Easy Holiday Cheese Board

HickoryFarmsEasyCheeseBoard1

So I was annoyingly stressed out these past two weeks thinking about all the holiday events coming up and all the things going on at work to get prepared for the holiday season that I didn't even want to do Friendsgiving. GASP! Friendsgiving is one of my favorite traditions of the past couple years. First headache was gone when my sweet friend Lexy said she would host. Second headache was gone when I decided to bring the easiest cheese board thanks to Hickory Farms

HickoryFarmsEasyCheeseBoard2

Quick story time. Me and Hickory Farms go way back. Every year growing up, one of my dad's co-workers would gift his fellow employees with a Hickory Farms gift box. My sister's and I would anxiously await the evening when my dad would come home with the coveted Hickory Farms gift box. We would rip open the box, fight over who got to eat the little strawberry hard candies and then start sampling every meat, cheese and spicy mustard, completely ruining our dinner. 

HickoryFarmsEasyCheeseBoard3

I'm often asked what my favorite food is, and struggle to muster up an answer. I could never answer that question with just one thing, but recently I've really been trying to nail down at least my top five favorite foods. So far chili has been put on my list, and after making this epic holiday meat and cheese board for Friendsgiving, it became apparent that cheese boards are also in my top five favorite foods. 

Not only do I love eating meat and cheese boards, I also love making them. But, I will admit going to the store and wandering the cheese aisle can be super daunting. With a million options, textures, colors, names etc. it's overwhelming deciding what cheese and meats to pair. With Hickory Farms Signature Party Planning Gift Box  the stress is gone. Cue the "easy" part of this holiday cheese board.

HickoryFarmsEasyCheeseBoard4

Hickory Farms perfectly curates their boxes to make for a perfect holiday cheese board. The Signature Party Planning box consists of four cheeses, three meats and assorted mixed nuts. Exactly what I would purchase if going at it by myself at the store. These amounts will serve about 12 people. Or 10 hungry 20-something girls at Friendsgiving...oops!

My cheese board assembly tips:
-Cut each cheese a different way. Cubes, triangles, slices, crumbles...
-Bring in different textures such as mixed nuts, fruit, crackers, olives or pickles
-Be colorful. Use cheese and meats of different color to keep it visually pleasing.
-Get your greens in. Some kind of fresh herb to contrast all the orange and cream. I used bay leaves because they were on hand. 
-Include some kind of mustard, jam or spread

HickoryFarmsEasyCheeseBoard5

Take a slight bit of the holiday stress off buy purchasing a Hickory Farms gift box for your next holiday gathering. Wow your friends and fam with this easy (and epic) cheese board when you show up for Thanksgiving. P.S. If you are last minute and don't have time to order something, and you are local to the OKC area, I know for a fact there is a Hickory Farms kiosk set up right now in Penn Square Mall. It is stocked with tons of meats, cheeses, mustards and pre-selected gift boxes. Cough Thanksgiving is in less than a week cough cough.

Happy holidays from my easy cheese board to yours!

Annie

Thank you to Hickory Farms for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest & completely my own.

10 Products I Love & 10 Products to Try at Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's Oklahoma City

Trader Joe's Oklahoma City

The big league city that is Oklahoma City, and the place I call home is FINALLY getting a Trader Joe's. Officially opening Friday the 23rd at 8am. I can hardly stand the wait. 

I fell in love with TJ's the summer I lived in DC and have been deprived ever since. Anytime I'm on vacation or a weekend trip to Texas, I make a stop at their Trader Joe's to pick up my favorite almond butter and trail mix. It's a full on love affair with this quirky grocery store. I'm not shy to share my love, leading to posts like this...

I'm not the most experience Trader Joe's shopper, for obvious reasons, but I do have some tried and true favorites I pick up on the rare occasions I'm in the same city as a TJ's. Today I'm sharing my 10 faves, as well as 10 items I can't wait to try. I stalk every blog post, article, report, instagram feed, etc. that devotes itself to the best Trader Joe's products. I feel confident I've come up with a well crafted list of things to try.

10 Products I Love:

1. Raw Crunchy Almond Butter This is without a doubt my favorite almond butter. It's very thin and needs a good stir when you open it, but it's perfect for that almond butter drizzle over oats or smoothie bowls all foodgrammers dream of. And #teamcrunchy just cause.

via the trader joes experience 

via the trader joes experience 

2. Cashew Butter Just like the bottle says it's creamy and salty and delicious. Cashews are my favorite nut so I obvi wig out over cashew butter. So great with apple slices, but also perfect for savory things like dipping carrots & broccoli into or for asian sauces. 

3. Rolled Oats This massive bag is so cheap and lasts forever. Makes a great bowl of oatmeal, but I mainly use this big bag more for baking or making granola. 

4. Tomato-Less Corn Salsa With chips dipped straight in or served over tacos, fish, chicken or in taco salad!

5. Macadamias mix Gingerly with Cranberries & Almonds Trail Mix Okay so look past the Omega Trek Mix image and into the background. This was my DC discovery and helped me get through the afternoon slump of my summer internship. The little bits of crystalized ginger are the best part and makes it my favorite trail mix EVER.

6. Feta Dip This one's for you Anna! When I visited Anna this summer I was greeted with a glass of rosΓ© and this feta cheese spread served with pita chips. We scraped the container clean despite the dinner reservations we had.

7. Body Butter TJ's has some sneaky awesome beauty products that shouldn't go overlooked. I picked this up on a whim and it works so well for my dry eczema skin. The pumpkin version is faboo too. 

8. Cookie Butter Cups You live under a rock if you haven't heard of cookie butter. It's kind of like Trader Joe's mascot. Unable to eat Reese's cups, these cookie butter cups are the perfect replacement and most likely better IMO.

9. Greek Yogurt Say hello to my breakfast every morning the summer I lived in DC. At only $0.99 a cup, they were perfect for my wallet and appetite. I love pomegranate and vanilla bean! 

10. Green Tea Mints This was an impulse check out purchase that I didn't regret. Actually so good and great for after lunch. 

10 Products I Want to Try:

1. Bollywood Popcorn 100% buying this. Jai ho!

2. Frozen Falafel Wrapped in a pita with tzatziki? Yes please!

3. Frozen Vegan Tikka Masala I'm not a frozen meal person, but this one is on just about every list. 

Via pInterest

4. Parsnip Chips Intrigued! Dipped in hummus or guac.

5. Honey Sesame Almonds Trader Joe's nut section is dreamy. These almonds, coconut cashews, truffle marcona almonds, chili lime cashews etc. all at the best prices. I can't wait to try these. 

6. Riced Veggies (Cauliflower and Broccoli) To sneak into smoothies or as a rice alternative!

7. Balsamic Glaze Perfect on my Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Figs.

8. Sweet Potato Gnocchi I tried to make sweet potato gnocchi one time and it was such a fail. I'll leave it up to trusty Trader Joe's instead now. 

9. Vanilla Almond Spiced Chai Protein Smoothie Everything I like in one bottle.

10. Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream I have the driest hands so this is a must try!

For all you Trader Joe's veterans, any products that are a MUST? Let me know in the comments. For all you readers, get ready for the slew of TJ's products that will soon be seen all over Take A Bite. For all you OKCers, I'll see you Friday. And after you all swoop up a jar of cookie butter make sure you put it to use by making my Cookie Butter Popcorn, Cookie Butter Rice Krispies or just by the spoonful, whatever you prefer. 

p.s. I trust Gaby and Monique with all things food. Check out their full lists of favorites here, here and here

Annie

D.C Diary Reunited

It's baaaaack! I loved using my D.C. Diary posts to log my summer adventures when I lived there. Two years later and I was able to squeeze in a trip back to my favorite city. No better way to recap the weekend than with this Take A Bite original. 

Hoped off the plane Friday evening and metro-ed into town (super proud of myself for still being able to maneuver the metro) to meet my host/bestie at her apartment. Kudos to Anna for being patient with me. I sent her an itinerary of everything I wanted to do over the weekend a few weeks back and she happily played along. Friday night was all her though. First stop on the #dcdining adventure was Rasika. More palak chaat please!! This crispy spinach dish is unreal.

Indian food and passion fruit cocktails were the perfect way to catch up and start the weekend. 

Anna and I lived together two years ago, she's now back in the district and I'm living vicariously through her. Did I mention we've known each other since we were born?

After a summer taking classes at Barre3 Georgetown, I was so happy to come visit and try out the new 14th street location. Seriously gorg studio in one of my favorite areas of town.

Can't help but stop and stare at the quaint side streets full of row houses and brownstones.

Saturday afternoon we went back to my old hood for lunch and shopping in Georgetown. Why oh why did Chaia not exist when I worked there?

Quick stop by the waterfront, before a quick detour to Baked and Wired

And now comes the best part of the trip. After a failed attempt at trying to get into Rose's Luxury two years ago, I've been dying to try again. They don't take reservations and you have to get in line right when they open to just hope you get a spot. I've been gawking them on social media and the internet and knew that this had to be apart of the trip. They were named Best New Restaurant ranking No.1 on Bon Appetit's Hot 10 list and rank tip top on several other round ups. 

Two of our friends and current D.C. resisdents, Katie and Sarah were meeting us for dinner. They were more than down for the waiting game. I love friends who love food the same way as me.  We got there at 5, got our name on the list and they happily let us know we should be seated by 7:30/8. Rose's is eclectic. They use the most interesting combination of ingredients and serve everything on mismatched china and silverware. The head chef, Aaron Silverman has said he wanted Rose's to be like having a dinner party every night. Congrats Aaron, you did it. 

I also love when people are cool with me snapping away at each course and embarrassingly asking the waitress every item in the dish. Just so you know you are looking at coconut milk foam, pork sausage, habanero cream, red onion, lychee, basil mint cilantro, togarashi, lime juice, champagne vinegar, coconut powder, and garlic chips. Ya, woah. 

Next up was a grilled romain salad with duck egg and grilled veal. 

Then confit goat and rice with BBQ sea island red peas. Like how do you even come up with these things Aaron? Everything was insane.

This. This is what sent us over the edge. Bucatini with pesto, ramps, jalapeno, blue crab and crispy breadcrumbs. This may be the best thing I've ever eaten. We pretty much all threw in the towel on ever expecting to eat anything better in our lives. 

So many cheers throughout this meal to celebrate it's amazingness and experiencing it together. After a few cocktails and many bites of bucatini we decided we had formed some kind of bucatini sisterhood. 

More pasta because we had to try their famous strawberry tomato sauce. Bon Appetit has a recipe for it here

Absolutely not done without dessert. Rhubarb custard tart and tiramisu.

Thank you Rose's Luxury. Everything really is awesome. You heard it first here but this is my favorite restaurant of all time. The food, the service, the experience, everything is gold. I mentioned at one point in the night that I was a little sad to have found this at such a young age. What do I have to live for now? 

Sisterhood of the traveling bucatini: Marsha, Virginia, Heidi and Charlie. I think our amazing meal sent us into some kind of weird trance, but we weren't trying to get out of it. 

Sunday morning recovery at my (old) favorite spot, Le Diplomate.

I dreamed of the next time I would get to have this mushroom tart since the last time I had it. 

Post-brunch shopping at Salt & Sundry

Since I was in D.C. they have grown from their Union Market location and built a brick and mortar on 14th. 

Serious home good/gift coolness overload.

Sunday afternoon called for a serious cat nap after going going going and a touristy stop at the national archives. We got to see the Declaration, Bill of Rights and Constitution. Total Nicholas Cage/National Treasure move.  We found a pick me up later in the day at Baked and Wired's new sister A Baked Joint

Weekend coming to a close, but going out with a bang. 

Steamed buns at Momofuku.

And ramen for days. 

Followed by none other than my NYC fav, Milk Bar! This duo traveled south a bit and opened locations in D.C's new City Center. 

Cheers to this trip, this friend, this city, it's food, it's culture and so much more. Now get that internship next summer too so I can come back! 

Annie

My Current Obsession: Podcasts

Are you a podcast listener? I used to think it was so grandma to listen to a podcast, it seemed so book-on-tape. My thoughts have changed and I recently jumped on the podcast bandwagon. I was a serious Serial listener when it first came out, but had never really gotten into podcasts besides then. When Molly and I met up a few months ago she mentioned how she would be passing the time of her leg of the trip by listening to podcasts. I had a Spotify playlist loaded up, but podcasts? Hmmm. Being inspired by anything Molly does, I researched top podcasts and got my iPhone ready to go for my road trip.

Podcasts are still a little book-on-tapish, but far more intriguing. Since working again, music hasn't been fueling me. I need something more motivating. I love listening to them during my commute, while at work, and I especially love them while going on walks. It's crazy how they can help pass the time.

Podcasts I'm currently listening to...

Blissful Bites Podcast - In this podcast Nicole Culver of Blissful Eats interviews food entrepreneurs and female bloggers. I'm so inspired by the startup stories from people such as Jessica Merchant of How Sweet Eats and Samantha of Emmy's Organics!

The Edible Happy Hour - This is a local podcast just started by some of my favorite foodies. It is a roundtable discussion about food, drinks and local fare. 

Mystery Show - In this lighthearted podcast, Starlee Kine solves funny but curious mysteries. I won't giveaway much so we can keep it a mystery, but trust me, it's just a fun one!

Bon AppΓ©tit Podcast- Commentated by Andrew Rapoport, the editor-in-chief of Bon AppΓ©tit, this podcast interviews, chefs, foodies, and writers alike. They have guests such as Ina Garten, Bobby Flay and David Chang. 100% obsessed.

Podcasts I'm excited to listen to...

Being Boss - For creatives and entrepreneurs. One of the hosts, Kathleen, is a local okie!

Lady Lovin' - Co-hosted by my Laguna Beach favorite Lo Bosworth, she joins besties Jilly Hendrix and Greta Titleman to talk about the basic realness of life. 

Burnt Toast by Food52 - For those who never stop wondering about food.

Lady Gang - A celebrity driven podcast that is supposed to be a hilarious telling of what it is like to live in Hollywood. 

Any other podcasts favorites I should know about?

Annie

The Recipe That Defines Me

Today is big. Today is very big. I'm sharing my top secret recipe for my signature sugar cookies. These cookies are the first thing I can remember fully making from start to finish on my own. I've been baking them up since I was 7! The recipe has evolved a bit over the years but the flavor remains true. 

I've made these for school parties, for friends, every year for santa, for sorority recruitment, and most recently for game day! My favorite memory is when I made them for my 4th grade Valentine's Day party in Mrs. Rains class. I spent probably 5 hours making them, but I refused to have any help. I proudly went to school with my sprinkle covered heart shape cookies with my hands completely died red and pink from the food coloring! 

Sugar cookies are completely underrated in my opinion. If someone were to ask me what my favorite kind of cookie was I'd say sugar cookies. If someone were to ask me to what my favorite thing to bake was, I'd say these sugar cookies. They are oh so special to me and my favorite things in the world! I posted about them when I first started blogging, but I wasn't ready to give away the recipe. I've matured since then and realized all good things should be shared. And not to mention my old post is so tragic it's embarrassing and had to be re-done.  

What makes these cookies so good are two secret ingredients. Are you ready? A little orange zest in the cookies and almond extract in the icing is what sends them over the edge. Follow below for some detailed instructions on how to make these perfect sugar cookies. 

Signature Sugar Cookies
yields 2 dozen cut out cookies
prep 15 minutes, cool 1 hour, decorate 30 minutes

Cookie Ingredients:
3 cups of flour
3/4 tsp. of baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange zest
powdered sugar for rolling out

*Icing Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsps. meringue powder
10 Tbsps. warm water
1 tsp. almond extract
food coloring and sprinkles to decorate

Directions for the cookies:
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt then set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat softened butter and sugar until a light pale color. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and orange zest and beat to combine. Place your mixer on low and gradually add your dry ingredients until the dough forms. Divide the dough in half, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Or for the impatient, place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray. Sprinkle your work space and rolling pin with powdered sugar. Using one wrapped package of dough at a time, begin to roll out into about 1/4-1/2 thick. Occasionally move the dough around to make sure it's not sticking. Cut out desired shapes and bake for 6-8 minutes or until just lightly brown around the edges. Let sit and cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before you transfer them to a cooling wrack. Cookies must be completely cool before you ice them. I often stick them in the freezer to really firm them up!

Directions for icing and decorating:
To make your icing, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, almond extract and warm water in your electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat for 8 minutes on low, scraping the sides occasionally. Your icing should be the consistency of glue. Divide into small bowls and add desired food coloring. 

Using the back of a regular table spoon, spread a little bit of icing just to the edges of each cookie. It's important not to use too much to where it spreads over the edges. To add decoration I love using little plastic squeeze bottles. The icing is the perfect texture to write and draw with, without being too runny. Let one layer dry before you use another color to decorate with. The royal icing will dry quickly. That being said, if you are using sprinkles, sprinkle them on quickly before the icing dries.

*If you are looking for a frosting you can pipe, I love this one! Especially for Christmas cookies.

BOOMER!

Annie