Growing up, there were three desserts my mom loved to bake: brownies (for lunch boxes), cookies (for snacking), and coffee cake (for breakfast). As in, our whole household would snag slices of cinnamon–chocolate chip coffee cake as we headed out the door for school or work. Now, I love to reimagine coffee cake as a cookie. Specifically, a soft brown sugar and cinnamon–swirled cookie topped with a crunchy streusel and vanilla icing. It’ll leave you wondering why putting streusel on your cookies isn’t standard practice. And for the record, I like them at any time of day.

I first fell in love with grain salads during my cooking lab in university. Yep, us food nerds got to cook and enjoy delicious food as one of our classes (but organic chemistry more than balanced things out). Grain salads are the perfect batch-prep meal. They soak up the flavors of the dressing without getting soggy and truly taste better with time. Some of the nutrition highlights of this one include brain-healthy omega-3 fats, gut-nourishing prebiotics, and a flood of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. A true meal that can’t help but make you mindful, bursting with the pomegranate arils’ jewel tones, the richness of toasted walnuts and creamy blue cheese, and a slightly our crunch from the green apple, this salad’s somewhat loud flavors just have a way of complementing each other and leaving you with the perfect balanced energy to move through the afternoon.

This is a wonderful soup when you’re feeling under the weather because the beta-carotene helps to protect the lungs when fighting a cold or flu. Squash is one of the first foods offered to babies, as it is easy to digest. Ginger root is a great reliever of nausea and is a warming herb. If you need to speed up this dish, you can use canned lentils and shave 15 minutes off the cooking time. Use only 8 cups of cooking liquid if you choose to use canned lentils. (See Tip 2 if intolerant to lentils.)

This is a simple, delicious, and very pretty dessert that requires a baked pâte brisée tart shell and a cooked cranberry filling. If you are entertaining, this can be made the day before and kept chilled. It slices into lovely wedges and is complemented nicely with dollops of whipped cream. Every Thanksgiving, I create a list of pies to make for the farm staff. For the past three years, this cranberry tart has been the most popular, along with the Pumpkin Pie with Phyllo Crust (page 276). I like to use fresh cranberries, if possible, but frozen are also acceptable. The pâte brisée can be made in batches and frozen in flat disks for pie making anytime. I often make four or five batches at a time for the freezer. No excuses for lack of time when your family needs or wants a homemade pie or tart.

Twelve years ago, you couldn’t walk into a restaurant and not get fried Brussels sprouts with a spicy sauce or something. It was like wildfire. This is the 2020s redux version of something we all used to love that got beaten down so hard from triple-trickle-down restaurant folks. But these fried Brussels deserve to live again because this is something special. The deep caramelization from frying combined with that super-bouncy crunch of the raw is world class. This salad is so fucking good. Wow. Let’s honor the 2010s.

When the holiday season arrives, why not dress up your mashed potatoes! That’s what we do. All it takes is some cream cheese, sour cream, a little garlic, and your mixer!