Can you believe we are days away from welcoming 2020 🎉🎊. This was a year of adulting milestones for me because my husband and I celebrated 10 years of marriage, 10 years in our beautiful tudor home and my 2003 Nissan Altima hit the 200K marker (don’t worry, JLo is a champ and is running great).

I also started my food blog this year and as a reflect on my early days of sharing what’s inspiring me in the kitchen, I’m humbled by the support and feedback followers have provided me, thank you ❤. As I plan for 2020 and for what’s next for Jackie’s Eats & Treats, I’m focused to hone my blogging craft, to gain more followers. If folks have suggestions, I’m all ears 🙏.

Anywho, ringing in the New Year is a time of celebration and enjoying tidbit and cocktails and Jackie’s Eats & Treats is here today to inspire your festivities with some of my favorites from the year.

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Buffalo Chicken – Whether it’s wings, tots, monkey bread or dip, this is always yummy!

• • For the wings (if you follow my recipe), you could prepare beforehand and bake or warm when you’re ready to serve.
  • For the tots, prepare your ingredients in advance (i.e. shred chicken, dice green onion, shred cheese and prepare you ranch) and create when you’re ready for baking.
  • For the monkey bread, prepare a buffalo chicken dip and stuff into dough balls and place into your refrigerator until you’re ready to bake. Once you’re ready, allow the bread to raise on your counter top for 1 hour and bake to perfection (375 for 45 mins – 1 hr).
  • For the Buffalo Chicken Dip, you could prepare this dip up 2 days in advance and when you’re ready to bake, remove the chill from the dip on our counter top. By removing the chill, you’re allowing the dip to bake more evenly 👍 Bake the dip at 350 for ~45 minutes or until the center is bubbling and serve with your favorite corn chips and/or veggies.

Crescent Rolls – Super easy to create with a few simple ingredients and crescent rolls can be prepared beforehand and baked when the time is right.

• Ham & Cheese Crescent Rolls (featured below), don’t forget to check out my mustard recipe.
• Buffalo Chicken Crescent Rolls, check out my buffalo chicken dip for the filler needed.

 

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Wontons – Grab those mini muffin trays and have fun creating delicious bites of food. Wonton wrappers can get dry, so you’ll want to at least pare-bake your wontons if you plan to prepare in advance.

• Reuben Wonton Bites (featured below), check out my recipe in the link.
• Buffalo Chicken Wonton Bites – Simple make my Buffalo Chicken Dip and stuff into wonton wrappers and top with cheese and garnish with green onions.
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Charcuterie Board – These platters are perfect for entertaining because there’s something for everyone. Follow this link for some inspiration.

Nachos – Always a favorite and on’t forget to checkout my Guacamole, which is delicious and can be made in advance because I use fresh lime juice.

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Party Bars – Below you will find a few options that can be made in advance and fit the NYE theme.

Chili Bar- You can prepare in the Crockpot, Stovetop or Instant Pot, in advance. Create your bar of toppings to finish the bowl, e.g. corn chips, white and/or green onions, cilantro, cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, lime.

Taco Bar (check out my Birthday Taco Bar) – Who doesn’t love a taco? They’re yummy, fun to create and can easily be a finger food at a party. You can prepare your protein and the taco bar fixings in advance and warm the protein and tortillas when you’re ready to serve. I also have you covered with my Limeade Margaritas for your taco themed evening.

• Chili Lime Chicken Tacos with Black Bean and Corn Salad
• Tacos Al Pastor
• Ground Beef Tacos
• Chorizo & Potato Tacos
• Korean Short Rib Tacos with Apple Kimchi Slaw
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Cocktails – Finally, cocktails because no New Year’s celebration is complete without some. I usually opt for Prosecco or Beer on NYE, but here’s some cocktail inspirations, if you’d prefer 👍

Whiskey Blackberry Lemonade – This has been our go-to this holiday season. It’s a tart and bubbly cocktail and definitely looks festive with the deep red color.

Brockman’s Gin & Tonic – Spoil yourself with some fever tree tonic, trust me, you will not be sorry. Also garnish with the aromatics used in the gin, e.g. Brockman’s is blackberry and grapefruit, to enhance the floral notes.

French 75 – If you’re looking for a Prosecco cocktail, a French 75 is always a winner!

I hope this post is able to inspire and cheers 🥂 to the New Year, may it bring you happiness, good health and prosperity 🍻