Top Recipes of 2020

 Top Recipes of 2020:

These are some top recipes for us in 2020. Where I had pictures of my efforts, I included them.


Barefoot Contessa hits from 2020


I love the Barefoot Contessa.  Her recipes work, and you just have to follow them and remember she put days, months, and years into perfecting the recipes so just follow them the first few times.





Ina Garten’s Overnight Mac ‘n Cheese:  This may be the best Mac ‘n Cheese of all time for me.  You mix lightly cooked macaroni with cream and ½ the cheese and keep it in the fridge for 24 hours.  Then you take it out, mix in extra cheese and add bread crumbs, and it was cheesy and tasty.







Smashed Sweet Potatoes:  This was easy, and the surprise of adding pepper made it a surprise.  All the flavors merge into what is a not too sweet dish that was great.


Irish Soda Bread:  This was an easy entry into bread making.  We enjoyed it, and it was great, especially for breakfast.  To prove the “don’t mess with the Barefoot Contessa,” I tried to improve it by switching out raisins for currants. The raisins that were on the edge of the loaf burned where the currants did not.  I also tried adding almond extract and some toasted almonds, and it still was not as good.  This is an easy bread recipe and a good one.





From others, not Ina Garten:




Hearty Chicken Stew: This is quite good and is flexible that you can add other vegetables if you would like.  It is another easy recipe, and it uses chicken thighs, which we enjoy a great deal.



Butternut Squash and Turkey chili:  First, we love Butternut Squash, and adding ground turkey adds some protein and texture to the chili.  It would be easy to leave the turkey out and add more beans for a vegetarian meal. 







From Weight Watchers:


We ended up on a diet after perfecting several baking recipes, especially cookies, and discovered the recipes they have are quite good and made it easy to be satisfied.





Oatmeal Cookies:  First up, we didn’t give up on cookies.  These are quite good and not too sweet as you will note they have only a half cup of brown sugar.  They were tasty, but hard to eat just one and be behaved on a diet.




Peach Cobbler: This was another surprise.  It is quite good, and not too sweet, and comes together quite easily.  I have tried this with apples as well, and quite good. 






Sauteed Cod with Tomatoes and Olives:  This is quite tasty and couldn’t be much healthier.  I don’t like Olives, but I am sure they would add to the dish.  We found very fresh fish in Tyler, TX, which helped here.







Savory Make-Ahead Chicken Patties:  These are very tasty and very healthy as well.  They were great when made and also were good as leftovers on salads.


Turkey Chili:  We enjoyed the turkey chili a lot.  The other good thing about chili is that you can add to it each night to make it taste different from just another night of leftovers.  The next night add some frozen corn or garbanzo beans.   Also, I didn’t add the refried beans or cilantro, so if you like would be even better, I am sure.


Sauteed Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Capers:  Another great chicken recipe with chicken thighs and a healthy one as well.  


Southern Style Oven Fried Chicken:  This was an easy recipe and taught me to marinate chicken in buttermilk, especially for breasts, to bring the flavor. 


Crispy Cod Recipe:  This was another good recipe with Cod.  It is easy, pretty healthy, baked, and has a similar taste to being fried.  This recipe works well with chicken thighs as well.  


Finally, the New York Times is a good source of recipes.  Sometimes they are a little too complex, or they require ingredients not easily found in east Texas, but their recipes are pretty bulletproof when followed correctly.


NY Times Sweet Potato Pie Recipe:  I tried this recipe using the Pillsbury pie crust to roll out into your pie pan.  The recipe was easy to follow and most appreciated by the family as well. 


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