The holidays are upon us, and I would like to take some time to THANK YOU. Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring, sharing, and exploring new ideas, new recipes, and new ways to nourish yourself, the earth, and the ones you love. Because to nourish is to L O V E.

This has been one full year (highs, hards, and everything in between), and I can’t wait to see how it wraps up. I LOVE the holidays.

I am so excited for another season of festive sourdough baking from my newest book, Festive & Fermented, a limited edition holiday-inspired recipe book filled with sourdough recipes made with love in my kitchen.

I am so thankful that you’re here, reading, sharing, and growing alongside us. When you make and share these recipes, it fills my cup in ways I can’t quite put into words. It brings us together, it grows this community.

When you take a recipe from my blog and make it for the people you love, you’re providing nourishment that goes far beyond the nutrients on the plate; you are nourishing body, heart, and soul, and you are fostering relationships that will continue to grow in health, wellness, and love.

So, thank you for being here. For reading along. And for supporting my small business, especially this time of year. I can’t wait to see where things go from here. In that spirit of love, I bring to you a Holiday Recipe Round Up, featuring a labor of love that brings to you 8 delicious recipes that I’ve put my heart into over the years in the hopes you’ll recreate with a little extra addition of your heart too.

Thank you for giving me a reason to cook, a reason to taste, and a reason to keep on keeping on. Cheers!

First things first, let’s talk TURKEY

We love the turkeys we get from US Wellness meats where we know the birds had space to roam wide open pastures making for juicy and flavorful meat free of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, added growth hormones, and GMOs.

HERE is a great turkey buying guide! You can also usually get one from a local farmer you know and trust. Knowing our bird lived a happy life gives us extra gratitude for the turkey that will nourish us and the farmer who raised it. We talk to Evie about the bird, it’s life, and the gratitude we have for the way it nourishes us. Whole Foods or your local natural market will carry birds too! This is a great chance to ask questions about sourcing that will push for awareness and better options for all. If you can, look for words like “pastured”, “free range” “humane certified”, and “organic” when turkey shopping.

Note, we’ll do one turkey this year, and then use pastured chickens for the other holiday meals. This process works GREAT for chicken too. Just alter the amount of bring (half it) and your cook time. Easy button version!

the BRINE.

Now, no turkey is worth spending all day preparing and roasting without the most amazing turkey brine! So here is the simple brine we use every year.

what you need:

• 12-14 lb turkey
• 4 tablespoons sea salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons each of: whole cloves, fennel seeds, star anise, peppercorns, nutmeg,
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 sprig each of fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 1 bottle dry resiling
• 14 cups filtered water

steps:

• bring 4 cups of water to a low boil, add sea salt, and bring heat down to low
• toast any whole spices in a dry skillet, then crush coarsely and add to water along with honey, bay leaves, and fresh herbs
• once salt is dissolved, remove from heat and let it cool to room temp
• pour into a large 12 quart stock pot, add remaining water, wine, and zest, and stir
• add turkey, cover, and let sit in fridge for 12-24 hours

the ROASTING.

No one likes a dry turkey, so here is a foolproof plan for the juiciest, crispiest, most flavorful turkey ever.

what you need:

• brined turkey, patted dry
• 2 sticks softened butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for a final drizzle
• 1/2 tablespoon orange zest
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 pressed garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon sea salt, plus extra for a final sprinkle

steps:

• pre-heat the oven to 430˚F (on the bake, not convection), with oven rack at the bottom (or second from bottom)
• mash all ingredients (except your turkey) with a fork until well combined, ensuring you continue mashing and stirring until the lemon juice and butter combine (patience, friends)
• gently separate the skin from the turkey breast by pushing your fingers under the skin, from front to back
• stuff 2/3 of the butter mixture under skin then spread the butter around by massaging over the top with your hands
• rub the remaining mixture over the outside of the turkey, drizzle a little more olive oil all over, and give it one more sprinkle of sea salt everywhere
• stuff the quartered onion, 4 halved garlic cloves, 1/2 bunch parsley and quartered lemon inside the turkey and tie turkey legs together
• start roasting uncovered at 430˚F for 20 min, then, remove from oven, and baste with butter from the bottom of the dish (spoon works fine here).
• reduce oven to 350˚F and bake for another 2 hours 30 min for a 12 lb bird (it’ll be about 13 min for every pound of turkey)
• check temp with a meat thermometer, and you’ll know it’s ready when the thigh is 170˚F and the breast is 160˚F
• transfer the turkey to a serving platter and cover loosely with foil to rest for at least 1 hour
• carve, serve, ENJOY along with these holiday favorites….

Not into turkey? I’ve got you covered.

Now, TWO alternative options to choose from.

Try my brand new holiday ham recipe. We made this for a Friendsgiving with a ham from our local farmer, and oh. my. goodness. was it good. Sure to please even your non-ham lovers.

And we can’t forget my fig and sausage stuffed pork loin a try. This was a huge hit last season, and it’s so good as leftovers on a sourdough sandwich. This has become our New Year’s Day tradition, and it’s one that will surely stick around. We enjoy a family meal and reflect on the intentions for the new year, always set the night before around a fire.

There’s something so magical and powerful about creating food traditions around the different holidays. For us, that’s the many menu items below for Thanksgiving, sourdough pizza and homemade hot cocoa on Winter Solstice, grilled cheese and tomato soup, plus sourdough ginger bread cookies (in my book ) on Christmas Eve, sourdough sticky buns (another very special recipe from my Festive & Fermented recipe book) on Christmas morning, and this beautiful pork loin on New Year’s Day. The food becomes a part of the magic for us; after all, it’s about the experience more than the things, the connection more than the stuff, the gratitude more than the getting. For us, nourishing food made with love is SUCH an important part of all of that.

Thanks for reading. Now, go ENJOY!

Now, it’s time for a holiday recipe round up!

cheers to you

I’ll certainly be making a toast in gratitude for a wonderful year, for family, friendship, great food, and all of you here supporting this small business of mine. What will you be toasting to this year? I’d love to read in the comments below. Whatever it might be, how about raising a glass of something that is not only fun, but also nourishing this year? Perhaps that’s a glass of one of my favorites: a festive winter hard cider sangria, a holiday special probiotic cranberry spiced kombucha sangria, or a glass of the cleanest and most delicious clean crafted wine! Wanting something warming and non alcoholic (though you could add a spirit of your choice), give our homemade creamy hot cocoa a try! Cheers to a festive season and lots of love, friends!

a wild stuffing

Here’s where I get a little wild with my take on an hold favorite with my recipe for bacon wild mushroom stuffing where the bread of your typical stuffing is replaced by wild rice, plenty of bacon, mushrooms, and so much flavor!

holiday mash and gravy

First up is my recipe for delicious cauli-mash and gravy. And if you want to go with white potatoes, try our favorite mashed “Perfect Mashed Potatoes” recipe from Bon appétit (a must for Rusty every year)

for the brussel sprouts lovers

No Thanksgiving is complete without my bacon apple nut brussies recipe. The apple flavor bursts with bacony goodness, and the pecans provide the perfect nutty crunch. You haven’t had brussel sprouts like these before. Want to mix it up? Last year, I made a new recipe for crispy cranberry brussies and they were a hit!

festive holiday salads

Yes, temperatures are dropping, but salad is still on the menu. Trust me on this one, and give my autumn arugula salad a go. It’s loaded with spiced roasted squash, pomegranate seeds, maple candied walnuts, goat cheese, and a super simple pomegranate dressing. Another great holiday salad favorite is my warm roasted cauliflower and kale salad. It’s a true crowd pleaser that never disappoints!

the cranberry sauce

Who’s ready for a homemade Cranberry Sauce everyone will love? First step: step away from the can. Next: give this gelatin rich, fresh and flavorful cranberry sauce a try. Extra perk? You get to take that sauce and turn any leftovers into some delicious cranberry sauce scones to keep the festivities going all week! Want to take your cranberries to the next level? Try fermenting your own for a sweet and sour delicious pop of flavor. I add our honey fermented cranberries to oatmeal, salads, and even blend them for a new take on cranberry sauce.

Rolls and bread for all

Well, you can’t go wrong with fresh baked sourdough, so let’s start there. If you’re up for baking your own loaf this season, checkout my super simple guide to home baked sourdough and join the Sourdough Sisterhood!

Things get even better this year with my brand new, perfected sourdough dinner rolls from my new limited edition Festive & Fermented holiday recipe book! Find it in my shop!

I have even included some delicious, fluffy grain free biscuits for your tasting pleasure. check out my recipe for salt butter biscuits, guaranteed to make everyone happy. They make the perfect vessel for butter, gravy, and soaking up those final perfect bites of your Thanksgiving meal.

Another fail proof holiday side? Try my sourdough starter cornbread. Moist, delicious, and a new addition to our holiday by request of Evie Wilder. Pairs beautifully with moist turkey and tart cranberry.

the D E S S E R T

We will start with the results of months of labor (labor of love)… my finally perfected pumpkin pie, made even better now that I am using the sourdough crust from my Sourdough Sisterhood book.  And if that isn’t enough, and you want to add a twist to the old favorite, I have created a uniquely delicious, totally original apple butter pumpkin pie. Yum. While, I am at it, I’ll go ahead and share that how to for my favorite apple butter, which can be used a spread on all of your favorite pumpkin baked goods or pancakes, as a flavor-filled addition to your chai tea, or even as a great pairing for a perfectly grilled pork chop.

And things have gotten better here with 6 new sweet recipes from my Festive & Fermented recipe book, including an apple cardamom galette, gingerbread cookies, pumpkin muffins, and apple butter cake. find them all here!

Enjoy, friends! And a very very Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays. And happy every day. Cheers 

and love from my family to yours!

♡ Laura