Today! I want to start planning our Christmas menu because we have less than two weeks to go, AND start thinking of some items that would be good to have kind of...around...for snacking and random meals and something to prevent eating sugar cookies for breakfast. 
Instead, breakfast cookies! And Beck in her jammies. Makes sense. 
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Simple, elevated New Year's Eve (or anytime!) appetizer bites that are perfect to prep in advance and so simple thanks to the use of frozen phyllo cups! Tender, beefy caramelized onions, gooey cheese, and crispy pastry cups make this the PERFECT party appetizer!
(Random thought: Omg Baby It's Cold Outside and also the controversy about that song. Currently not ok and also historically fine because that's how people used to be/talk/sing, I think. I've noticed that people have a really hard time with two emotions coexisting, probably will be a theme of mine for the rest of my life, talking about that more.)
So, Fancy Appetizers. How do we feel about them? Back when we were catering we made SO MANY bite-sided things that we got completely burned out on the assembly of them. We now do parties with lots of dips and spreads, easy things that can be made in advance and served at room temperature, like pimento cheese.
BUT, I also love bite-sized appetizers for parties. I still make them, but I do usually save them for smaller gatherings that don't require 120 of anything.
This is the perfect small batch appetizer with a great combo of prep-ahead, bake last minute.
The layers for French Onion Soup Bites go like this:
Continuing our leftover plan for the week! I feel like sometimes there are LOTS of leftovers of certain casseroles, especially heavier things. Maybe it's just our family, but if you make an 8-person casserole or side dish BUT there are 97 side dishes and people only eat a few spoonfuls of each thing....leftovers. 
Like mashed potatoes! That we are going to fry into patties and top with stewed apples, latke-style. If these are inauthentic enough, feel free to re-purpose the idea for Hanukkah. Here's the recipe that I used for this batch of potato cakes. 
Since Beck has gotten big enough to care we usually do a breakfast all together one or two days per week - usually on weekends when Jay is with us, but also sometimes Mondays call for pancakes made with all white flour and extra butter, and I'm not above that at all. I'm REALLY hoping to score some leftover mashed potatoes this week to make these on Saturday. They're super easy to make and you could definitely form them the night before and fry them right before breakfast, maybe throw some bacon in a skillet just for good measure.
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Delicious, easy leftover turkey salad made with cranberry sauce and mayo. This is the BEST use for leftover turkey, hands down! It's also gluten free and done in 10 minutes, huge win. Make this soon!
YUM YUM YUM.
I've said it a gazillion times, but turkey is definitely not my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Appetizers and casseroles and wine are. Clearly.
I think that's because turkey can be underwhelming, or dry, and it DEFINITELY doesn't hold up as well in terms of leftovers like, say, some kind of buttery cheesy casserole does. Leftover turkey can be chewy and tough and just bland, but I'm NOT here to celebrate food waste, ever. So we had to do something wonderful with leftover turkey.
Mayonnaise, obviously was the answer. This turkey salad is so different from roast turkey from Thanksgiving day, and the addition of cranberries livens up the flavor for such a fun different twist. This would be so yummy for a brunch, or on crackers/with greens for lunch or a snack. Plus: it's pink!
...This is of many things currently in my freezer that I'm trying SUPER hard to not eat until after the baby is born, easier said than done. I've been trying to make a thing or two each week to put in the freezer before the baby is born. Mostly I've done sauces to use in quick meals, I froze a bit of slow cooker pork for tacos, and some oatmeal-heavy breakfast-meets-dessert stuff is high on the list for the sake of not just eating a half loaf of bread each morning AND because oatmeal is supposed to be great for lactation but I don't usually run for bowls of straight oatmeal so. Cookies instead! 
This particular inspiration came from the fact that I had some frozen blueberries leftover from my sister's inlaw's yard this summer (riddle me that). Part of all this freezer cooking is that we are using up stuff that was already languishing, so I used something from the freezer to make something for the freezer, which is pretty much like saving for retirement, right? Tres meta.
This recipe came straight from Sally's Baking Addiction, and I doubled it and added chocolate chips because chocolate is probably definitely important for lactation.
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