Conscious cooking master chef Leslie Cerier has authored five books, developed recipes for leading food companies, and has been featured in dozens of media stories. Known in the green scene as ‘The Organic Gourmet,’ her gift for translating potentially dull diets into a bounty of flavor and satisfaction has made her a leading authority on healthy food.

As I started planning my holiday party menus, I wondered: Can you make a festive punch using beer as the main ingredient? It’s been done with whiskey, rum, and spiked cider—why not? I took an afternoon to play around in the kitchen with beer varieties and seasonal juices, all in the name of mixing up a merry bubbly brew, and here are the results of my experiments. Bottoms up!

Like apple juice’s naughty cousin with a badass attitude, hard cider will wake up your taste buds with a refreshing slap of fermented apple flavors and alcoholic content. Basically a wine made from apples instead of grapes, hard cider can be still or sparkling, and is classified from dry to sweet. Apple cider can be anywhere from pale yellow to dark brown, depending on the filtering process between fruit pressing and fermentation; more traditional brands are darker and cloudier, while popular new brands are clear and crisp.

As vegans, there are some things we simply concede to live without—making do with substitutes so tasty in their own right, that, over time, we often forget what they were pretending to be in the first place. But, when it comes to holiday dining, there's no forgetting about the gravy—it can make or break the meal! Giving vegan gravy a try this year? Check out how to make it flawless.

Are your toes frozen? Perhaps your fingers feel more like ice than flesh and bone. Whatever you do, don’t touch the thermostat. Instead, get up and move, and make a big pot of body-warming soup. Soup is one of the easiest dishes to make and -- if concocted with care -- is filled with tons of nutrient-rich vegetables and spices.

Over the years, Organic Authority has posted wonderful soup recipes. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites for your reading – and tasting – pleasure.

Hands down, truffles are the all-time best holiday gift. Sweet, rich and totally decadent, yes -- and you can also put them together in a matter of hours, making them ideal for last-minute projects. And though a fine truffle requires the very best in organic, fair trade ingredients, you can still make a batch for less money than a box of good chocolates. Need more inspiration? Here are some of our favorite recipes and tips to get you started.

Spruce up your holiday entertaining table with a bit of color this year—by adding leafy greens to the menu! Keep your finger foods festive and fun while including a dash of healthy vegetables in the spread. These holiday appetizer ideas showcase leafy greens in some of our time-treasured seasonal classics.

At Christmastime, it's hard to avoid those boxes of delicious clementines, just begging to be slipped into everyone's holiday stocking. But while they're delcious eaten simply out of hand, they're also a great addition to many sweet and savory recipes. Consider these seedless delights -- or any other member of the mandarin family -- in some of your meatless recipes this week. Here are some of our very favorite clementine recipes from all over the web!

Every year, Wine Spectator publishes its list of the top 100 new wines. In 2012, the top wine came from Shafer Vineyards -- an elite Napa vineyard that practices sustainable agriculture. "Relentless" is exceptional, not just for what's in the bottle, but for how it was produced.

If your holiday menu looks exactly the same year after year, it may be time to spice things up a little bit. Swap even a couple of these lighter dishes for their calorie heavy counterparts and you'll have a healthier holiday—without sacrificing any flavor or fun.