Got a lot of extra mouths to feed with holiday guests? We do! Here are some of our best recipes for serving a house full of hungry visitors. What are your go-to favorites for a crowd? Share your recipes in the comments below so we can try them out!
From Barry:
I made this Spinach and Cheese Lasagna the other night for house guests. I added pine nuts and grilled eggplant (which I grilled at home but you could also use roasted veggies from Prepared Foods). It was really easy to prepare – just simple assembly. I would suggest turning up the heat for the last 10 minutes to let the top get brown and crispy. It was really good and great as leftovers too. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m a terrible shopper. Clothes. Household goods. Gifts. Even when it comes to food, despite all my good “guru” advice, I buy more than I need, struggle to carry it all home on my bicycle, struggle again to fit it in my fridge and cabinet and then struggle to use up all the so-beautiful-I-can’t-resist fresh veggies before they’ve given up all their nutrients. Fortunately, I’m a creative cook and do manage to let very very little go to waste, but back to gifts…
Maybe it’s my humble beginnings, or my grandparent’s humble beginnings or just the Grinch in me; I can’t stand the thought of a pointless gift. Nor can I stand the thought of a low-quality gift…some plastic thing that makes someone laugh or smile for about 2 seconds then gets forgotten for 5 years in a drawer somewhere until it gets tossed. Don’t get me wrong; being a food lover, I am perfectly fine with the temporary satisfaction of something that tastes amazing. I just believe it really should be amazing and memorable if it’s going to be temporary. Food, therefore is often my gift solution. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the things I love most about the holidays is celebrating with a variety of foods – and having lots of leftovers when everyone else goes home! And, as you may have guessed, leftover cheese is my favorite. I even plan the type and quantity of cheeses I buy for a gathering to make sure I’ll have exactly what I want for dishes the next day. Here are some of the ways I like to use up those various bits of cheese.
Cranberry Cheddar
Definitely a seasonal favorite. Produced using milk from cows not treated with growth hormones, this cheese is creamy and has nice flavor characteristics. It comes from the Hennings family in Wisconsin. If you have leftovers, you can’t beat it on a grilled turkey sandwich. Just place the cheese on top of slices of turkey and grill. I like it much better than using cranberry sauce because it doesn’t ooze out. The cranberries are contained in the melted cheese and provide that lovely fruit flavor that goes perfectly with turkey leftovers. Read the rest of this entry »
Change up traditional holiday fare and celebrate with cioppino, an Italian-inspired seafood stew. The rich and flavorful tomato broth can be made ahead of time, making this a smart choice for entertaining.
Explore more great tips, recipes and creative ideas for taking this holiday season to a new level of taste on our All Things Good holiday pages.
One of our core values at Whole Foods Market is to care about our environment. As such, we set out a few months ago to give our new gift cards a fresh look, including our limited edition “peas on earth” holiday design. One of our primary goals was to find a more environmentally sound substrate on which to print the cards.
You might not think about it, especially given the small size and long life of your plastic cards, but the volume of cards out there creates an enormous impact! Most of the 17 billion plastic cards produced every year1 are made of virgin PVC. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans use more than 1.5 billion credit cards alone, which if stacked would reach 70 miles into space2! When these cards expire, we just throw them away, contributing more than 75 million pounds of PVC to the waste stream every year3!
We thought there had to be a better way. And while there is, we quickly learned that there is no perfect solution. We examined dozens of different substrates, from recycled PVC to cards made out of wood to PLA-based biodegradable cards. There’s even a PVC-based substrate that biodegrades! But we found none of these to be the silver bullet. Read the rest of this entry »
Holidays are perfect for baking. Festive cakes, pies, and cookies always represent the season. When you enjoy cooking as much as I do, using the healthiest, best tasting, and most natural ingredients possible becomes top priority. For this reason, I use natural sweeteners for baking. What’s the difference? Plenty! Natural sweeteners have their own unique flavor and nutrients; and when enjoyed in moderation, can go a long way towards satisfying a hearty sweet tooth. Read the rest of this entry »
Sip into the holidays with Allegro’s Celebration Caffé and wow your guests with Espresso Pots de Creme, our creamy coffee-inspired dessert made with Allegro’s holiday blend, eggs, cream and vanilla.
Explore more great tips, recipes and creative ideas for taking this holiday season to a new level of taste on our All Things Good holiday pages.
As you do your shopping this holiday season, you’ve probably noticed the beautiful bouquets of holiday flowers in your local Whole Foods Market store. But a quick look doesn’t give you the whole story. This season, we’ve worked with our growers to bring you three Whole Trade™ Guarantee holiday floral bouquets.*
In addition to their outstanding beauty, these Whole Trade bouquets do more than dress up your home or table. Meet Ana, one of the workers on a flower farm that supplies us with these beautiful flowers. Ana has been working for the farm for seven years. She works in production at the farm, cutting and preparing the flowers for their trip to our stores in bouquets or bunches. Ana and her family live in Facatativa, Colombia. They have benefited from the farm’s foundation, which is providing her son with an education. Read the rest of this entry »
When I was a kid, I always looked forward to Hanukkah with its eight nights of lighting candles, singing songs and best of all, exchanging gifts. Like all Jewish celebrations, food also played a major role.
On all other nights my little sisters, brother and I had to eat healthy foods like steamed broccoli, but during these eight crazy nights we got to indulge in several special treats that were forbidden during the rest of the year. My personal Hanukkah food favorites included: Read the rest of this entry »
How are you doing with all of our green holiday tips so far? We’ve covered “Zero Waste Holidays” tips on holiday cards, holiday lights, pre-cycling and Christmas trees. North Americans produce 25% more waste during the winter holidays – that’s 25 million extra tons of garbage going to the landfill. The Whole Foods Market Green Mission Team has gathered our favorite tips to feature on this blog throughout the holidays to help us all reduce our load. Our customers are some of the greenest folks around, so please share your tips with us too. Hopefully we’ll help each other discover new and creative ways to live lighter on the planet this holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to Whole Story, the official blog of Whole Foods Market.
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