6 Recipes for Easy Hosting around the Holidays!

Hosting around the holidays can be more difficult and time consuming than hosting any other time of year. The expectations for homemade food, a Pinterest-worthy decorated home, having to dress festive and get the rest of the family on board can be a bit well…overwhelming. Now imagine if your birthday fell in that month like me and things just got a bit busy. Well coming from a family of 7 with holidays of nearly 30 people and hosting often at my own home, I have a few go-to recipes you can make ahead or involve very little tending too. easy enough for last minute dinner with friends.

If you know me then you know that I like to cook. I like really good tasting food nothing too complicated but I do like being challenged by a recipe every so often to learn new skills. But it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Deb Perelman over at Smitten Kitchen. She has tried a ton of recipes and shares her stories of food and cooking in her small New York apartment on her blog. So many of my suggestions today will come from Deb. If you enjoy these then I suggest getting on or both of her cookbooks. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from and Obsessive Home Cook is the one that I have and love. Her second cookbook Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites is on my Wish list this year.

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1-Rosemary and Gruyere Crisps

This is one of the easiest. Think sophisticated Cheez-Its for adults. I will often double or quadruple the batches and make the crackers and freeze them flat on parchment paper. Then when I need a batch when guests are coming over I can easily pop them in the oven. The house smells amazing after I bake them and they never last very long. I recommend making more then you think or just save a handful for yourself so that you can actually have some. I promise they don’t last long at all. I also use one of these fun pastry wheels to cut them and keep the edges fun.

RECIPE: Rosemary and Gruyere crisp recipe from Smitten Kitchen

2- Potato crisps

Note sure when potatoes lost there luster but I tried these potato crisps for an open house we had and what I loved is they are ready to serve from oven to your mouth right away and they are good both warm or cold. After sitting out they still taste good at room temperature which is always nice when you’re late to a party. They don’t have to be warm because who has time to manage appetizers and make sure they are always warm. Secondly, they are easy to customize for you group. I love sour cream bu my husband doesn’t, so we left it on the side. The cheese is interchangeable if you like something sharper or maybe spicier you can modify them to fit the taste buds of your group. All of the toppings can be prepared days before and the potatoes can cook while you get dressed!

RECIPE: Baked Potato Crisps with the Works from Smitten Kitchen

3-Chard and White Bean Stew

Soups and stews are an easy way to load up a big meal for when guests are coming. Over the winter I usually have to find new ways to get all my greens in my diet and I love how hearty this soup is without tasting so like chard. You can also swap out the chard for kale or spinach if you prefer or just see what is cheapest at the grocery store that week. Again, I like to double the batch because one batch doesn’t make enough really.

RECIPE: Chard and white bean stew recipe from Smitten Kitchen

4-Cider

Who doesn’t love a nice warm cup of cider. That deep robust fall and winter flavor that just makes you want to cozy up on the couch near a fire and watch a movie…ahhh. I love cider, I’m more of a cider and hot cocoa girl then coffee. They are so warming and soothing on the throat. Just try this recipe and tell me your house doesn’t smell like heaven. Easy enough to leave on the stove for your party or throw in a crock pot. You can spike it with your liquor of choice if that’s your fancy.

Serve them in a clear glass mug like these stemmed Irish Coffee mugs or these simple glass mugs.

RECIPE: Hot Mulled Cider from Ina Garten

5- Chipotle Rosemary Roasted Nuts

Forget your guests for a hot minutes, these nuts are AMAZING! A little spicy, savory, sweet and they just warm the heart. Nuts in general are really good sources of healthy fats, fiber and protein. You can easily tweak the type of nuts and the ratio that are in the recipe if you’d like. The one bit of advice I do have it be careful to NOT burn them. They have a bit of a sugar coating and when you get to the end of the baking time it can be a matter of seconds before it burns. However, this recipes will make your house smell heavenly, but also a re great to gift, or leave out on a bowl all day to munch through-out the day. I bet you will love this one!

RECIPE: Barefoot Contessa Chipotle Rosemary Roasted Nuts

6- Apple-HeRB Stuffing

I love stuffing. Not just for Thanksgiving which might be way I love this recipe. Deb talks about having stuffing for breakfast which is a fun idea I haven’t tried. But she calls this recipe an all year stuffing and I love that stuffing wouldn’t be for just Thanksgiving. What I like about stuffing and casseroles, is you can either prep all of the ingredients the day before to shorten your prep time or make the whole recipe the day before and finish baking it right before your guests arrive. It allows you to have a bit of a break before they arrive and do the bulk of the work much earlier. I know we have all been in the posisiton before where the door-bell rings and you are still in your cooking clothes and run to your room to change while texting or yelling out instructions to your partner how when to take whatever recipe out of the oven.

I love serving it in these Le Creuset dishes because they come in so many colors or these Pyrex glass bakeware for travel because they have nice lids so you can bake and cover and run out to friendsgiving like we did this past week.

RECIPE: Apple-Herb stuffing from Smitten Kitchen

ENJOY! I’d love to hear what you think of these if you try them. If you’ve tried one before let me know what you think or how you made it your own.