Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend filled with good food and tons of family/friend time. I spent the entire week at home with my sister who was back from college. I kicked off the holiday week on Sunday with Thanksgiving at Jeff's aunt's house. I brought a cheese plate and tons of Oreo Balls! I swear I have never met someone that doesn't love them, biggest (and easiest) crowd pleasing dessert. 

I also ate the most deliciously creamy mashed potatoes at this round of Thanksgiving. Jeff's step dad made them with sour cream and cream cheese- so unhealthy and kind of disgusting when I think about it but I promise they were some of the best potatoes I have ever eaten. As you can see I love the skin of the turkey and canned wine! #classy

I spent the rest of the week working, shopping, and baking up a storm. I made cut out cookies really early this year so I froze them until the day I needed them. I was a little hesitant to freeze completely decorated cookies, but I had more than one person tell me these cookies were better than my usual! Now I feel like I need to freeze them every time. I used a standard cutout cookie recipe, outlined them in the type of frosting you buy in a can for boxed cakes, and filled them in with a meringue based glaze. Not hard or exciting but they get the job done! Especially considering only one person really loves them! 

Next up, I made an Apple Galette with a yogurt drizzle from Cooking Light. Everything was made from scratch and whole grain which I absolutely love. I mentioned before that I wanted to make this Thanksgiving a little healthier, so this dessert was the perfect light ending to a meal I have always found to be a bit too heavy. I definitely recommend this recipe and plan to make it again for a different crowd of people. I am officially burnt out on the baking front- three desserts in one week is my limit.!

Lastly, I put together this beautiful cheese board. Everything is from Trader Joe's excluding the wood board which I found at Home Goods for $10! Such a steal. While I was standing in front of the cheese section staring at my options, clueless because I eat like 2 types of cheese, a lady came up to me and literally put a block of caramelized onion cheddar in my hands. She said someone had done that to her on a previous trip and now she's addicted so she had to pass on the recommendation. Oh My God was she right- this cheese is AMAZING. Go to TJ's and buy it today! She suggested making grilled cheese from it, which I haven't tried yet (because the cheese was gone in an hour) but can already tell it would be delicious. The other cheeses were good, and the raisin crisp crackers were a big hit too, but nothing compares to the special cheddar. The only downside was the grapes had seeds! A total mistake on my part, but I just told everyone the grapes were for aesthetic purposes and not meant to be eaten.

I am so thankful for the last six months I have had off from school. It's given me time to learn, grow, and really figure out whats important to me. I already have New Year's Resolutions picked out to keep the new growth on track! I have to say, though, that I am even more thankful to being going back to school to pursue something I love.