POV: You are a huge fan of green bean casserole as part of your Thanksgiving menu, but you want something a touch lighter, easier to make, and you still want green beans. Enter green beans almondine, with bacon. Because adding bacon to things just gives me holiday vibes!! Green beans almondine is a classic green bean dish that is essentially cooked green beans that are served with toasted almonds. There are variations on this classic dish, of course, but the main components are always green … [Read more...]
5 Ingredient Vanilla Cashew Butter Cups
And it begins with the Christmas treats! Are you ready?! Remember that vanilla cashew butter I made a while back?! It was so yummy, and creamy, and naturally sweet that I figured it would make some awesome vanilla cashew butter cups. You know? Like Reese's peanut butter cups? Only with vanilla cashew butter...and homemade. What's not love about that? These cute little vanilla cashew butter cups have a dark chocolate coating with a gooey, creamy, vanilla cashew butter center. Seriously … [Read more...]
Easy Salmon Cream Cheese Ball (Gluten Free)
Hey Hey Hey!!!! Christmas is only few days away. Perfect timing for this super easy salmon cream cheese ball. It's great for an appetizer or to add to a cheese board. Best part? It only takes 15 minutes to make (minus several hours of chill time in the fridge)!!! 15 minutes of active effort for a Holiday appetizer?!? Yes, I know it's hard to believe but it's true! Sometimes last minute recipes are the best that way. And no one has to know how simple it really was! Because it certainly tastes … [Read more...]
Favorite Cranberry Apple Pear Sauce
Hello November. Hello holiday season. Hello Thanksgiving sides!!! Today I share a family favorite Thanksgiving/Chrismtas side, cranberry apple pear sauce. This isn't your average cranberry sauce. It's much more than cranberries and sugar with maybe a little orange juice simmered into a sauce. No, my friends this cranberry sauce has crunchy apples and pears and juicy raisins, it's got a touch of cinnamon and is spiked with a hint of orange liquor at the end!!! It's literally THE BEST … [Read more...]
Roasted Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate
This is a popular recipe that was previously published on Robust Recipes. It has been updated for a better experience. Halloween is two days away!!! So let's talk about Thanksgiving sides ha! Actually this roasted butternut squash and Brussels sprouts are great anytime during the fall or winter. As in, anytime you can find butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and pomegranates in season. Which is pretty much right now until the end of December. Pomegranates have a short season, at … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce
Happy Thanksgiving week, friends! Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a few short days away? Are you excited? I am looking forward to cooking without taking pictures, spending time with family and friends in Wisconsin, and of course eating a lot of food. Paul and I are being a little crazy this year; we are getting up early on Thanksgiving morning to run a 5k at 7 am. Yes, I do agree, we’re crazy. Especially for wanting to run outside in the cold Wisconsin November weather. Guess what, … [Read more...]
Raw Gingerbread Cookie Bites (V + GF)
One of my favorite Christmas-time activities as a kid was making homemade gingerbread and sugar cookies with my mom. We would spend hours decorating cookies that we had shaped or cut into gingerbread men, Santa, reindeer, snowmen, and Christmas trees. At the end of the day we would have frosted cookies that were dazzled with sprinkles and sugar. I was a sugar-crazed kid who thoroughly enjoyed scarfing down both the sugar cookies and the gingerbread cookies. Even as a kid my favorite of the … [Read more...]
Beet and Yogurt Dip
It’s Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year! Now that it’s officially Christmas season, it is time to break out the decorations and play Christmas music non-stop. My Christmas tree is up and my Pandora station has switched to Christmas tunes until further notice. All that’s left is some holiday cooking. What better way to spark your Christmas spirit then to make a beautiful, festive, red Beet and Yogurt Dip? As long as you have cooked beets on hand (which I recommend), you can whip … [Read more...]
Cranberry Chia Seed Jam (GF)
I am officially at the start of preparing and planning for the holiday season. I have begun to dream of Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts. Thanksgiving is a food blogger’s favorite holiday! It is all about feasting on a spread of delicious food. Oh, yeah, guess there is that whole giving thanks thing, and of course the spending-time-with-your family ordeal. I kid, I kid! However, everyone does gather around the table for lively conversation, catching up, and the scrumptious … [Read more...]