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The annual holiday party is coming up...and remember last year's incident with the mysterious brown dip? Let's make sure you're not THAT person this year.
Holiday Party & Potluck Appetizers
Walking into a party carrying these snacks? You'll have the same swagger as a mall Santa who knows he's rocking that velvet suit.
Artichoke hearts are an essential store-cupboard ingredient for me. This recipe is one of my favorites—delicious, quick, and simple to make, it's inspired by my mother. I always serve this at Christmastime, with toasted rosemary focaccia. It is rich, comforting, and everyone always wants the recipe.
This easy slow cooker cassoulet calls for beans, garlic, store-bought duck confit, and sausage, just like the traditional cassoulet recipe from France.
This butternut squash gratin is a lot like like a scalloped potato casserole except it's made with winter squash instead of spuds along with onions, garlic, butter, heavy cream, cheese, and bread crumbs. A simple--and simply elegant--side for Thanksgiving as well as a random weeknight.
Think of the most delicious hermit bar you ever ate, the moistest, chewiest, nicely spiced bar, with a crisp shiny top and dense center. Okay? This bar beats that one, we guarantee it. If you count molasses cookies, spice cake, or gingerbread—any of the old-fashioned, dark and spicy baked goods with their long international history—among your favorites, you’ll love these bars.
Think of these twice-baked potatoes as an easy mashed potato casserole loaded with bacon, Cheddar, sour cream, and chives. Talk about awesome game day grub or meals kids—heck, any of us—can't resist.
This wild rice with roasted chestnuts and cranberries is a healthy Thanksgiving side dish that also happens to be gluten-free. Made with dried fruits and chestnuts, it's ideal for holiday entertaining as it can be made in advance.
Who doesn’t love garlic bread? And this tear-and-share style is always a winner. I’ve written the recipe for 12 because it’s an easier quantity of dough to work with. What I like to do is make up both pans of bread, then whack one in the freezer, ready to bake another day—you won’t regret it.
These mac and cheese canapes, essentially baked mac and cheese bites, are made from macaroni and sharp Cheddar cheese and baked in mini-muffin tins. Perfect finger food for kids and adults. Cocktail party, anyone?
These IKEA Swedish meatballs, made with ground beef and pork, and served in a Dijon cream sauce, are the real deal, except you don't have to leave the house or walk through the store to enjoy them. Here's how to cook them.
Why, hello! Leite's Culinaria is the James Beard Award-winning site that helps home cooks and bakers put dinner on the table and laughs in the kitchen. Hungry for more? Join 40,000 food lovers and subscribe.
Hi Reader, Every cookbook has those recipes.You know the ones.The pages are stained with olive oil. The corners have curled from years of use. There's a splash of tomato sauce that survived three kitchen renovations and two half-hearted attempts at cleaning the page.Notes in the margins: More pepper. Double the sauce next time.Those are the recipes that hold their spot.When I first started cooking, I was always chasing the next exciting thing. A cuisine I'd never tried. An ingredient I...
Hi Reader, It's 5:12 on a Tuesday in mid-August.You've answered the emails. You've walked the dog. You've been to the grocery store twice because you forgot the one thing you went for. The tomatoes are still gorgeous. The basil is still going. But the calendar has quietly filled up, and there's the familiar question again:"What's for dinner?"The cooking isn't the hard part.The deciding is.Some nights you can happily spend an hour on a braise or a pie crust. Tonight is not one of those nights....
Hi Reader, At the best dinner party I ever hosted, I remember almost nothing about the food.I remember laughter that carried well past dessert. I remember the smell of bread warming in the oven. I remember the chocolate cake that somehow disappeared while everyone insisted they "couldn't eat another bite."Nobody has ever mentioned my knife skills.That was the useful discovery. Guests remember the room. They don't remember the recipe.Which means the smartest dinner-party dishes are the...
