2020 Recipes in Review: Top 5 Favorites

At the start of the year I made it a goal to cook a new recipe a month. With quarantine, I discovered cooking was a hobby of mine. What I used to find stressful was now a calming activity to help me relax after a long day. I had so much fun trying new recipes and exploring in the kitchen.

Here are my favorite recipes I made this year.

5. Steak Bites from Cravings

Coming in at number five are these steak bites! They were delicious and fairly quick to make. I’m not sure if it was the cut of meat, but it was a bit of a challenge to cook all the cubes evenly and melt the cheese on it, but we made it work! The only reason this isn’t higher is because it was more of a special occasion appetizer and less of a meal for two.

4. Caprese Chicken

This is now a favorite meal of mine. Jake and I love Caprese salads and sandwiches and I thought why not try it on chicken?! Jake and I struggle to make chicken weekly - it’s so boring in our opinion so this is fun to switch it up! All I do is coat the breasts in salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. I then place them on a baking sheet, top with tomatoes, and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Then I take the chicken out, place mozzarella slices on top the tomatoes and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Lastly I drizzle some basalmic glaze and top with fresh basil leaves. I came up with the initial recipe idea and then Googled to see if it existed so I could find the right temperature and timing. Here’s the recipe I adapted from Tasty: https://tasty.co/recipe/tomato-basil-mozzarella-chicken

3. Steak Tacos

The only reason this isn’t higher on the list is because I already made this recipe in 2019, but it was too good not to include. This is a weekly tradition in the Bartel household. On our honeymoon in May 2019, there was a taco stand at the resort that we visited daily and by daily I mean 2-3 times a day. I was obsessed with the tacos. I ended up asking the chef how he prepared them and he said the simpler ingredients the better. Americans tend to put a ton of spices on our tacos and not use high quality ingredients (according to him), which is why we sometimes lack flavor. Here’s what he told me to use: high quality skirt steak, fresh onions, fresh limes, and corn tortillas. That’s it! Jake and I like to add quesadilla cheese, but I swear these tacos pack a serious flavor punch. They’re so easy and quick to make for a week night dinner.

2. Sweet Potato Gnocchi from Cravings

This is probably so high because I am extremely proud of making this. It intimidated the hell out of me - turning a sweet potato into pasta, but I did it! It was so delicious, smothered in butter and parmesan cheese. Bonus, Jake liked it, which for a picky eater says a lot. Definitely a special occasion meal, but definitely worthy of second place.

1. Lemony Argula Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe from Cravings

Taking the top spot is another Chrissy Teigen recipe. This pasta is truly the best thing to enter my mouth. Jake loved it and it is the only time I’ve gotten him to eat any form of a green leafy vegetable. It was easy to make, fairly quick (30-45 minute range), and overall so delicious. Olive Garden could never…

Banana Bread was a bit too obvious for this list, but man that was good. I made about 3-4 loaves I think.

Any recipes you tried in 2020 that I should make for 2021?

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