The time in between Thanksgiving and the New Year can involve some pretty heavy meals. It's as if your casserole pans and cookie sheets are in constant rotation. And then there comes a moment where everyone's ready for a breath of fresh air, craving something a bit lighter.
2011 was a banner year for light, fresh salads and soups — not to mention gluten-free, sugar-free and generally health-conscious recipes — on The Kitchn. Our salad archives alone will keep you busy for weeks. So we thought the timing was right to offer some of our favorite lighter and healthier recipes of 2011. From baked oatmeal to white bean and roasted squash soup, we have a feeling you'll find something that calls to you.
TOP ROW
• 1 Colorful Lentil Salad with Walnuts and Herbs
• 2 Baked Pumpkin Steel-Cut Oatmeal
• 3 Beet and Sweet Potato Stacks
• 4 White Bean and Roasted Squash Soup with Pistou
• 5 Curried Coconut Carrot Soup
MIDDLE ROW
• 6 Grilled Cabbage Wedges with Spicy Lime Dressing
• 7 Cornmeal Pancakes
• 8 Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Sformato
• 9 Braised White Beans
• 10 Kale Salad with Apricots, Avocado and Parmesan
BOTTOM ROW
• 11 Red Potato Salad with Scallions and Radishes
• 12 Crisp Tuna Cabbage Salad
• 13 Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
• 14 Hiyayakko (Japanese Cold Tofu)
• 15 Vegan Tofu and Vegetable Pot Pie
Welcome to The Kitchn's Best of 2011 roundup! From December 19 through January 1 we are rounding up some of our favorite (and your favorite) posts from the past year.
(Images: See linked posts for full image credits)
Magic One-Ingredient Ice Cream 5 Ways: Peanut Butter, Nutella, and More
Make Chocolate Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping with Only 2 Ingredients
Our reading list
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
30 DIY Projects for the 3-Day Weekend
Tina Wilson's Striking Style 
Comments (11)
If there's one area where The Kitchn asbolutely fails, it's in "light" recipes. Certain of these photos and ideas are among the most unappetizing that I've seen on this site. Honestly, the only thing I could imagine preparing is the hiyayakko, and that's been comfort food for me for decades. It never occurred to me that this is a weak point of yours until this post, but now, it seems glaring. Most of these don't seem particularly "light" compared to many others on this site.
The tuna salad is linking to the lentil salad.
BTW, I think there are some nice options here. The tuna salad (obviously) and the kale avocado salad and the soup pistou....mmmm!.
To each his (or her) own.
Unless you live in a hot climate, cold tofu is hardly winter fare. Now, yudofu, which is plain HOT tofu, yes. It's simmered in plain water (usually in the middle of the table, family style), and when it's heated through you scoop out your cube and garnish with soy sauce, scallions, ginger, bonito--the usual.
I just have to send a quick note disagreeing with kushkush, I think the Kitchn has many lovely light recipes, especially when it comes to salads. My favorites aren't necessarily listed in the above round-up, but I think this site has featured some lovely light recipes. Keep up the good work.
Completely agree with babygrace, above.
Some errors in the links above: kale/apricot and tuna/cabbage specifically.
I disagree as well. I have cooked many dishes from the Kitchn and loved them all; most of them being vegetarian or lighter fare.
Keep up the great work!
I can't pull up the crisp cabbage tuna recipe. It's linking back to another recipe in your selection instead of this one.
Here's a link to the Crisp Tuna-Cabbage Salad recipe. Sounds yummy, but I'll probably sub canned mackerel filets for the tuna.
Thanks Janis!
the Kale Salad recipe is linking to the Braised White Beans... :-(
Links are all fixed - thanks for the notes!