My lovely and awesome friend Cara has been hosting a Clean Eating Cocktail Party for the past month and was SO SWEET to ask me to contribute! Knowing how much I love to accessorize with grain salads, you can imagine how super psyched I’ve been about it. Head on over to her blog to check out my guest post and to get the recipe for this Roasted Carrot and Red Quinoa Salad!
Most of my favorite holiday memories revolve around the dessert table. The heady aroma of all of the pies and cookies and cakes emanating from the serving platters sitting before you, the background noise of friends and family chatting about, simultaneously, nothing and everything. And of course, the warm cup of coffee sitting in front of you, tying it all together.
Dessert is always my favorite part of the holiday meal to prepare, and also my favorite part to eat. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when Cate, Sarah, Patsy and I made it the focus of our second annual food bloggers Thanksgiving.
That also put the pressure on, however. How does one capture the essence of the holiday spirit in just one dessert?
Do you go for the chocolate peppermint combo, as Sarah did, with her chewy and totally addictive chocolate peppermint bark cookies?
Keep it classic and kid-friendly with some ice cream cups from a local Jersey dairy?
Go for a two-in-one kinda deal (it was Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend after all!) with a majorly luscious caramel apple pie cheesecake?
Or revive the Thanksgiving spirit, as Patsy and I did with my pumpkin pie bread pudding and her pumpkin spice bundt cake with creamy pumpkin glaze?
Do you see what I mean? How could you possibly choose one set of holiday scents and flavors over another?
Thankfully, with Dunkin Donuts’ new seasonal coffee flavors – Mocha Mint, Pumpkin Spice, and Gingerbread Cookie (along with classics like their original blend and dunkin decaf) – you don’t have to. I was sent the Gingerbread Cookie flavor to try and just smelling the ground coffee alone made me want to break out in Christmas carols. Drinking it made me feel like I was back at our holiday dessert table, sharing memories and so much happiness.
These seasonal varieties are available at your local grocery store as well as at Dunkin Donuts stores, so no matter where you live across the nation, you’ll have a convenient way to purchase and enjoy it. They’re only available for a limited time though, so pick one up sooner rather than later and with just one taste…you’ll understand why they really are the perfect accompaniment to a holiday meal. In addition, the new seasonal varieties will have a cute gift tag on them, which is just perfect for giving them away as stocking stuffers or as hostess gifts to a coffee lover in your life. I know I’ll be picking up a few to tote with me to any holiday parties I’ll be attending and also to just keep on hand so I can relive the holiday season all year-round.
Thank you to Dunkin’ Donuts® packaged coffee at grocery for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.
I have no doubt you had a delicious Thanksgiving Joanne.
That quinoa salad looks like it would be perfect for me to take to school for lunch!!! And I definitely want some of that pumpkin bread pudding!
What a fun time! Wow – this is great thinking to pair up with other bloggers…and to eat plenty of dessert 🙂
I want all of that! So, so, many sweet and awesome desserts!
Wow, so many gorgeous desserts… but I will still pick the quinoa salad.. Now THAT looks awesome! 🙂
Yum – it all looks so good!
I can’t relate to people who don’t crave sweets. It’s just not normal. I’ll take one…or five…of each please!
I’m not normally a sweets person either. But all of these look amazing!
That salad looks absolutely beautiful!
Darn you Joanne! You know how I love my Dunkin Donuts! Now I want a coffee and a donut!! 🙂
Your roasted carrot and red quinoa salad looks amazing and so does all the other treats!!
I also want to thank you for your kind comments on my blog today!
This looks so fun! And carrots with red quinoa sounds so perfect, I love both!
We have been loving the pumpkin spice! and I can’t ever leave without a donut in hand haha. Roasted carrots sound perfect after all of the rich holiday food.
i definitely need to check out that quinoa salad. yum!
I would love to try a bite of every dish in this post!! Everything looks fantastic!
Ugh that creamy pumpkin glaze has my mouth watering!
All these desserts look good! We don’t have a dunkin’ donuts near here. Small city. The flavors sound great though.
What a feast! I love the way the carrots are sliced – looks so good!
Excuse me while I go wipe up my drool. YUM!
Looks like such a delicious holiday meal! 🙂
I love that you roasted the carrots for the salad. Sometimes I feel like carrots really get overlooked!
Oh wow you do NOT go halfway my friend – fantastic meal 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
How delightful! I love the look of the carrots and quinoa together. And I NEED to get my hands on some of that Dunkin’ Donuts Gingerbread coffee!
Sues
Wow, even though donuts flashed through my mind I would actually LOVE try some of those beautiful desserts- and your quinoa salad of course, it sounds like the most exciting salad I’ve come across in ages!
You really know you’re reading a NYC blog when you hear about Dunkin’ Donuts. 🙂 (Although I have to say I generally spent my 75 cents at a little coffee cart at 54th & 3rd after getting off the E train every morning…) That carrot & quinoa salad looks fabulous!
I am going to make the roasted carrot and quinoa salad tonight! yum! thanks for the recipe
Lovin all of those desserts! What a great event. I’m off to find the recipe for your carrots and quinoa~
Oh wow all of the desserts look so delicious.The caramel apple pie cheesecake ranks up there at the top of the list!
Looking at all these desserts has made me sugar high! This all looks so good!
I don’t drink coffee at all but I suspect Alexis would be a fan of the mocha one.
That caramel apple pie deal looks amazing to me.
The caramel apple pie cheesecake looks amazing!! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!
That salad looks so good! Very festive and as always, totally delcious. What an epic feast!
I. want. the. cheesecake.
I love when my favorite bloggers collaborate.
What a great collaboration of awesomeness! I think I put on a pound just thinking about it. 🙂
How cute are those cookies? I totally agree with you – how DOES someone capture the holidays with just ONE dessert? (My solution: make them all!! 😉 ) What a fun collaboration! I hope you’ll do it again for Christmas 😀
(P.S. Your roasted carrot and quinoa salad … wow. Gimme!)
Great idea of celebrating Thanksgiving with your fellow bloggers…nice desserts as well.
Your roasted carrot with red quinoa looks great…it makes a nice meal.
Have a great week Joanne 🙂
That all sounds amazing! I will have to keep an eye out for those coffees if I make a trip to the States before Christmas.. I just bought candy cane ground coffee but the gingerbread one sounds even better! I hope we get to see the recipe for that pumpkin bread pudding soon too!
Wow, what a spread you guys had! I bet a food bloggers thanksgiving would be so amazing….mmmmm. And your carrot salad sounds perfect for thanksgiving detoxing 😉
Dessert is my favorite part of any meal Joanne 🙂
It seems there are so many choices for dessert during Thanksgiving. They all sound so amazing and nothing like we have here. I would love to experience an American Thanksgiving just once in my life xx
It’s early in the morning here and I am already drooling after seeing these desserts. I don’t know which I would eat first. They all look delicious!
That cheesecake looks divine!
What an awesome spread! Totally wished I could have joined in 🙂
way too much deliciousness in there 😉
No doubt you had an awesome thanks giving. I can say it by just looking at these pictures. I like donuts and chocolate peppermint bark cookies. And love roasted carrots too. I feel jealous about you. You are so talented in cooking. Keep it up.
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