Christmas Light Gingerbread Cookies

Brighten up your holiday season with these colourful Christmas light cookies, complete with royal icing and candy-coated chocolate candies. If you prefer the classic sugar cookie, check out our Christmas Light Sugar Cookies.

Triple Chocolate Pie

Slow Cooker Strawberry Shortcake

Our technique of cooking the perfect cake in a slow cooker uses both the high and low settings, ensuring that the cake stays tender without being too moist. Good-quality parchment paper is on the heavier side, and it will help insulate the cake so that it bakes to a nice light-golden colour.

Wild Mushroom Strudel

Take your time and enjoy yourself as you roll and stretch the dough paper-thin for this flaky strudel. Your efforts will be rewarded as you reap the compliments for one of the most delicious sit-down appetizers (or vegetarian main courses) you have ever prepared.

Greek Chicken Turnovers

There's no single recipe for chicken pie, or kotapita, in Greece. Instead, this flaky pie is make with ingredients on hand, which often include a firm sheep's milk cheese, such as Kefaloteri or Kefalograviera. This mixture of Romano and feta cheeses has a similar flavour. Enjoy these individual turnovers with rice and salad.

Ugly Sweater Cookies

No ugly sweater party is complete without these themed cookies! The gaudier the better, so let the kids' imaginations run wild with endless candy and colour combinations. Reserve some of the icing to use for decorating, and pipe stripes and patterns onto the sweaters, if desired.

Duck and Turkey Pie

Two birds combine to make an interesting flavourful pie. This recipe makes two pies, so you have one for now and one for later.

Eggplant and Spinach Lasagna

This colourful vegetable lasagna will delight vegetarian guests — and even the most dedicated meat eaters, too — with its rich flavours. You can save time by using 4 cups (1 L) of store-bought pasta sauce instead of making the tomato sauce.

Chocolate Turtle Cake

This show-stopping creation is guaranteed to impress your guests this holiday season.

Tricolour Quinoa

By Cindy Ball, Vancouver
Cook of The Year 2009 Winner, Vegetarian category

Cindy layers roasted and sautéed vegetables between three highly flavoured quinoa mixtures to create a colourful vegetarian “lasagna.” This dish was invented not only for her oldest daughter (the lone vegetarian in a household of meat lovers), but also so the whole family could enjoy more vegetarian meals.