra effort.
Photo by Christian Cable
This is something to think of as a hobby, as it requires the proper tools and a lot of time and dedication to get right – but think about all that delicious experimentation you’ll get to do. If you’re interested, Instructables has a great step-by-step brewing guide.
Photo by cherrylet
Keep the jar at 110F for four to six hours. You can do this by putting a pot of warm water in your oven on the lowest setting, checking with the thermometer to ensure the water is at 110F, and submerging the mason jar in the pot. It should be pretty firm, although it will thicken up more as it cools. Store your yogurt in the refrigerator.
Fill a spray bottle with water and spray the corn meal until it’s moist. Don’t touch or stir. Allow the mixture to cook until the water is about halfway evaporated, then add granulated sugar, powdered sugar, cinnamon, or any mixture of sweetener you like to the sifter and sift on top of the corn meal to taste. Continue letting it cook until the water vanishes and the corn meal begins to lift from the pan. Use a spatula to remove the corn meal in flakes and store in an airtight container.
In addition to experimenting with sweeteners, you can try this one with other flours, like buckwheat, amaranth, or spelt.
Photo by timo_w2s
The toughest part of this process seems to be the stuffing, and again, a good stuffer will make all the difference. You can smoke them or bake them, then crisp them up in a hot oiled skillet. Knowing your mustard-and-relished dog is free of pig anus and rat hairs will hopefully make all the work worthwhile.
Preheat your oven to 400F and spread about 1/3 cup of hazelnuts, skins on, on a cookie sheet. Let them toast until the skins are dark (around 15 minutes). Wrap them in a clean towel and rub until the skins are off.
Place the hazelnuts in a food processor for around 5 minutes or until they’re liquefied, then set them aside. Heat 3/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, and 3 tablespoons of honey in a double-boiler, stirring until the chips have melted. Pour the chocolatey goodness into the processor with the hazelnuts and mix until smooth. Store in an airtight container, or just eat it all with a spoon straight out of the processor.
Photo by dcjohn
Choose any organic fruits and vegetables you like and get rid of the skins (if applicable). Use a steamer to get them nice and soft, then add to a food processor with some of the water from the steamer (which has a lot of the vitamins from the produce) and/or formula. Process until smooth and serve at room temperature or chilled.
