We like hummus, but that doesn’t seem very holiday-y to me, but I guess if you put it in a holiday dish or colored it appropriately (added spinach or basil for green or green peas, beets for red) it could be?
My husband can’t do dairy so all the cheesy dips are a no go for us. We are also mostly vegetarian so no meat or seafood dips. One kid also hates cooked or mashed fruit so nothing with that in it.
Maybe guacamole with pomegranate arils (they don’t get mashed so might be ok with my picky kid)?
I don’t think they have to LOOK holiday though they could. Maybe they use ingredients that are seasonal (cranberries, peppermint, etc.) or maybe they are just decadent dips or favorites that are a holiday tradition (like many people ALWAYS have a tray of chilled shrimp and cocktail sauce!)
They don’t have to be “holiday” themed, just looking for ideas. Seems like people tend to have or go to more parties around the holidays, and some cook more than at other times. ETA I guess I could have titled the thread “Tell me your favorite dips and appetizers” but since we’re between holidays I figured my title was good.
Honestly, Trader Joe’s has a great selection of stuff like this if you have a TJs near you. For Thanksgiving I got these super thin Meyer Lemon cookies from there paired with a blueberry lemon goat cheese – they were giving free samples out and it was great. Figured my non-dairy husband could eat the lemon cookies by themselves or with the cranberry relish I make. They also had super cute 1 bite Maple Butter tarts. I put one pecan on them and then they were mini pecan pies.
I do like to cook sometimes, but it’s been a hard year and TJs has great options to make it easier.
Or the dip could be green (guacamole or edamame hummus) with red dip next to it—salsa or beet colored hummus or ??? with veggies and/or other things to dip.
Our grocery store was doing a promotion of this product: WILD HIBISCUS FLOWERS IN SYRUP 8.8 OZ | Bemka They took the flower stuffed it with a little goat cheese and topped with a couple of short stalks of chives. Very festive looking and delicious. We had a wine tasting party recently and served them for the first course - they were a huge hit.
I definitely consider my crab and artichoke dip a holiday dip. Given the price of the ingredients and the calories packed in it, I can only afford to indulge in it a few times a year!
Does anyone have a tried and true shrimp dip that does not require heating? I’ve found a couple that sound fine, but I’d be more comfortable making one someone has tried and says is really good.
One VERY simple one from my childhood: Shrimp and Cottage Cheese dip (with various spices depending on recipe). I haven’t had that since childhood! Thanks for the memory!
Thanks - That sounds really good. I might try it with a different group. Because of the suggested timing, it won’t work for this group - I need something I can make ahead of time and then stick on the table with crackers or chips when we get there.
My daughter in law brought dairy free dips to Thanksgiving. Grandson is allergic to all dairy so that rules out a lot of the appetizers. The Treeline sour cream and onion dip and the ranch were both very good. They didn’t taste dairy free at all. She ordered online but they have a store locator feature on their website.
I remember my mother and her friends would all serve a brick of philly cream cheese with shrimp in cocktail sauce poured over the top surrounded by crackers at cocktail parties. Super easy.
Good to know. My husband just also does not like dairy and dairy substitutes very much. He doesn’t miss cheese or sour cream or anything like that. He associates that stuff with a really bad stomach ache that sends him to the bathroom for a few days, so it is not appealing to have substitutes.
We are almost done consuming our 1st ENORMOUS Costco bag of chex mix that I doctored by adding a pound of baked buttered pecans. Not sure if we dare to open another bag, as we may get some from others as well.
I think I’m going to wind up doing something almost that simple. I just ordered the ingredients for a couple of different ones, but they are all easy. I feel like I should be doing “more” but since I have no idea who the guest list included (I suspect there will be many kids) and I have no idea what we are eating I figure easy/simple is good.
I’d be “crushed” if I spent $50 on crab and made crab dip, just to see it not get eaten.
Our friends group does an appetizer Christmastime gathering. This year I am making (heating up!) both the ham and turkey sliders from Honeybaked Ham and also bacon wrapped, goat cheese stuffed dates. I did the dates last year for a few events and everyone raved. This year I found a carmelized onion goat cheese at Trader Joe’s so I’m going to give that a try.
