Pretty In A Pinch

Tis the season of lots of hosting, dinner parties, potlucks and all the moments that call for sharing delicious food with friends and family. Being the party lover that I am, I’m usually the first to offer to set and decorate the table or bring multiple dishes. Now that I have twin boys, time is no longer on my side. Instead of taking my time on an extravagant recipe, I try to find the easiest and quickest way to make a nice dish for a party. As I said in one of my last blog posts; “ Shortcuts do not mean you care any less”. Life gets hard, we lose track of time, we have babies and life just happens. At the end of the day, you still put in the time whether it was five minutes or an hour. My Fiance however, loves making the big recipes and will make every thing from scratch. I love him for that but I will stick to my shortcuts for now.

Recently, I wanted to bring a new dish to Thanksgiving that was easy, savory and pretty to look at. Enter the Goat Cheese Tarts. All I had to do was buy boxed puff pastry, thyme and goat cheese. The rest I had at home! All in all the recipe turned out delicious, looked fancy and maybe took me 20 minutes total. 12 Minutes of it was waiting for the pastry to bake! This was a win for me and I just had to share! Serve this on a pretty platter, plate or dish and people will think you really put in some effort on this one.

You don’t need a ton of stuff to make a great presentation. Next time your shopping at your favorite store, browse the kitchenware isle and find yourself a pretty platter, tray etc. to stock up on! You could even find some really cool serving platters while thrift shopping. When it comes time to make a dish for a party, you’ll be thanking yourself for buying this ahead of time.