i have become really good at looking at recipes and reading all the reviews to decide if it's something I think will be tasty, and which changes reviewers suggested to incorporate. I'm either brave or stupid, as I don't try out new recipes before serving them to guests, and so far, not a problem. I only choose 5 star rated recipes with many, many reviews to guide me. For Xmas dinner, I will have 27 people, some meat eaters, some vegetarians, some vegans, some gluten free... and I always have a few dishes that are a constant, and always some new dishes to serve. The planning takes weeks, but it's a fun challenge I can accept cause it's only once a year.

All my friends know I like to try out different recipes so if I have one that isn't the best, they all understand. I do look at the stars and if it is below 4, I don't make it. I have never heard of an instant pot..........will have to check that out.

Christmas cookies! Helloooo!

I think this was fun post and a break from all the dilemmas . Happy Holidays everyone , enjoy the food and hit the gym in January

I try a several new recipes weekly since I began subscribing to some meal subscription services like Home Chef, Sunbasket, and Peach Dish. I like that my time is saved in that someone else has planned the meal, shopped for the groceries, and sent me everything I need to make the meal in a refrigerated box. I am really expanding my culinary taste and skills with little of the effort that would otherwise be required.

Korean beef short ribs

I regularly try recipes my friends post on Facebook...latest was a new variation of pizza...with puff pastry, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, feta, chopped smoked sausage, grated cheese...yum!

Chloe.... served it with Pita chips.... I buy them @ Trader Joe's where I live. One of the guests just asked me to make it for Christmas Eve when we come to their house.

Baked pasilla chili, quinoa relleno....yummy

Yesterday, crockpot meal that my kids could eat while I was at work.

Several times a week! Last night I brought Gourgeres to a holiday party. They were a hit! (recipe at Smitten Kitchen)

All the time! I'm always looking for new things. The last new thing I tried out was a Hungarian dish kind of like Swedish meatballs, but it uses ground poultry and paprika as the spice. I was kind of expecting it to be bland, but it was really quite nice. I experiment and make up my own stuff quite often too.

Made vegetable soup last night with garlic stock (never made garlic stock before) and it was fabulous. The stock added a whole new dimension to the soup.

Slow cooker chicken cacciatore cooking now. I try new recipes every week.starting in January, I plan to make a recipe each country is known for, to the best of my ability.

i try new recipes in bunches... i'll go a couple months trying nothing new, and then 3 new ones in a week. i tear pages out of magazines and the newspaper. i find the recipes on facebook all start with a 2 sticks of butter and a pound of bacon, so i give them a miss.

this past week was one hit and one miss.

and for folks who don't like non-dilemma posts, just walk on by.

Bailey R, I often buy pita chips from TJ's. My husband is a fan of their Mediterranean hummus. It's not bad in a pinch but I like to make it myself.

I'm always looking for new appetizer and hors d'oerve rescipes or adapting or inventing them. My annual Christmas Tree Trimming Party was December 10 and I made a vegetable tart with Gruyere zucchini yellow squash and purple onion in a 5x14 tart pan. Made several and served warm but we're even better room temperature. They were all gone by the time the tree was trimmed and dinner was being served.

I am always trying new recipes! The last ones were beef barley soup, Illinois pumpkin custard (both very good) and a squash stew (didn't think that was worth the effort!). For the last decade, I've been very interested in bread baking. I have collected books and recipes, baking several different loaves, learning many "tricks" of bread baking. One favorite is an especially delicious bread for Christmas which is shaped like a big sand dollar!

Made a big batch of tamales yesterday. Some chorizo filling, some shrimp. Not as hard as I imagined. They went over well but I made a lot and I've got a another dozen in the freezer for later. I love my new walk-in pantry (we converted a seldom used formal dining room to a walk-in pantry and a laundry room with a wine/coffee bar facing out into an alcove/hall off the living room). Now I have room for all my baking supplies and new recipes are so much easier. And we still have a large breakfast area to the back of the kitchen with plenty of room for a table for 8.

I posted this pic somewhere else on Houzz. Though not exactly a recipe, this rosemary wreath appetizer idea was new to me a few years ago. It's an easy and fun presentation this time of year.

Hah, I found this cute owl veggie tray presentation while I was Google Image shopping.;)

I'm getting into one pan dishes. This one in herby spicy chicken thighs with Brussels sprouts and shallots. Very tasty and I thought pretty too.

I try new recipes all the time. You should ask me when I repeated a recipe! My latest new one was a spiced saltine cracker. Sorry to say, it is mostly a thumbs down. It's not awful, just not one the family wants me to make again.

I recently retired from teaching and I am an antique dealer. I have always liked to cook but now I have more time to spend on meal planning and prep time. I get out one of my antique cookbooks and try an OLD recipe at least once a week. I never make the same meal twice in the same month. Variety is the spice of life. I also check recipe sites on the internet for inspiration. (Not all of these meals are fancy or complicated but they are always different). My husband and I also have made a pact. We cannot go to the same restaurant from May until November. We only eat out at the maximum- six times a month (This includes any pizza ordered in or any dinner invitations to relatives' homes.). We have managed to keep our pact for two years now. We plan accordingly and treat ourselves to the very best restaurants two times out of the six times we eat out a month. We also have saved a lot of money by not impulsively going out to eat on weeknights. My husband works long hours so he doesn't help me cook but he always does the shopping and the dishes for me. We have been married 48 years ( I was 16 and he was 18). Our system works pretty well and maybe when he retires next year, I will buy HIM a cookbook?

I try to make a new recipe a few times a month, sometimes weekly. Based on how easy it is and how much we like it, we add it to our quickly growing rotation list. The last dish I tried was halibut, and we're keeping it! For people who like fast and delicious dishes, damndelicious.net is great, allrecipes is always reliable, and family and friends know I always like new cookbooks. The last one I got was from Six Sisters. Yum!

@Anne Duke, your post reminded me of a recipe I tried with chicken thighs, artichoke hearts and mushrooms. Really easy and tasty.

I experiment on my family all the time. The last thing I tried on them was what I'm calling a "dolma" casserole. I wanted some grape leaves, but didn't feel like rolling them - they are so good but so labor intensive. So I used all the same ingredients and layered them into a casserole. YUM!

Eat paleo, so often go searching for recipes to take the place of more familiar ones. Hang onto the greatest hits, though, like the world's best grain-free gingerbread cookies! :)

I made Roast beef sliders on Saturday night for a party. They were great. I am constantly trying new recipes. I expect to get an Insta Pot on Christmas Eve!

DH and I eat out once a week and try to go only local places.

Love to try new recipes. I made black pudding with cooked red cabbage and apples this weekend. Very good.

I've been making it a point to try a lot of new recipes this year. There have been a few keepers, but I'm finding most of the recipes I've tried from the internet to be a bust. Most of these have been from some of the bigger name sites or even food bloggers' recipes and many had rave reviews. Makes me want to stick to old-fashioned cookbooks or handed down recipes.

2 days ago a new sauce and rub for beef tenderloin yum, yum

just last week, it was an oven cooked pork dish, which came out of my favorite chicken cookbook - it was chicken with onions. week before chicken with apples - even better with pork.

That is the rare place where we actually follow the recipe. normally we look at several of a style and combine key ingredients of what we want.

what is an insta pot? has anyone tried an airfryer? is it really as good? Happy holidays!

Last year we tried an Italian soup by. Lydia. After tweaking and adjusting ingredients, we absolutely love it! It has lots of veggies, ditalini, and shrimp for the main ingredients.

I create a new recipe at least once a week and if the family likes it (they almost always do), I write out the recipe. This way we're never bored and I'm building a family cookbook which my husband wants to call Ridiculously Healthy and Tasty Too.

Bev, Lydia's a great source!

Well, almost everyday i make up a new recipe. Sometimes it is just something that pops into my mind or i use a tried and true recipe and do something different....i have been cooking forever but my husband is a diabetic so i have to come up with healthy alternatives now. Veggie casseroles with chicken ...did one with brussel sprouts this week...yum.

I made hummus in our vita mix.... I did a regular recipe with garlic. It was truly 100% delicious! So if you're wondering how to get your hummus nice and creamy a vita mix is definitely the answer! Amust try!!

Last week was butternut squash and barley risotto, very nice but made a huge amount so half is in the freezer.

This week, roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Delish!

When my kids were small I was bored cooking veggies. No more! Now meat is the boring part of the meal.

Last week I made chicken tikka masala from scratch. Just really learning to appreciate Indian cooking at home. My husband also made fresh naan bread to go with it. It was very tasty indeed!

kathy = much like sweet and sour sprouts, great with brown rice and chicken strips for dipping

I think I was more interested in the BACON then the vinegar and syrup part though. It was a 2 pound bag of sprouts and boy did we mow through them fast!

Will definitely continue to explore Brussels sprout recipes.

let me know so far we only like sweet and sour.

I often try new recipes, at least once in two weeks. Well, I`m cooking in multikitchen (here), it`s easier for me. Yesterday I baked a carrot cake, it was an interesting experience. I`m a lazy cook by myself, but my family really appreciates tasty and varied food. I can`t cook the same thing for a long time because of it. But my multikitchen has so many programs that I can experiment forever)

I came up with this low salt recipe using butternut squash ... a bit tough to cut up, but delicious. Here's a pic

so glad someone brought this back up. I have 2 new things. 1st, we decided to try the shipped meals, like blue apron. because until i can get back into the kitchen, well JOTs cooking skills are getting worse. if we eat out there is so much salt etc it normally makes us ill. so we have tried 2 of the top 10 and both provide organic meat on down. you provide salt etc and we have had excellent meals, they were not as high as eating out, especially with all the coupons. and my hubby - jot, is feeling more confident and he now has recipe cards and simple recipes- which he seems to really like.

but back to my question. they gave us zuchini. and once again it was cooked in the oven and came out bitter, i have had it twice out and it was not, but 3rd time at home it was?

havingfun, I can't remember the name but there's a compound in zucchini (along with other squash, cucumbers, melons) that can cause the bitterness. I think it's supposed to be more common in wild vs. commercially grown squash. Something to do with varying temps, pests and/or wacky irrigation. However, I've had it happen with what I bring home from the market. Restaurants may pretreat/prep it to remove any possible bitterness. Not sure...that might involve slicing it first and soaking in salt water.

i think i will just drop it, no need to add salt to the diet. thanks for the info though. i do enjoy other squash, yellow petti pan.

I have so many friends who are diabetic who love bread and pizza and pasta, that I am in experimentation mode right now. I read a scientific study that replacing 5% of the flour from a normal bread recipe and replacing it with a flour made by grinding fenugreek into a flour decreases the blood and urinary glucose. The drop in urinary glucose was by 54%. My sweet friends aren't doing well and I am worried about them, so it is worth trying.

there is far more to it than they say. I am lucky enough to feel the differences. my husband is one of many who feel no difference. it is a highly individual thing and one thing they do not tell you is that you often do not get things because you have diabetes you have diabetic symptoms because you have other problems.

my hubby is the sick one so i used to check myself out on his monitor. never any problem. one day i get this terrible pain in my shoulder. we end up at the hospital and i have an infection on my lung sack. before i leave a nurse gives me this stern lecture that i have had diabetes for at least 6 months. i am highly indignant. go home try to figure it out. 2 months later, no probs. 3 years later, they are trying to give me a test and again I am above range? turns out i have cancer. during my surgery etc my blood sugar hit 800s, i am intubated and the woman came every day to tell my sugar is off, i am like would that not be your problem? Drs did not bat an eye. 4 months later symptoms are gone. I am doing well now and am about to go off my metformin. but i also have learned things, like for me, cheese can not be my only protein for dinner, especially with a starch.

So the lesson from me is that many times, if you have a reasonable diet? Look to other illness for the problem. take it as a sign that you have a problem. kidney stones had it again. when i take care of the problem it goes away.

Also what works for one does not work for all. someone i know was cured with cinnamon, neither my hubby or i had any difference. donuts make me want to spin! i eat regular pasta no problem - but to make sure we got more veggie we now put shredded spinach in our spaghetti sauce. i use one slice of bread with my sandwich but that is more on salt. each slice is 10%, not to mention the cheese and ugh the coldcut. I have to watch the fluid in my body due to my damaged lungs. I think as we age we are more sensitive and we need to be more careful.