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From Nana’s famous egg dish to spiced sangria and bourbon pecan pie, these are our favorite holiday recipes that we enjoy every Christmas!
It’s the season for all the festive food and drink. We’ve been enjoying this cozy week at home, cooking up our favorite holiday recipes and getting ready for the Christmas weekend
While most of my time I aim to eat nutritious recipes with veggies and protein and fresh, healthy ingredients (like these spa cuisine recipes), I like to live by the 80/20 perspective and leave plenty of room for special treats. I’m also a big believer in vacations, special food and time spent together.
We have several traditional recipes that appear on our tables year after year during the Christmas season; as is the tradition of eating Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning while opening presents. From brunch casseroles to spiced sangria to Ina’s rib roast, I’m sharing our favorite holiday recipes – enjoy!
Our favorite holiday recipes
Nana’s famous egg dish
This egg casserole is perfect for brunch or holiday celebrations. It freezes beautifully and tastes great with pico de gallo salsa.
Green beans with goat cheese, almonds and cranberries
These green beans are bright and fresh, with creamy goat cheese, orange zest, crunchy slivers of almonds, and sweet cranberries. The recipe is gluten-free and only takes 15 minutes from start to finish.
The ultimate fall and winter salad
This salad is a fall dream come true. It has butternut squash, tangy arugula, a tangy vinaigrette, chicken, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese. It’s perfect for any holiday gathering or party and makes a vegetarian side dish. My vegetarian friends can omit the chicken and it tastes just as delicious without.
The best raw chocolate tart
This raw chocolate tart made with cashews and cocoa and an almond coconut crust is a decadent gluten-free dessert that doesn’t need to be cooked!
Holiday Spice Sangria
Holiday Spice Sangria! It’s made before every holiday party, and the flavors just get better as a few days go by. It’s perfect to take to parties as it makes a fun change from the usual bottle of vino.
Mulled wine from Ina Garten
Warm up with a pot of Ina Garten’s mulled wine recipe, a mix of cider and red wine, enriched with cinnamon, cloves and orange.
Ina’s Sunday Rib Roast
Ina’s Sunday rib roast with mustard horseradish is often our centerpiece at a Christmas party. It’s a crowd pleaser.
Ina’s Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie
Another favorite of Ina. Chocolate, bourbon and pecans – what’s not to love? I’ve done this twice this year and plan to do it again on Saturday.
This is what our menu looks like this year:
Christmas Eve: Dinner at my dad’s (Mexican buffet + my aunt’s famous eggnog and all desserts)
Christmas brunch:
- Nana’s egg casserole
- Alton Brown Cinnamon Rolls
- bacon or ham (I haven’t decided yet)
- Tamales and Beans (from Madre!)
Christmas Day Dinner:
- Cheese platter and artichoke dip with crackers
- Mediterranean chopped salad
- Smoked turkey on the Traeger
- filling and sauce
- Beef fillet with horseradish sauce
- Cheese Potatoes (Madre)
- Fresh sourdough
- Bourbon Pecan Pie + Dessert Plate (Loads of Cookies and Candy)
- Mulled wine, eggnog and champagne
It should be a very good and very tasty weekend 😉
See you tomorrow with a new podcast episode!
xo
gina
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