Eating

The simplest and best thing you can do with a great chicken. Roast it. The savory feast finale: Garlic & Herb Roasted Christmas Chicken. A classic masterpiece that should be the big conversation piece. But, no, the table goes silent. Chew quietly.

Light, bright and exotically aromatic. Chicken tossed in a vegan dressing with an amazingly rich, creamy feel. Very delicious. Very low glycemic load. A delightful, refreshing course between a couple of chicken classics.

Aromatic, herbaceous, smoky, tender chicken in a deep, dark, rich wine sauce thick with mushrooms and onions. A masterpiece that becomes a conversation piece the moment everyone smells it on its Way from the kitchen to the dining table.

A smoky, herbaceous, juicy, high-protein chicken dish. With a glycemic load of exactly zero. Beautiful to look at. Intoxicating to inhale. Even Better to chew slowly and savor. 'Tis the season.

Because it's mouth and soul warming. Because it's a gift. Because chicken soup's free. All leftovers. Delicious and soulful. Better Cheaper ingredients Slowly making remarkably great food to sip Slowly. Food worth eating and talking about.

I wonder why this isn't already a beloved holiday tradition. Somewhere. Really, almost everyone likes chicken. It goes with everything. Has few calories. A glycemic load of zero. And it's cheap and easy. The first of 7 great dishes, each one a conversation piece for a celebration.

Time to be thinking about side dishes for Christmas Eve dinner. And Hanukkah, too. I'm making latkes. Traditional potato pancakes, only better with sweet potatoes. Amazingly delicious. Incredibly easy. Shockingly nutritious.

Waste not, want not. Always remember and never forget: save your mushroom stems and cheese rinds. They make fantastic and really useful stocks. Free soup. Hot, steamy, aromatic and deeply delicious improvements for cold winter days.

Don't throw away those carrot ends and onion trimmings. Two minutes to stick 'em in a pot with some water - then let them simmer for an hour or two. You get a great soup - or a great way to enrich other dishes. Fragrant, deeply flavorful stock. Waste not, want not.

Don't throw away those bones and vegetable trimmings. Stick 'em in a pot with some water and let them simmer for a few hours. You get a great soup - for free. Maybe the best possible holiday leftover. Less than two minutes to put it all in a pot, add water and turn on the stove.