Love & Lemons Cooking Club – December!

Join the Love & Lemons Cooking Club Challenge this month! It's easy to enter, and one lucky winner will receive a prize. Find all the details below.

Our Cooking Club is a fun way to celebrate the Love & Lemons community of readers. The concept is super simple—each month, I choose a recipe. You make it, and you leave a comment on the recipe’s blog post. At the end of the month, I randomly select one winner to receive a prize. In December, we’re mixing things up. Instead of choosing just one recipe for the cooking club, I’m letting YOU choose ANY of these 23 Christmas cookie recipes! I hope you’ll join in the fun. Here’s how it works: The Prize: A $100 Whole Foods Gift Card!…

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23 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes

Celebrate the holiday season with these easy Christmas cookies! Find recipes for gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread, and more.

Let’s make Christmas cookies! The holiday season is here, and I’m ready to bake. Every year, I make Christmas cookies to share with friends and family. These sweet treats are my favorite way to spread holiday cheer. They look so festive—cut into seasonal shapes, decorated with icing, or dusted with powdered sugar—and they taste delicious. If you want to make someone smile this season, gift them a Christmas cookie tray. Just be sure to save some cookies for yourself too! I’ve rounded up my best Christmas cookie recipes below. They range from classics like gingerbread and sugar cookies to unique treats…

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Best Sugar Cookies Recipe

These easy sugar cookies have crisp edges and soft middles. Cut out into shapes and decorated with icing, they're a delicious treat for any occasion.

Meet my best sugar cookie recipe! It’s an updated version of one I shared a few years ago, with streamlined steps, simple ingredients, and absolutely delicious results. These cut out sugar cookies have crisp edges, soft middles, and a warm, buttery flavor. Decorated with icing, candies, and/or sprinkles, they’re a festive treat for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or any occasion. Heads up that this recipe requires chilling the dough, so plan to mix it up at least 2 hours before you roll out and bake the cookies. If you’d like to space out the steps of this recipe even more, you can…

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Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes

Got leftover mashed potatoes? Make these mashed potato pancakes to use them up! Crispy on the outside and fluffy inside, they're easy and delicious.

These mashed potato pancakes are the BEST way to use up leftover mashed potatoes! I don’t know about you, but I’m happy eating leftover mashed potatoes for exactly one day after a holiday meal. Beyond that, I have to transform them into something new if I have any hope of polishing them off. That’s why I started making these mashed potato pancakes. The recipe takes smooth, creamy mashed potatoes and turns them into delicious, golden little cakes. They’re crispy on the outside, fluffy in the middle, and packed with savory, oniony flavor. Make a batch, and your holiday leftovers will be…

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Waldorf Salad

This Waldorf salad recipe is simple, refreshing, and delicious! A tangy, creamy dressing coats crisp apples, celery, walnuts, and grapes.

When was the last time you made a Waldorf salad? Up until recently, this classic fruit and nut salad wasn’t in my rotation, but this fall, I started making it on repeat. A friend of a friend brought a Waldorf salad to a dinner party I attended, and I couldn’t resist going back for seconds…and then thirds. The combination of crisp apples, juicy grapes, crunchy celery, and walnuts was sweet, savory, and surprisingly refreshing. Halfway through my last helping, I was already looking forward to making my own version at home. This Waldorf salad recipe is simple and delicious. It stays…

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Acorn Squash with Chickpeas & Chimichurri

Warmly spiced chickpeas, tangy chimichurri, and roasted acorn squash fill this recipe with an unexpected—but delicious—combination of flavors.

Every year in November, I like to share at least one vegetarian main dish recipe. I find that Thanksgiving hosts often like to have a special option for vegetarians at their table, especially if they’re newer to the family. But what people don’t know is that, for the most part, herbivores are usually happy filling up on sides like stuffing, mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies. I certainly am! So this year, I’m bringing back a “main dish” that can double as a side dish: acorn squash with chickpeas and chimichurri. I stuff roasted acorn squash quarters with warmly spiced chickpeas…

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50 Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Whether you're seeking classic Thanksgiving recipes or something totally new, you're sure to love one (or more!) of these 50 Thanksgiving side dishes.

Can we agree that Thanksgiving side dishes are the best part of the holiday meal? No offense to roast turkey and pumpkin pie, but the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and other sides are what I look forward to most. I’m sharing 50 of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes below. They include all the classics (think green bean casserole and dinner rolls) as well as inventive veggie sides, crowd-pleasing potatoes, and more. If you’re still planning you holiday menu, check them out! You’re sure to find some recipes you love. Our Best Classic Thanksgiving Sides Best Stuffing Based on my mom’s classic recipe,…

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Twice Baked Potatoes

Learn how to make twice baked potatoes! They have crispy skins and a rich, creamy mashed potato filling. Melty cheddar cheese takes them over the top.

Twice baked potatoes are a potato lover’s dream. They combine all the best parts of a baked potato and mashed potatoes into one delicious side dish. These twice baked potatoes have crispy skins and a rich and creamy filling. With a layer of melty cheddar cheese on top, they’re the definition of comfort food. Twice baked potatoes are just that—baked twice. First, you’ll bake the potatoes whole. Then, you’ll slice them in half, scoop out the soft flesh, and mash it to create the rich filling. Add the filling back to the potato skins, top with cheese, and bake again.…

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Sweet Potato Casserole

Without question, this is the best sweet potato casserole recipe I've tried! Smooth and creamy sweet potatoes are topped with a savory pecan crumble.

This sweet potato casserole recipe is one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. Instead of topping it with mini marshmallows, I cover it in a crisp pecan crumble. I love how this nutty, savory topping balances the creamy sweet potato filling. It’s delicious…and it tastes like it belongs at dinner, not dessert. 🙂 This recipe is great for the holidays because the ingredients are super simple (ALDI shoppers, you can get all of them there!) and you can make it ahead. Prepare the filling and topping up to 2 days in advance, and store them separately in the fridge until the…

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25 Best Thanksgiving Appetizers

Kick off your holiday feast with these easy Thanksgiving appetizers! They include fun, festive ideas like stuffed mushrooms, baked brie, and more.

If I’ve learned one thing from hosting Thanksgiving over the years, it’s this: Thanksgiving appetizers are essential. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve served a holiday meal 30 minutes or an hour (or two) later than planned because my roasted beets were still rock-hard or the water for my mashed potatoes took longer than expected to boil. In those moments, Thanksgiving appetizers save the big day. They tide over hungry guests until it’s time to sit down to dinner, keeping everyone’s spirits up and the atmosphere light. I’m sharing my 25 best Thanksgiving appetizer ideas below. They include a simple cheese…

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Best Stuffing Recipe

The BEST Thanksgiving stuffing! Based on my family's classic recipe, it's rich and savory, made with fresh herbs, celery, butter, and leeks.

If I told you that a classic stuffing recipe was my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner, would you believe me? Well, it’s true! As a kid, I fell in love with my grandma’s stuffing recipe. Made with onion, celery, and dried herbs, it was simple and delicious. It had a crisp, golden layer of bread on top, with a moist and gooey center underneath. Rich, savory flavor filled every bite. My mom still makes this homemade stuffing recipe for my family’s Thanksgiving every year. Because I love it so much, I wanted to develop my own spin to share with…

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A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.