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Festive Food: 101

© Debra Diana Blue

Well folks, Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa are upon us. This is the time of the year when we pull out all those diet stops. This year, I'm stumped for side dishes. I don't want to do the same old ones that I do every year. I'm ready to break tradition and search for new ones. I'd like to try a new dessert, so I was thinking about visiting Canadian Living Magazine and picking up their Cranberry cheesecake pie recipe.

You know the kids are all in a quandary about what to put out for Santa Claus, so be sure to visit Santa's Favorites and find out what kinds of things he likes. Of course you probably could not go wrong with chocolate chip cookies. You can visit Chocolate Chip Cookies that are out of this world, or if those don't suit your fancy, trek on by Cookies and bars and find something equally as scrumptious!! I read somewhere that Santa might be lactose intolerant, so maybe no eggnog or milk for him. Try this punch instead — I got it from his very own favorite recipe site:

Santa's Punch

Ingredients:

1 quart pineapple juice

1 pkg (2 qt) lime Kool-aid

1 qt lime sherbet

2 qts ginger ale

Mix Kool-aid in punch bowl. Add pineapple juice. Just before serving, add sherbet by spoonfuls. Add ginger ale. For red punch, use raspberry Kool-aid and sherbet.

Doesn't that sound great? He'll be so greatful that you went that extra measure (and cared about his health) he might be moved to leave you more gifts!!

Because turkey isn't everybody's cup of tea, I have to remember my vegetarian friends out there. Please visit Vegetarian Christmas Recipes. I stopped by there and found a multitude of mouth-watering entrees.

For those of us who are celebrating Kwanzaa, I found two sites. This one has a brief history of the Traditional Kwanzaa celebration including recipes and their significance. This site offers Kwanzaa recipes from Grandmothers southern fried okra to African vegetarian stew.

If you don't celebrate Christmas, or Kwanzaa, perhaps you celebrate Chanukah. I found two sites that I know you'll enjoy: Chanukah.com contains the Chanukah story, recipes, festival of lights, Menorah blessings and other chanukah links. Eggsalad (by Prof. Steve Holzinger) presents a warm Chanukah gathering right here on the Web. Please stop in and enjoy, I know you'll feel welcome.

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