Another day, another party food for you. If you’re anything like us, you love cheese. It’s the perfect party food to pair with chips, crackers, veggies, pretzels, fruit jams, meats, nuts…you get the idea. We love a good snack setup at a party, and we feel like the cheese plate is the crowning glory of any good spread. But what to put on your tray? What to include along with several kinds of cheeses? Wonder no more.

We here at GMS like a couple of harder cheeses, a couple softer ones, then various accoutrements to round out the salty cheese – some savory items, some sweet. We recommend three or four cheeses to start – we used brie, cheddar, gouda, and Port Salut. Then, we included two sweet fruit pastes – one was an apple cranberry spread (we love a seasonal fruit spread!) and the other an orange marmalade. We also included honey – an easy staple that you might have on hand if you don’t normally stock jellies and jams. To round it out, we included a salami and some green olives, but you could add prosciutto, pepperoni, nuts, or whatever other items you like – whatever you think your guests will be into. Then offer a variety of crackers and bread slices, and you’re all set!

Perfect Party Cheese Platter Ingredients:

Brie wedge
cheddar block
smoked gouda
Port Salut wedge
Green or black olives
2 fruit spreads (we recommend apple and orange)
honey
salami
pepperoni
Crackers of your choosing
Baguette slices

What do you like to include on your cheese plates? Do you have a favorite type of cheese, spread, or meat that you always have at a party?

Alright everyone, NYE is here, and we’re ready to party into 2015! But what to serve at your party, or what to bring with you? Here’s a roundup of our favorite recipes that are easy to put together, delicious, and won’t make you feel like you’re totally pigging out.

First off, we love a roasted chick pea. These are super easy, fulfill the need for something crunchy, but they’re not totally unhealthy AND they’re filling, so they’re an excellent thing to snack on.

Next up, we give you Spinach Artichoke dip. We’re not going to say this one is healthy, but it does have veggies in it, so that’s something right? It’s great warm, room temperature, and dare we say cold, so it can really go all night!

Here’s another favorite: Avocado Deviled Eggs. We love regular deviled eggs, too, but these just add a layer of flavor, plus they’re fun to look at it. And they’re easy, too, and a good way to use up eggs that might be on their way to bad (new year’s resolution of wasting less, anyone?)

Spanakopita will make you look fancy, and like you really know what you’re doing. And, you do, but this is an easy recipe to master so you won’t even have to head to culinary school to make people hope you’re hosting every party!

If this wasn’t enough here are a few honorable mentions:

* One of our favorites, these Crabbies are cheesy, crabby, and orange(y). Get on that for a new family/friend tradition!
* Portabello Mushroom Pizza is easy, gluten free, and can be personalized, making for a perfect addition to any party. Plus, you can build them together for an activity – win win.
* Seven Layer Dip that won’t make you regret the last ten chips. Plus, it’s super colorful, so you don’t even have to decorate.

Or, check out our recipes page to find another option for yourself!

We hope that y’all had a great holiday – we were off adventuring at our respective homes and we hope that you weren’t too lonely without us.

But we had to come back this week because we know that you need an arsenal of foods to help you forget that Christmas has past. Another one of our favorite holidays – New Year’s Eve – is on its way! This means more party food before we all turn our attention to kale Caesar salads with light dressing through March…right?

We made an easy, creamy, party-favorite a couple of weeks ago for our annual Yankee Swap party, and we think that you might want to make it for New Year’s Eve. In fact, we might be making it again because too soon is not soon enough in this case.

The recipe pulls from a couple different sources combined to make a dream dip that everyone will like, and the onions are caramelized so they’re not too overwhelming, because we know that no one wants to smell like onions when it’s 11:59 and you’re looking for someone to kiss.

Ingredients:

2 large yellow onions
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ cup cream cheese
½ cup sour cream
s/p
ridged potato chips

Directions:

1. Cut onions however you like – we did them into thinly sliced half-circles, but ultimately we think smaller would be better, so try a large dice for easy of eating!

2. Time to caramelize your onions: put onions in butter and olive oil over medium-low heat in a pan (we prefer cast iron.) You’re going to be in this for the long haul, so you’re going to want to be patient. These can take up to forty-five minutes, but they’re so worth it. Basically, you’re going to stir your onions on medium-low heat every couple minutes for about ten, then turn the heat to low and stir occasionally, allowing the onions to caramelize. You can add a teaspoon of sugar if desired to make them just a little sweeter, but that’s optional. You’ll know when they’re done when they’re deep brown in color, and you can taste the caramel on them.

3. Now the rest is a breeze; let the onions cool off the heat while you mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, cayenne, and salt and pepper them. You can add more cream cheese and sour cream depending on the onion to cream ratio you like, and you can add more cream cheese or sour cream depending on which of those you like better, too. This really can go whatever way you prefer so play around with it until you have a dip you are proud serving.

4. Serve with potato chips, preferably with ridges to have more places to hold your dip!

We made these last year, and they are delicious and beautiful, so we wanted to share again – we hope you’re cozy and baking with your loved ones this holiday season! Originally posted on December 16, 2013.

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In my house at Christmas, there are several cookies to be made – usually gingerbread, Italian spice cookies, chocolate chip cookies, anginette cookies, and of course, chocolate pixies.

These cookies are some of my favorites – they are chocolate cookies, rolled in powdered sugar, and stuck with a kiss!

Here’s what you do:

Prep Time: 20 minutes active, 30 minutes unactive
Bake Time: 12-14 minutes
Oven Temperature: 350

Ingredients:

4 oz cocoa
¼ cup coconut oil (or butter)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 bag Hershey’s kisses

Directions:

1. Melt coconut oil over medium heat. Add cocoa and mix well.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients, mix well.
3. Chill 30 minutes (I know this sounds annoying, but it helps with the rolling, I promise!)
4. Shape into balls – about the size of a ping pong ball.
5. Roll in confectioners sugar, and place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper.
6. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. While baking, unwrapped Hershey’s kisses.
7. As soon as they come out of the oven stick an unwrapped kiss in each one.
8. This one is hard, but totally worth it: let set for about 2 hours. Enjoy!

What cookies do you make at the holidays with your family?

We can’t stop sharing cookies with you. We’re sorry, but not that sorry, because it’s the Christmas season which means cookies. It’s the one time a year that making four kinds of cookies in one weekend isn’t considered crazy….right?!

These babies came from my need to get rid of some white chocolate chips, and because I had extra Reese’s Pieces (aka the ones I didn’t guilty eat during my Hunger Games viewing that now were taunting me.) I wanted to try a new recipe so I took to sites like www.santabarbarachocolate.com for the newest seasonal additions for inspiration. Oh that Christmas baking spirit, I love love love it!

These cookies are pretty easy to put together. They’re our basic “cookie dough” recipe (1 cup brown/regular flour, 1 1/3 cup butter or coconut oil, 2 eggs, etc., etc.) but we swapped out some of the flour for cocoa, and of course added a triple threat – chocolate, white chocolate, and peanut butter. You can make them however you want with whatever in them – whatever “chips” are your favorite.

Oven temperature: 350 degrees
Yield: About 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup peanut chips (or Reese’s pieces)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 regular chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Mix the sugars with the butter and cream until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add 1 egg at a time to your sugar/butter, mixing between each. Then add your vanilla, and mix for 10 or so seconds.
4. Add your dry ingredients to your wet, and mix well.
5. Now, hand mix in your chips – I used what’s above, but use what you feel in your heart – again, the more, usually better, but I leave that up to you.
6. Scoop using about a tablespoon per cookie, and bake 9-11 minutes. Now, I like a crispy cookie so I baked for 11, but if you like chewy, put in for 9. They might not look done, but don’t fret, they are. I promise.

That’s it! Enjoy with a big glass of milk and try not to eat a million.