One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is a green bean casserole. I think it’s partially because it’s one of those dishes that we only eat at Thanksgiving, so every bite really tastes like the holiday. Last year I gave the classic version of the recipe a new twist with a French onion soup style green bean casserole, complete with melty cheese on top! This year, while brainstorming my Trader Joe’s Thanksgiving short cuts series, I decided to give my green bean casserole an appetizer makeover and bake the chopped up green beans with some condensed mushroom soup inside frozen puff pastry bites (side note: Trader Joe’s Frozen Puff Pastry is some of the best, it’s made with real butter so it gets that homemade flaky crust that’s hard to achieve with many store-bought brands!). After the warm, bubbly, green bean and mushroom-flavored pastry bites come out of the oven they get topped with the best part of the dish — the crunchy fried onions. Irresistible! Get the full recipe below for your Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving holiday celebrations. 
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Sharing an easy way to set the Thanksgiving table with Fancypants Baking Co’s adorable decorated cookies. I picked their turkey cookies, but there are lots of other seasonal shapes, like festive leaves, that you can pick to match your table décor. Grab some edible ink pens and scroll each guest’s name across the cookies, then use them as place cards at each table setting, or as a fun way to decorate the kids table!
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Gearing up for the holiday entertaining season has me digging into the blog archives for all of my favorite holiday cocktail recipes! Get your bar cart ready and your cocktail menu inspired with 10 of my favorite festive holiday drink recipes below — from big batch drinks and punch recipes, to sparkling sips and spiced seasonal cocktails, there’s something for everyone! 
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My favorite way to use Thanksgiving leftovers is this tasty, savory, layered pie with all of the best holiday flavors packed inside. It’s usually a fun way to reimagine the aftermath of the big feast, filling a pie crust with layers of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey and cranberry sauce. This year, I thought I’d make it before Thanksgiving with the help of some of my favorite Trader Joe’s shortcuts — I grabbed frozen pie dough and mashed potatoes, jars of gravy and cranberry sauce, and a box of their cornbread stuffing mix — those quick little Trader Joe’s hacks made for quick work of assembling this recipe. It would be a perfect dish to bring to a Friendsgiving celebration! Get the recipe below:
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Mixing up an apple cider margarita for fall festivities! It’s an autumnal twist on the classic margarita, bringing in some sweetness from the apple cider and the signature cinnamon sugar rim around the edge of glass tastes just like fall with each and every sip. Get the recipe below: 
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I’ve never been a pumpkin spice latte gal, but a plate of pumpkin ravioli? Sign me up. Pumpkin muffins? I’ll have several. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer, pumpkin butter? Yes please, yes please! Below I’ve pulled together 10 of my favorite pumpkin recipes from my archives to get you in the pumpkin season spirit, and bonus, enjoy tasty round up of my favorite pumpkin beers too! 
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There’s a chill in the autumn air and I am welcoming soup season with big open arms! I was digging into my recipe archives to pull out my favorite soup recipes to start making on the weekends, and thought I’d share a round up of 9 popular soups that I come back to year after year (plus my fool-proof recipe for homemade chicken stock!). From hearty potato leek to veggie-packed sweet squash soups to spicy sausage and tortellini, there’s a soup for everyone — scroll down to see my favorites!
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It’s soup season! I’ve been digging through my archives for some of my favorite soup recipes and decided I needed to branch out from my go-to soups and try something new, an autumnal parsnip soup made by roasting the peppery and earthy flavored veggie alongside some sweet fall apples, fragrant fresh herbs, and some potatoes to give the soup a thick, hearty base. After they all get roasted and softened, it’s as easy as blending them with some warm chicken stock to get your soup on the table – yum!
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My inspiration for cocktails in my #Domestikatehappyhour series usually start with seasonal ingredients I find at the market, and when fresh figs made an appearance on my weekly grocery run, I knew I had to mix up something figgy in the cocktail shaker! This drink combines the honey-like sweetness of fig preserves with orange notes from Grand Marnier and that rich autumnal flavor of rye whiskey. A perfect cocktail to sip in front of the fireplaces on a cool fall night! 
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One of my favorite things to bring home when I’m traveling are interesting local jams and preserves. I snatched up a jar of delicious pear butter on a trip earlier this year, and the sweet, buttery preserve made with pears and hints of fall spices inspired this seasonal cocktail in my #DomestikateHappyHour series. The preserved pear spread gives the drink a sweet and autumnal fruit flavor, combined with a clean, smooth whiskey and some tart fresh lemon juice for a balanced sip! 
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