Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “holiday recipes”

Menu Idea: Tips for a Holiday Brunch

Menu Idea: Tips for a Holiday BrunchBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

I'm used to smaller holiday gatherings already—4-6 people is the norm for me, as my family isn't that big—but the holidays may be different for many this year. There are still ways to make it as special as possible, even if it's a smaller group than usual that you may be entertaining.

Brunch is probably my favorite thing to make for the holidays. It's easy, delicious, and doesn't leave everyone with a stuffed feeling that typically comes with eating dinner late in the day by the time all of the cooking is done. What you serve, or how you serve it, can also help elevate the experience to make what you are eating feel even more special.

Continue reading for fun ideas for a holiday brunch for two that could also be scaled for a group in the future.

Festive Mulled Wine

Festive Mulled WineBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

I call it mulled wine. Dave jokingly calls it "hot sangria." And he's not wrong. A classic, mulled red wine does remind me of a holiday sangria only, well, hot (or at least, a drinkable, warm temperature.) Take out the extra spices with the exception of the cinnamon stick, which looks nice as a garnish, and yes, it could all just be poured into a large pitcher of ice and served over ice in wine glasses!

Whatever you call it and however you serve it, I'm hopeful that the warming spices, extra kicks of pear vodka and ginger liqueur, and jewel-like red color will bring some cheer to your holiday table!

Classic Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Classic Spiced Cranberry SauceBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

The season for holiday eating starts and lasts in my home well into January, since my birthday happens to fall on January 6th, just after the Christmas and New Year holiday stretch and on the day celebrated by some Christians around the globe as Three Kings Day. One of my favorite things about going grocery shopping at this time is how easy it is to find fresh cranberries. It wouldn't be the holidays in my house without cranberry sauce, which I have made every year for Thanksgiving since I was a kid.

In its fresh, not dried and sugar-coated, form, the cranberry is a controversial fruit: some love it, some hate it. I'm definitely on Team Cranberry and growing up, it was a contest each year between my mom and I to see how many bags of cranberries we could make for our sauce, which we did on Thanksgiving day. One year, we made six or seven bags worth of sauce, which we gave to family members in plastic containers along with festive tins of homemade cookies for their holiday celebrations.

I happen to think the cranberry is underrated. A lot of people don't like them because although they are round, like blueberries, they are mouth-puckeringly tart. Blueberries start off small and tart, ripening and getting sweeter as they mature. Not a cranberry, which is why I think of them as the blueberry's sassier cousin.

Farmhouse Kitchen Sink Cookies

Farmhouse Kitchen Sink CookiesFarmhouse Kitchen Sink Cookies recipe From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

I was asked to bring a dessert for a recent dinner that Dave and I had with his parents. It was right before the cooler, fall weather started to kick in this past week (at last - my favorite time of year!) As much as I didn't want to turn on the oven on a warm day, these cookies were on my mind as an idea to make for quite some time now.

It was a perfect reason to use my new KitchenAid bowl, too, which is blue ceramic with a scalloped texture.

A few years ago, I had a clear glass KA bowl with a handle and cup measurements on the side of it that I loved. Unfortunately, it shattered into a zillion pieces when I was making cookies and it slipped out of my hands and broke on my mom's granite countertop.

They have a lot of fun patterns and textures now, which made it so hard to choose, but this one was unique and something I haven't seen in a lot of stores. And I just love the color...

Happy 4th of July: Festive recipes to celebrate Independence Day

Happy 4th of July: Festive recipes to celebrate Independence DayHappy 4th of July From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

This is not a sponsored post or endorsement made in coordination with or paid by any of the brands or individuals mentioned here—only offering a few suggestions based on things my family and I have tried and enjoyed.

July 4th in the United States celebrates Independence Day. On that date in 1776, the 13 original colonies claimed their independence from England, forming a new nation.

If your family is like mine, years past may have been celebrated with large BBQs complete with burgers and hot dogs, pasta and potato salads, corn on the cob, and assorted sodas and beers (for those of age to drink, of course.) When I was growing up, my grandparents had an above ground pool at their home, and at my house we had a community in-ground pool. I spent a lot of time at both of them so depending on where our summer feast took place and if it wasn't raining, taking a dip in the pool was absolutely in order while dinner was being made.

For dessert, we typically took a trip to get soft-serve ice cream or ate an American flag cake—which many of you probably know and have likely made or tasted at least once, if not many times: a rectangle-shaped poundcake or a boxed vanilla cake mix covered with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries arranged in the shape of a flag. Finally, a trip to see fireworks at a local park capped off the night, where we would sit on a blanket or folding chairs, or stand near the car, to watch the magical bursts of colors in the night sky.

This year will no doubt be very different. Maybe a large gathering you may have planned with your family and friends was downsized or turned into a virtual celebration with some of them instead. I have also seen some creative ways that communities are celebrating in the absence of being able to have large, in-person gatherings: drive-through fireworks, for example, are being planned at the Iron Pigs Minor League baseball team ballpark for the holiday weekend in the Lehigh Valley, PA.

No matter how you are celebrating this year, here are some festive food ideas that you can still hopefully try.

Thanksgiving Recipe Round-up

Thanksgiving Recipe Round-upBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
To all of my friends, family, and visitors from the U.S.: Have a wonderful, safe, and food-filled Thanksgiving holiday! I'm taking a little break from work, definitely looking forward to the long weekend ahead and what will be our first Thanksgiving at the new house! I'll make it a point to share a few photos on Twitter of my holiday table and things I'm making, so if you haven't already followed @fromannakitchen on Twitter, do it (and note the lack of an "s" in "Anna's" there because of the Twitter username character count...) New posts will start up again until next week. If you need some last-minute inspiration for your holiday menu, check out my round-up of some of my favorite recipes below.