Festive Foods
Red and Green Holiday Foods
Make your foods scream holiday by playing off some vibrant red and green colors that come naturally (well, a few of the desserts do use some food color). There’s something about serving a plate of red and green that appeals to both the eyes and the spirit. Most of the following festive foods are all super simple to put together, but they just might leave a lasting impression on your family and friends.
Read on for a collection of red and green festive foods spanning from appetizers all the way to desserts. We’ve got 15 suggestions for ways to show your Christmas spirit using food. Five appetizers, five main dishes, and five desserts are all included here along with their corresponding recipes.
Happy Holidays!
Festive Foods
Festive Appetizers and Side Dishes
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Tomatoes & Basil
These bite sized appetizers are bursting with holiday spirit and flavor. Just gut cherry tomatoes and then stuff them with a cube of fresh mozzarella and a dab of pesto sauce. Alternately, you can arrange sliced tomatoes, basil & fresh mozzarella on a platter and drizzle with a little olive oil and black pepper. Bruschetta is also a nice option to make with tomatoes and basil.
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Kiwi & Pomegranate
This simple dish of cut kiwi and pomegranate seeds is both tasty, healthy and beautiful. Serve with yogurt, if desired. You might notice that these pomegranate seeds are more of a maroon color – they were soon reaching the end of their shelf life but still full of flavor and juice. Extract pomegranate seeds easily by following our instructions.
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Spinach & Strawberries
This sweet and easy salad might taste like summer, but it looks just like Christmas with it’s vibrant red and green color! It’s just spinach and strawberries with a sweet dressing. Toss in some roasted pecans and/or mild white cheese for extra flavor and protein.
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Broccoli & Red Peppers
Serve these veggies raw arranged around a ranch or spinach dip or served them steamed with a little black pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Either way, they make a great low calorie combo.
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Strawberries & Grapes
Make these cute Santa caps by arranging a grape (or you could use a honeydew melon ball), a slice of banana, a strawberry and then a mini marshmallow onto a small wooden skewer or toothpick. These might seem cute for little ones, but beware of your age group with sharp toothpicks.
Festive Foods
Festive Main Dishes
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Red and Green Lasagna
Change up your favorite classic lasagna recipe by adding a layer of chopped spinach with pesto sauce in place of one of the regularly red layers.
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White Lasagna with Red and Green
Vegetables
White lasagna can be made vegetarian or with chicken. Here’s a nice vegetarian recipe.
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Cut Out Pizza with Peppers
You can make your own pizza dough, use frozen bread dough or use a refrigerated roll of dough. Either one your choose, just roll it out and then cut with cookie cutters. Top some with red pizza sauce and then decorate with red and green peppers.
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Sausage Sandwiches
Just pan fry some Italian Sausage patties (hot or sweet) in one pan and in another (or the same if you’re just cooking a few) some green peppers, red peppers and onions. Simply place the ingredients together inside a bun for a hearty sandwich. Add a slice of Provolone cheese, if desired. We make these year around, but only add the red peppers when it’s nearing Christmas.
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Swiss Chard & White Bean Soup
Hot and healthy, this soup hits the spot on a cold winter night. Recipe and picture credit here.
Other ideas
Festive Foods Desserts
Festive Desserts
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Red & Green Jello Cakes
Kids love the flavor, texture and shape of these festive cakes made with Jello and a cake mix. Recipe by Kraft.
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Red and/or Green Yule Logs
Red velvet cakes are popular all year long, but most appreciated at Christmastime. Here’s the recipe from Kraft. Replace the red food color with green if you wish to make a green log.
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Christmas Peanut Butter Kisses
These peanut butter and chocolate cookies are a year round favorite for many. Make them special for Christmas with a quick spin of a decorative icing tube and then finish with a candy star sprinkle on top!
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Christmas Biscotti
Take your favorite almond biscotti recipe and add shelled green Pistachios and Craisins into the batter at the end of mixing. This twist makes the cookie more flavorful and festive.
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Red and Green Frosted Shortbread
For easy and delicious red and green shortbread cookies, see our post on making Christmas shortbread.
- Also, for a cupcake that the kids will love, see our santa hat cupcake recipe.
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