Whether you’re hosting holiday gatherings of your own this year or attending as a guest, we’ve rounded up three show-stopping — but deceptively simple — side dish recipes you can lean on all season long! Coming from the cookbook Plant Forward: 100 Bold Recipes for a Mostly Healthy Lifestyle by celebrity chef and Top Chef winner Richard Blais and his wife, Jazmin, each recipe is veggie-forward, nutritious, and approachable for any home cook. Dig in!
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Parsnip Creamed Spinach
A batch of this creamed spinach tastes and smells delicious, thanks to the addition of nutmeg and one semi-secret ingredient … parsnips! Yes, it’s in the title of the recipe, but your guests will be hard-pressed to guess where that earthy flavor is coming from. Using two bags of fresh spinach, you’ll still get that great creamed spinach texture everyone loves. along with fresh flavor and an infusion of nutrients. Richard recommends serving this dish alongside any holiday protein — but he especially loves it with steak. To get the full recipe, click HERE.
Creamy Mushrooms Glazed in Sherry
While these creamy mushrooms certainly make for a delicious addition to your dinner menu for Christmas or Thanksgiving, they’re pretty much a guaranteed hit year-round. They are the perfect accompaniment to an elevated rib roast or fish dinner. Richard also notes that you can omit the coconut milk to make the dish less creamy, and further highlighting the earthiness of the mushrooms. Click HERE to view the full recipe.
Thanksgiving-Style Sweet Potatoes
No Thanksgiving feast is complete without sweet potatoes, and this recipe puts a healthy twist on the holiday staple. Made with sweet potato nectar, which Richard calls his “secret ingredient,” the dish maintains its “candied” flavor without using refined sugar. Richard also notes that while the truffle oil and Parmesan cheese are optional ingredients in this recipe, they add a unique flavor that pairs perfectly with the sweet starchiness of the potatoes. To see the complete recipe, click HERE.
Recipes from Plant Forward: 100 Bold Recipes for a Mostly Healthy Lifestyle by Jazmin Blais and Richard Blais (Victory Belt Publishing, 2023). All photography by Dani McReynolds unless otherwise noted.
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