Slow Cooker Cranberry Barbecue Turkey Meatballs + Instant Pot #Giveaway

Tis the season for parties and get-togethers, and today I'm joining The Redhead Baker and a handful of other bloggers to help Coleen celebrate her 5th blogging anniversary. Along with sharing recipes fit for a party or celebration, we also have a great giveaway (an Instant Pot + $50 Amazon card) - just scroll down to the giveaway widget to enter.

Cranberry Cobbler | Frankenstein

It's time for the November edition of the All Vampire Book and a Movie Challenge. I'll admit that I was a bit thrown for a loop when I heard that this month's assignment was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I'll admit that while I know the basic story of Frankenstein (I mean, who doesn't), I'd never actually read the book or seen this movie adaptation. And the whole "vampire" portion had me stumped.

Pineapple Cranberry Chutney + Eat Like a Gilmore Cookbook Review

Happy Wednesday, and welcome to this week's edition of the Gilmore Girls coffee klatch! In anticipation of Netflix's Black Friday release date of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Chef Sarah Elizabeth and I have been binging and the discussing the original seven seasons and sharing recipes inspired by the show for almost 2 months now.

Since I binged like a champion, I've been done for a couple of weeks now. So, while I may have shared my thoughts on the series finale last week, my Wednesdays are reserved indefinitely for hanging with the girls. I'll pull ideas from random (and often seasonally appropriate) episodes and share other random Gilmore Girls inspired fun.

Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Einkorn Porridge

Let's talk hot cereal for a moment. I grew up with Cream of Wheat, Malt-O-Meal, and oatmeal...and I liked them. Warm, comforting food that made a cold, midwestern morning a little more bearable. And the "new" microwavable oatmeal packets of the day? It was a toss-up between apple-cinnamon and maple brown sugar for which was my favorite.

Roasted Carrot and Farro Salad

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Land O'Lakes, Inc. All opinions are my own.

Nothing puts a bounce in my step like the onset of fall. Cool, crisp days replace the oppressive heat, and a sense of renewal fills my body. Cool weather fruits and vegetables bejewel my little part of the Midwest with rich reds, oranges, and gold around every corner. College football, sweaters and sweatshirts, hayrides, the pumpkin patch, corn mazes...I could go on.

Mixed Berry Crumb Pie with an All-Butter Press-In Crust

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Land O'Lakes, Inc. All opinions are my own.

Before I get into this delectable berry pie, I wanted to let  you know that I'll be working with Land O'Lakes, Inc. as an ambassador through the end of the year. I can't tell you how excited I am to be working with a company whose products I grew up seeing my grandma and my mom use, and that I always have in my own kitchen. I hope you and your family enjoy the recipes that I develop using Land O Lakes^® Butter and other products over the next six months as much as my family does!

Let's talk pie today. More specifically, let's talk pie crust, which seems to be the part of the pie that scares off most would-be pie makers. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say that they just can't make crust because they can't roll it thin enough or wide enough, or it breaks apart when after they worked hard at rolling it out and try lifting it into the pan. I get it, really. But let me tell you, there's nothing like the satisfaction of a biting into a pie that YOU made entirely from scratch.

(Almost) Nigella's Mini Cranberry Mince Pies | #FridayPieDay

We're having pie for Christmas—it's #FridayPieDay! Can I tell you something? I've never tried a traditional mincemeat pie. I don't know why. It wasn't something I grew up on, and apparently it's just another thing I've been "saving for later" for the twenty-plus years since I started making my own pie. I figured since it's a very traditional Christmas offering (um, in the UK), now would be the perfect time to give it a go.

Although I admit that I didn't go very traditional. I didn't use the really old-school variety that actually contained lamb or beef and I didn't make the traditional dark, currant-filled mince, either. Instead, I tried Nigella's cranberry mince—because cranberries!

But first, a little glimpse into the history of mincemeat. I mentioned that it was originally made with meat, but according to Why Christmas? it was also oval-shaped to represent the manger that Jesus slept in, the top crust representing his swaddling clothes.

Roasted Maple Vanilla Cranberry Sauce

Although my family has their preferred cranberry sauce for the Thanksgiving table every year, I like slipping in a new one every now and again just to see how it's received. I always hear people raving about homemade and then following that sentiment saying that they wish they could make it. I immediately tell them that they can and that homemade cranberry sauce is actually THE EASIEST dish on the whole holiday table to make.

Seriously, it doesn't get easier than 5 to 8 minutes on the stovetop. But this batch takes it one step further and roasts the cranberries. The time commitment isn't much more, you just need to wait for the oven to preheat. And the coolest thing about it is that roasting actually concentrates the flavor of the tart cranberries by removing some of their natural water via the process of evaporation.

Chocolate Fruit 'n Nut Bites

Here's the thing, I love holiday baking. The planning, the process, the wrapping, the handing out to teachers, bus drivers, neighbors, and loved ones...or at least, I used to. I'd still love it if I could only find the time to do it. For the past 5 or 6 years, it seems like I go to sleep after a satisfying Thanksgiving meal and wake up a few days before Christmas in a panic. The holidays are stressful, yo.

But I do my best to wake up in the middle of it all and actually get something done. Therefore, easy holiday baking and treat recipes are a life saver. And really, these chocolate fruit 'n nut bites couldn't be any simpler. There's not really even a recipe, but I did write down approximate amounts of what I used so that you could have a bit of a guideline to go off of.