Bon Appétit: Recipes of Instagram Top This Year’s Holiday Dishes

It’s the age old question and the probably the one most frequently asked in households across the world, every day.

WHAT’S FOR DINNER?

Recipes are a dime a dozen, and who knows when they’ll stumble onto the next family favorite? The internet is filled with recipes, mini video ideas, home chefs, pro chefs, all sharing their tips and tricks.

The holiday season is here and as the year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to try out new recipes, so we decided to shelve a few traditional classics and throw in some Instagram recipes I’d been saving up all year.

Well…the judges have spoken. Some were great hits while others missed the mark. Here’s the list of what we tried, and how they went …

Holiday, Say What? Menu

Christmas Eve (Keto-Friendly!) Munchies

I don’t know much about Keto but the recipes looked quick and easy and were made with items I would most likely have around the kitchen. Instagram user @ketosnackz whipped up these two with minimal effort and turns out at least one of them is really good. Can you guess which one?

–              Broccoli Fries – Power packed, these turned out to be really good, and were even better the second day after being refrigerated. And talk about easy. How easy? Two bags of frozen broccoli florets, parmesan and shredded cheddar cheese, and two eggs. The recipe called for squeezing any extra liquid with cheesecloth but we kind of blew that advice off. Tip: Do it. We steamed the broccoli in the microwave then dropped them in the blender for a nice chop before mixing and rolling them into ‘fries’ and popping them in the oven. This recipe is a definite yes.

–              Buffalo Chicken Bites – Now this recipe, also from @ketosnackz sounded intriguing. Canned chicken, mixed with a cup of shredded cheese and an egg, baked, makes chicken nuggets. We added some Old Bay when it called for ‘seasoning’, popped them in the oven, and it actually worked. It kept the canned chicken flavor but was definitely an option if you’re looking to cut out fried, heavily breaded chicken nuggets. We didn’t toss them in Buffalo sauce but it probably would have been the winning move. These are a yes when you need an on-the-fly option.

Good Morning Sunshine

–              Sausage Muffin Bites – A super easy recipe from @cookinginthemidwest, Luke Brown dropped the ultimate on-the-go recipe for parents who’d love to make pancakes and sausage for their kids but are working with 30 minutes from wake up to the bus. Whipping up a bag of Martha White blueberry muffin mix, dropping in a ¼ piece of a sausage link and cooking it, it’s the perfect breakfast or snack for your kid’s lunchbox. Tip: Be sure to follow the directions and use the mini-muffin pan. We used the regular size muffin pan and not only was the sausage was engulfed by the muffin and we had to put foil over the top of the pan to finish cooking the interior after the outside was brown and ready.

Going All-In Munchies

–              Smoked Street Corn Dip & Chips – This is the one I was most looking forward to besides the holiday cake roll. @richardeats_ pulled no punches filling up the roaster pan with a slab of pepper jack cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, Mexican corn, cilantro and Tajin before dropping the lid on his grill to smoke the dip. We dropped ours in a CorningWare dish and let it slow cook with the lid on at 250 degrees for about an hour. It was a definite hit with tortilla chips, and as a side with our main meal on Christmas day. This is an anytime yummy and it makes a healthy portion for things like a Superbowl Party. Tip: Keep it warm for best results.

–              Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates with Candied Bacon – @Daenskitchen got our attention with the bacon. A fan of dates, we make date bars from scratch at least once a year. You can’t go wrong combining them with bacon and goat cheese. It wasn’t until we started the process that I realized this is or is very similar to one of my favorite dishes at Kathy Brown’s annual Ladies Night Out Dinner. She calls hers ‘Devils on Horseback’ and they are scrumptious. Ours turned out fantastic and if you like the ingredients, you’ll love them together. This recipe had orange zest and fresh rosemary which we were sure to include and it really took it over the top. Tip: Once prepared, these are good warm or cold from the refrigerator. Five stars.

The Main Dish – This was a ham on the receiving end of some leftover miscellaneous items and it was probably one of the best hams I’ve ever made. My recipe: dressing up a plain hardwood smoked ham with pineapple juice and brown sugar, sprigs of rosemary, the fresh orange juice from the orange de-zested including the slices, peppercorn, bacon crumbles, and cherries, covered and cooked on 200 degrees for hours, it gave the ham time to absorb and infuse.

–              High Protein Bread – this recipe was one of the most intriguing. Showcasing a fluffy bread that looked like an angel food cake, @lindsay.keosayian made it look super easy with just powered egg whites, water and cottage cheese. Well, I rarely eat eggs unless it’s as a crepe-styled omelet filled with cheese, vegetables (seeing a common theme here?) maybe some meat. Dry egg whites became the hardest thing to find on our list especially a few days before Christmas. We ended up with something (egg replacer) that was clearly wrong but followed through the baking process anyway after mixing it up, to a total bust. If anyone has any tips on the right kind of powdered egg whites and where to find them, please let me know. I’d really like to get this one right, especially since it’s a high protein bread and we have plans for a meal plan revision in 2024.

The Sweet Stuff – Here we are, at last. Growing up my parents had this decorative, fancy French tin hanging on the wall with the recipe for a Buche de Noel. It’s been one of ‘those’ must dos for my whole kitchen life. When I saw the Christmas one on Instagram by @sheri_wilson_ and how easy it looked, I knew we had to do it.

–              Christmas Cake Roll – it was at the end of the Christmas Eve cooking extravaganza and we were pretty worn out after a long day at work, and cooking broccoli fries, corn dip, bacon dates, chicken nuggets, and pigs in a blanket. (And we still had presents to wrap!) In a state of near exhaustion, and maybe a frozen Margarita, we went all in. I whipped up the egg whites, the red and green batter.

Then I made the kids squeeze out the alternating colors. Not only was it the funniest thing ever as they tried to keep up, it will be a great memory one day. Unbelievably, it worked, and after flipping the cake onto the floured counter, spreading the Betty Crocker cream cheese icing and rolling it up without ripping it, an hour later it came out of the refrigerator, perfect. Probably one of the most exciting accomplishments of the whole holiday cooking experience.

The Challenge:

Setting a budget, the challenge was to prove a menu like this (see the full menu below) could be made on a budget of $100. Shopping at Walmart, some BOGOs at Publix and the egg replacement from Target, we came pretty close, with a total at $137.

The fun part of it was the idea of the time together working to complete the challenge. From planning the menu to the shopping and the cooking, everyone played a role in making the experience happen. It was a great learning opportunity about how to plan and manage a holiday budget, which can easily get out of hand, if you go into a store unprepared during the holiday with no set list or hungry.

It also gave us a fun way to try out some of the recipes of Instagram at home and see if they’re really as easy as they look or turn out like the pictures!

Note: The ingredients for the Caramel Apple Bark and Brie Cranberry Wreath were purchased but in a sugar overload (my mom sends me a box of baklava every year), we decided to hold those for new year’s dinner.

Interested in trying any of the recipes? The recipe authors are tagged for credit and you can check out their Instagram pages for these and other recipes. Bon Appétit!

Have a great recipe you’d like to share? Email us at FlaglerNewsWeekly@gmail.com.