December 23 to January 3: What to Cook During the Holiday Season

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

“What time is it?” While on holiday, you may lose track of time but you still get hungry! No matter the time of day, a grilled cheese is always a perfect fit. Add a fancy touch by garnishing it with tomatoes, caramelized onions and a little arugula for texture.

Plump Pancakes

After a lazy morning, there’s no better reason to get out of bed than to make a satisfying breakfast. Pancakes are often family favourites, so why not try this classic recipe? It brings together all the essential pancake elements: thickness, softness and simplicity. Serve them with maple syrup or a super easy blueberry sauce.

Coconut Curry Ramen with Chicken (or Turkey) and Bok Choy

As usual, there’s still tons of turkey left. We like to transform recipes in order to use our leftovers, just like this chicken ramen soup, which can easily be made with turkey. It’s a great idea for dinners and lunches during the holidays or even over the next couple weeks—at least until the turkey runs out!

Hot Chocolate with Melted Marshmallows

After snowshoeing through the woods, shovelling the driveway or simply because it’s so good, hot chocolate is a true holiday ritual, and even better when it’s homemade. We like ours super rich, made with cocoa, dark chocolate and a pinch of cayenne pepper for kick! We also melt marshmallows on top for that unctuous, creamy texture.

Chocolate Spice Cookies

Santa Claus is entitled to his cookies, and so are you! Have fun creating pretty shapes and patterns with these seasonally spiced, chocolate cookies. The scent of cinnamon and nutmeg will fill the house with warmth while you give your inner cookie decorator free rein!

Kitchen Sink Fried Rice

Leftover Christmas Eve turkey, slices of bacon from Christmas Day brunch and some crudité vegetables from the potluck with the in-laws are sitting in the fridge, but what to do with all of it? An everything-but-the-kitchen-sink fried rice! Toss it all together, add rice, vegetables and spices for a quick and flavourful mid-holiday-week dinner.

Beer Cheese Fondue

When you’re on holiday, it’s ok to eat cheese for dinner, right? So break out that fondue pot and mix Oka and Swiss cheese with cornstarch and white beer. Then start dipping roasted vegetables, boiled potatoes, country bread, dry sausage and even endive leaves in that irresistible cheesy goodness.

Sweet Popcorn

A comfy sofa, a blanket, slippers and the remote control—that’s almost everything you need for hours of TV and movie time. The one thing missing? Popcorn! This sweet version could not be easier to make: Melt brown sugar and butter in a saucepan and add popcorn.

Irish Coffee

Adults are allowed to have some holiday treats, too! For dessert, this alcohol-based drink is made with strong coffee, Irish cream, coffee liqueur and orange liqueur. Simply heat it up and put a scoop of ice cream in each cup. Decadent!

Candy Cane Bark

Dark chocolate, white chocolate and crumbled candy canes are all it takes to make a bark. We love to break up big pieces and leave them in a container so that we can get a quick sweet fix throughout the holidays. It also makes for the perfect homemade host gift.