Food Of The Month Club: 14 Recipes Celebrating January’s Food Holidays

For those participating in Dry January, where you abstain from alcohol all month long, try some fun mocktails like this bubbly ginger and lemon sipper. It’s got the flavor you crave, plus anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant ingredients like ginger and lemon. You’re not just replacing a cocktail — you’re improving upon it.

Prunes don’t need to be in the form of a juice that you chug down to relieve tummy troubles. Prunes are delicious when stewed and serving them on toast with prosciutto and ricotta makes them feel downright fancy — what a way to start the day.

January is a great month to go vegan as you’ve got the New Year’s motivation to eat better fueling you. You don’t have to go completely meat-free, either. Try dipping your toe into a plant-based diet with this lovely comforting bean puree and savory grilled mushroom combination. A zesty chimichurri finishing sauce turns up the volume on everything and you won’t even miss the meat.

Beans are such a perfect protein — they’re cheap, filling, easy to make and pack a one-two punch of fiber and protein. This tasty bake takes its flavors from French onion soup but can be made vegetarian, too (but not vegan, unless you use dairy-free cheeses).

Fresh apricots generally aren’t in season in January, so look for dried, the perfect ingredient for this sweet and spiced chicken stew. Serve with couscous and mint tea.

Renowned French chef Escoffier created a peach dessert for opera singer Nellie Melba in 1892, then tweaked it for the Ritz-Carlton London to add the raspberry puree. Escoffier insisted on fresh peaches, but those are hard to find in January, so canned peaches work, too, and save you the poaching time.

Gather up rye bread, Russian dressing, pickles, Swiss cheese, pastrami and coleslaw for this toasty deli sandwich. Don’t confuse this with a Reuben, which uses corned beef (a salt-cured meat) and sauerkraut, while pastrami is smoked and seasoned.

There’s nothing like homemade ice cream, so celebrate Strawberry Ice Cream Day with a batch of your own. This stuff tastes like a favorite childhood memory — more like ice dream.

Don’t let the name of this fiery Thai beef dish scare you. It’s just some red pepper flakes in the sauce and white pepper on the beef, so it’s not as cranked up as it could be, but still enough to make your mouth tingle, as it should.

Blondies are part chocolate chip cookie, part brownie, all delicious. This recipe in particular is chewy, chocolatey and buttery. For even more oomph, brown your butter before adding to the batter.

Though not on a Tuesday, this is still a great day for a taco. Try a fish taco with piquant lime and cilantro slaw on top. Serve with margaritas, because it’s a celebration, after all.

The perfect green drink is sweet but also a little grassy from the leafy greens. This smoothie hits the spot with apples, spinach, kiwi, cucumber, ginger, almond milk and your fruit of choice (either banana or pineapple). Drink it and feel the good choices wash over you.

If you can make mashed potatoes, you can make gnocchi from scratch. Start here and then top it with a creamy mushroom sauce.

Rich and creamy, this is an elite way to make hot chocolate and also a perfect dip for a flakey croissant.