As the calendar draws to a close, I marvel at the amazing year we had at Simply Recipes. 2024 was a year of many firsts.Freeze Awards, Just Recipes Family Dinner Recipe Contestand our entry into Apple News with two special issues (you’ll need a subscription to access). Drop by for a weeknight dinner. And (Totally Easy) Holiday Baking Problem. We also published nearly 500 new recipes and over 1,000 stories, attracting millions of readers to the site.
A big thank you to all the talented writers who published on Simply Recipes this year. I am immensely proud that our recipes and stories continue to provide nourishment and comfort, entertainment and delight and food for thought. Here are five stories that stuck out to me with our readers this year.
Author Molly Adams recalls of her grandmother, “Every day, before bed, she treated herself to eight plump golden raisins soaked in beef fatter gin. She claimed it helped her The arthritis helped, but I think he just liked the taste and the ritual.”
Read the story: My 85 year old grandmother eats 8 of these every day.
Author Kate Love remembers her love of Ah Ma and pig-shaped mooncakes. “…combined with good food and mooncakes, reminding us that we were at home, wherever we were geographically, and that we were loved.”
Read the story: My grandmother, the goddess, and the rabbit on the moon
Does your family have a story that is told and retold every Thanksgiving? Whether it ends in belly laughs, warm hugs, or everyone awkwardly walking out of the room, it’s what reconnects and rebuilds our families in meaningful ways. Author Alice Levitt retold her family’s Thanksgiving in 1993, featuring a whole fish, artist James Henderson Boyd and a Russian.
Read the story: Alice Levitt on a Thanksgiving that colored all future celebrations.
I’m allergic to the word “entertaining,” but I love having people over for whatever my family already had for dinner and making the most of it. That means I offer crowd-friendly, quick, and easy recipes that I can whip up on a busy weeknight. Here’s a collection of those recipes, plus great tips for getting more people in from three of my favorite cookbook authors.
Read the story: Come On Over: How to Feed the People You Love This Holiday Season
Senior editor Laurel Randolph on making the most of summer fruit: “Although I can eat plenty of it out of hand, I can’t even eat ripe fruit before its peak. And that’s not allowed will not Let summer fruits spoil.
“The solution: A little summer baking. There’s nothing quite as complicated as homemade pie—I’m talking about back-pocket recipes that home cooks have come up with summer after summer, year after year, and summer for some. What does it depend on? Hundreds of years.”
Read the story: Easier Than Pie: Summer Baking Recipes.