My favorite recipes from 2009, just 12 of the best recipes of the year, recipes that especially express "fresh" and "easy" and "memorable" and "flavor-forward" and "seasonal" — all hallmarks of Kitchen Parade recipes. Ditto. Ditto. It happens every year, Thanksgiving tumbling into Advent, Christmas careening toward New Year's. The lists are long and never once completed. This year, it was especially easy to welcome off-list activities: a 2080-mile trek to visit my mother's Canadian family to sample Christmas cookies; a "bring-a-salad-ingredient" party; a surprise breakfast just hours Christmas house guests arrived; a feast cooked by a husband-wife-daughter team who make Iron Chef look like Amateur Night; a lesson in shortbread from my sister. Though good food figured in all these good times, food was hardly their point. So while selecting 2009's best recipes, I ignored the temptation to share another story,...

Swedish Kalops This is such a quick and easy winter stew recipe, just chunks of beef slow-cooked with onions and cranberry, creating melt-in-your-mouth tender bites of meat, simple enough for a weeknight supper but special enough for company too. Beef Stew with Cranberries is based on an old-fashioned recipe for Swedish Kalops, no wonder it's perfect for cold winter nights! Homestyle Whole Food, Simply Prepared. Just Seven Ingredients. Beef Stew Made from Scratch. Use Up That Leftover Cranberry Sauce! A Long-Time Family Favorite. Hearty & Filling. High Protein. So Good!

Bodacious = Bold + Audacious Looking for a side dish that's fresh and green for holiday menus? Bodacious Brussels Sprouts are prepped ahead of time then finished in a flash just before serving, studded with buttery pecans and laced with caramelized onions! Bodacious, indeed. Real Food, Fresh & Seasonal. Pretty Color! Weeknight Easy, Weekend & Holiday Special. Low Carb. Vegetarian & Easy to Convert to Vegan. Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

Just in time for Christmas cookie plates, an oh-so-pretty and easy-to-work-with roll-out sugar cookie dough that makes festive Christmas Stars, red and white and sparkly silver. No icing required! Colorful Christmas Cookies, Made from Scratch. Very Pretty on a Cookie Plate. No Frosting!

How to make Finnish Meatballs from scratch, baked in the oven and cloaked in a cream gravy that's contrasts so well with tart lingonberries. Suomolaiset Lihapullat are a traditional Christmas food in Finland and below you'll find my Christmas menu that pairs these light and tender meatballs with other typical Scandinavian recipes, perfect for festive family meals and holiday entertaining, either as the main course served in a shallow skillet or slow cooker or shaped as mini meatballs for an appetizer. Best of all? Finnish Meatballs freeze well so can be made ahead of time, that means no last-minute cooking! Traditional Finnish Recipe, a Favorite at Christmas. Three Easy Techniques for Light, Tender Meatballs. Great for Meal Prep, Great for Freezing, Great for Mostly Hands-Off Party Food. Potluck & Party Friendly. Low Carb. High Protein. Weight Watchers Friendly.

Maybe we should hold a contest to name these cookies, for there’s no deciding. Gingerbread Cookies with Chocolate? Chocolate Spice Cookies? Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies? I finally decided on Chocolate Ginger Crinkle Cookies but what I really know these chocolate-y ginger-y cookies deserve is, “C’mon over. Let’s dunk a cookie into a cup of coffee.” A little long, yes, but aren’t you just dying for a coffee now? These cookies, they'll do that to ya. A Sweet Treat Especially for Gingerbread Lovers, Coffee Lovers and Chocolate Lovers. Great for Gifts. Quick to Make with Pantry Ingredients. Spice Forward.

Wondering about good ways to use up leftover turkey? (Or leftover roast chicken?) Here's one recipe idea, an old favorite from my mother. It's home-cooking good and will be on the table in no time. And for anyone feeling less than svelte after the holiday? In Weight Watchers points, it's just six PointsPlus for a main dish serving, about as good it gets! My home ec-teacher mom was my personal cooking help line, as much as it pained her to answer my some times clueless questions. You see, I’d been allowed to pass out of Foods I, the beginning high school cooking class she taught, straight into Foods II taught by another home ec teacher. “Hello, Mom? How do I make … ” From the other end of the phone came the audible sigh I’d come to expect. With each gap in my knowledge, she’d berate, “If you’d only taken Foods I.” Luckily, it became our little joke, a private moment of shared history. Today’s young cooks have no idea what it’s like to face a mother like th...

Recipe for jellied cranberry sauce made with fresh cranberries and softly gelled with the natural pectin in apples. A perfect recipe substitute for cylinders of canned cranberry sauce all jiggly-wobbly with high-fructose corn syrup. Quick and easy and nothing – nothing – like canned cranberry sauce. No gelatin so naturally vegan. The sad news that the pages of Gourmet shall go blank this month hit hard, like the loss of a family elder who seemed ready to live forever. Looking back, it was Gourmet’s 1986 or 1987 Thanksgiving issue that first revealed to me the concept of simple food cooked well, and in season, that expresses the food sensibility I call my own today. Who needs a can of mushroom soup when it’s so easy to slice mushrooms for Homemade Mushroom Soup ? Who wants a fridgeful of salad dressing when it’s so fast to mix a quick vinaigrette right in the salad bowl? Twelve boxes (one for each month) of back issues are testament to a long affair with food magazines, Go...