Do you have your very own holiday tradition? Something uniquely yours – perhaps it’s a themed meal or a religious ceremony or just a bouquet of annual depression – something you do each year to commemorate the season. My mother once started a tradition of serving ham hocks on Christmas Eve and then upon realizing we were not cavemen, abandoned it – a tradition of one year and a story for many.

The hamhocks were hung by the chimney with care. Photo courtesy of the kitchn.

My family has a quirky Christmas tradition that started with a book and a classroom assignment. A few years back, I picked up Christmas: A Cooks Tour from a sale rack at Barnes and Nobel. The chapters, divided by country, featured Christmas traditions and menus from around the world and it flashed me back to a pivotal second grade activity of coloring in scenes of Christmas celebrations from different countries. Imagine my shock to learn that my Santa wasn’t the only Santa, my Christmas wasn’t the only Christmas, my religion wasn’t the only…and so on. You mean there are other people outside of Green Lake, Wisconsin? Thus began my Columbus need to venture out; to travel and explore – maybe that’s what brought me to Los Angeles, one of the most diverse cities in the world – or it could have been Tito’s Tacos – we’re not sure.

Back to tradition. The book sparked an idea one year to celebrate traditions of a country other than our own in the U.S. of A. read more

[april]Planning one vegetarian dinner a week is a simple way to a healthier diet. Unfortunately, we scientists confused y’all in the 70’s by obsessing that vegetarian meals needed to contain all 26 “essential amino acids.” Cross-referencing tables of ingredients is not conducive to whipping up meals for hungry families. Moreover, humans survived for thousands of years with little meat in their diet-and no clue about amino acids. To find a vegetarian meal with “complete protein” just look to the common combination found in almost every culture’s heritage foods: Beans and Grains.

There is a campaign, perhaps you’ve heard of it, encouraging us to go meatless on Mondays and it’s called, of course, Meatless Monday. Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their goal is to help reduce meat consumption by 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of the planet; the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide far more than transportation.

We don’t necessarily avoid meat at crunchtime here and here and here;we just like it on occasion, and as more a side dish than a main course – say 4-6 oz portions. We applaud Monday Campaigns for their initiative and are going to do our best to eat meatless meals on Mondays. Here is the first attempt with onion soup – in a big slow cooker.

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When they say holiday spirit, we all know what they mean or what we want them to mean. It’s the moment of peak merriment: somewhere after the first cocktail to commemorate having wrapped the last gift in the car on the way over, and before the fourth drink when Aunt Margaret sloshes about that time when your mom cut off her bangs -“we were just ‘pipsqueaks.”

There’s no reason we can’t be even merrier drinking beverages that are based in real fruit juices – nutrient-infused and made into luscious cocktails that help us stay strong at least until New Year’s. I made this cranberry cocktail because cranberries are abundant and affordable right now, and they produce a juice that is refreshing and heathy. I’ve enjoyed cranberry flavored drinks for years; whipped up from processed bottled juices. And that’s really a-okay because we’re busy creatures, but the real deal, from fresh cranberries, is steeped in antioxidants and C’s and A’s AND without intense quantities of sugar.

A short while ago I had visions of making my own juice from carrot to kale. I thought, I’ll drink my 3-5 daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables and maybe get my kids to ingest the liquid nutrients even from some of those vegetables on their long list of won’t-touch. That same year, for Christmas, I received a mega juicer. Hooray. And also that year, 2008, like most people, I received another Christmas gift that said we had been naughty boys and girls – a big ol’ lump of recession coal. I couldn’t muster the gumption to buy bushels of vegetables only to yield a teaspoon of juice. My juicer gathered dust. read more

I could rename this health nut bar for my sister, Leslie, who gave me this recipe and whose cholesterol and waist measure 24 and 23 respectively, but I feel way too sassy when I saysah-wag. Named swag not for confident strides taken from having made the perfect treat, but for The Swag, the inn behind the famous swag bar, and the cups each of caro syrup and sugar. Leslie (sl)improved a recipe beyond that of aCooking Light reader and I tweaked it for our taste – so they are at least twice as healthy as the original bar. But, the health boost is not the reason to make these gentle wonders.

They are rich, delicious, and kids devour them – still not the reason to make them.

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