Bites of My Life

Thankful for my family, my friends, my job, my home, health, experiences, opportunities, the list goes on. 

-A Very Jones Thanksgiving took place on Monday for lunch. Our chef team and managers all contributed dishes (pumpkin bread a la me!). I loved this retro honey glazed ham our chefs came up with!
-Thankful for these adorable cookies and thankful for my incredible work family. Monday celebrations continued from lunch into dinner. 
-Topped up with my favorite, as you all know, a brandy ice. Mentioned last week too!
-Cozied up in a house all to myself with Bon Appetit and Scandal on DVR.
-Monumental night hosting Willie Nelson at The Jones Assembly. 
-Singing along with my momma! "You were always on my mind."
-7:30am wake up call to get the pies going. 
-ThankFULL.
-No pies left behind.
-Post turkey, ham, dressing and pie detox.
-Detox smoothie followed by a plate of leftovers. 
-Holidays with a baby around really are the best. 

Annie

Annie

Easy Holiday Cheese Board

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! 

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. 

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.

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

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.

Bites of My Life

Last week was a mix of busy activities, parties and birthday dinners as well as cozy nights in, movie marathons and early bedtimes. Kicked off the week with my company Christmas party. I work with such a fun group of people to celebrate with, including Santa. Ate and drank at a few new restaurants (OKC's best kept secret, for the moment). Welcomed the first snow of the season, a Thunder win, and a movie marathon on the couch while bitter cold temps hung out outside. 

Countdown to Christmas can officially begin. I can't believe I'm saying that. I'm looking forward to hopefully a busy week, then a slow weekend to really enjoy the holiday!

-Because it's not a holiday party without festive cookies. My fav.
-Santa Claus is coming to town, and company Christmas parties.
-Ditch the dishes, acorn squash becomes your bowl in last week's recipe post.
-Restaurant decor on point.
-The dreamiest european style cheese shop and bistro opened up in the neighborhood this week. Our experience had ups and downs, but if you are local please go visit En Croûte. Pronounced like this. 
-Breakfast for dinner because lazy and an effort to clean out the fridge. 
-Foodie friends are the best friends!
-Cozy tomato basil soup a la roomie was perfect for Sunday's high of 20 degrees...
-Trader Joe's Seafood Paella. YUP! (but I didn't eat the mussels, freaked me out too much sitting in a frozen bag for that long).

Annie

White Chocolate Dipped Oatmeal Ginger Cookies

National Cookie Day was Monday and I missed it. Sighhh. I'm a sucker for food holidays. The second December hit I got a bug for baking. I wish someone would just pay me to stay home and bake cookies all day leading up to Christmas. Unfortunately that is not my reality, so I saved up some time after work to bake up these cookies and cure my baking bug.  

These cookies are kind of like a gingersnap meets an oatmeal cream pie. They aren't yelling Christmas with red and green sprinkles or peppermint candies adorning them, but the flavor is sure holiday! They have three different spices in them and molasses-my fav. If you have a cookie exchange on your holiday party agenda, you're welcome. These cookies are perfect. They are extremely easy too, so no fret.

White Chocolate Dipped Oatmeal Ginger Cookies
yields 20 cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1½ cup flour
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 cup old-fashioned oats

*8-10 oz vanilla almond bark or 1½ cup white chocolate chips
cinnamon and gold sprinkles, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and molasses for one more minute. Scrape the bowl, making sure to get the molasses completely incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oats. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until almost combined. Remove from mixer and give the bowl a good scrape. 

Scoop about 2 tablespoons or golf ball size pieces of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just beginning to brown around the edges. Let cool completely before dipping in white chocolate.

In a microwave safe bowl melt 3/4 of the chocolate in 30 minute increments. Once completely melted stir in the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate out of the microwave. The hot melted chocolate will melt the additional as you stir it! *I use almond bark because it melts much easier than white chocolate. White chocolate tends to burn easily. Both will work just keep a close eye if using white chocolate. 

Dip the cookies halfway into the bowl of white chocolate, using a spoon or small spatula to help guide it onto the cookie. Place dipped cookies on parchment paper and sprinkle with cinnamon and festive sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden then eat, share and enjoy!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Christmas time is here! Fully feeling all the holiday vibes after a visit to our local tree farm to pick up our tree yesterday. The past week I squeezed in some Christmas movies, attended a Christmas concert, finished my shopping (humble brag), decorated our little house and now I'm planning recipes to whip up this week. Any holiday recipes you are looking for? Beware I'm on a cookie craze right now...

-Avocado oil, s&p and lots of 21 Seasoning Salute form Trader Joes. 425 degrees for 25 minutes makes for the best roasted brussels.
-I've never been an egg nog fan, but this almond milk nog from Califia Farms has been the best after dinner treat or as a chug with breakfast!
-Crushing on this greek falafel salad I whipped up for last week. Get the deats here.
-Acai in OKC! Head to Organic Squeeze asap, they are everything.
-Kat's a bride again! Kinda... a year and a half later she finally got her bridal portraits done!
-Victory in Norman, OK for OU vs. OSU. 
-Sweet celebrations for Miss Matty!
-Mom's chili and decorating the tree. Keeping traditions strong!
-All is bright!

Annie

P.S. if you are still shopping, hopefully my gift guide round up can help!