A Food52 Christmas

Stress Free Vegan Holiday Gingerbread Cookies

One of the nicest developments that 2012 offered me was the chance to work with the wonderful food website Food52. The site was co-founded by Merrill Stubbs and Amanda Hesser, two women whose culinary talent can only be matched by their fine taste in food, writing, and photography. I’ve admired the site since Chloe introduced me to it, and have been so touched by the warmth with which the Food52 family has welcomed my column into their fold. I’ve always been immensely dismayed by the way “foodie” culture sometimes turns its nose up at veganism. Seeing vegan food on a site like Food52 makes me hopeful that veganism is being increasingly welcomed into the culture of fine cooking. After all, it is taste—not the identity of particular ingredients—that makes food memorable.

A lot of the columns I shared on Food52 this year—from salads to stews, casseroles to cookies—were great for holiday cooking. So tonight, in lieu of a standard CR holiday round up, I’d love to share some of my favorite Food52 recipes, in the hope that they’ll light up your holiday.

You can begin your meal with a bright, crispy kale salad with puy lentils and red cabbage:

Raw Kale Salad with Lentils and Sweet Apricot Vinaigrette

For a soup course, try whipping up some yam and peanut stew with kale:

Yam and Peanut Stew with Kale

For an entrée, you can try my vegan shepherd’s pie:

Vegan Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with Parsnip and and Potato Mash

Or my butternut squash, brussels sprout, and bread stuffing:

Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprout, and Bread Stuffing with Apples

For dessert, you don’t want to miss my perfect vegan pumpkin pie:

You Won't Believe it's Vegan Pumpkin Pie

With my signature vegan pie crust:

Perfect Vegan Pie Crust

Or a batch of my stress free vegan gingerbread men or women!

Stress Free Vegan Holiday Gingerbread Cookies

I think those cookies would be perfect to lay out by the tree for Santa, too, if anyone’s still baking tonight Smile

I’ll have more to say about the season and the end of 2012 at New Year’s. It’s an odd year to look back on because it brought so much hardship to so many people close to me, and so many people nationally. But in spite of this, I am so grateful for my blessings—my home, my family, my incredible friends, my education, my health, and of course, the blog community. Merry Christmas to all (and to all a good night)!

xo

P.S. By the way, thanks to Ela, I finally figured out that “52” means the 52 weeks of the year. Duh. Sometimes I worry about myself.

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    7 Comments
  1. i had a surprisingly vegan christmas dinner at my in-laws. i loathe ham and that was the protein. however, they did have a great braised red cabbage and cilantro dish, sweet potato + peaches roasted, dilly carrots and i brought my raw cran-pom relish. i am not making any statements in stone on this but i am leaning towards starting 2013 vegan. i already eat 2 out of my 3 meals totally vegan already so i figure i can try a couple days a week to start and see how things go! i’m actually quite surprised at the variety—i’m sure that Eden (that great raw place in pittsburgh) has helped inspire me towards this since their food is delish but i’m pretty excited!

  2. I’m sure they knew you would represent the vegan community with class and accessible recipes that are much more mainstream than “extreme,” which is why they brought you aboard. Mission accomplished so far 😉

    Merry Christmas to you and yours and continued success in 2013!

  3. Happy Christmas Gena! I’m so glad you got onto the Food52 site, we all need to be persistent about getting vegan cusine recognized by “foodie” (there *has* to be a better word out there!) culture.
    Will be interested in your thoughts on 2012, I also feel odd looking back on it.

  4. Hahahaha! I always wondered what 52 had to do with anything. Hope you’re having a very Merry Christmas! I don’t know if you were in the New York area last night, but we got a wonderful Christmas Eve dusting. Hope you got to enjoy it too!

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