Friendsgiving season is upon us! The thing I love about this time of the year is it encourages us to celebrate gratitude and be thankful for everything we have including good friends, delicious food, and getting to spend time together. This week I was honored to partner with Walmart to share 6 meal and dessert ideas and how to decorate for the occasion. This year I have really made my health and wellness a priority! I love finding recipes that are not only delicious but healthy too. With that being said, I also featured a few dishes that include bacon because one can never have enough bacon, right?
Like many of you, I thoroughly enjoy cooking, but I don’t want to spend hours upon hours in the kitchen. When preparing food for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, the holiday season, or a dinner party throughout the year, there are things you can do to lighten the load like using pre-made dough, puff pastry, bagged lettuce for salads, bottled salad dressings, and more. Walmart Home has everything you need to host a festive Friendsgiving party or a holiday celebration! You can’t go wrong with their gorgeous dishes to deliciously prepared food, grocery items, holiday decorations, and more. One thing is for sure, I not only just rely on Walmart for entertaining essentials such as dinnerware, flatware, and table linens, but trendy decorations! I just bought the flocked Christmas tree of my dreams at Walmart, which looks amazing in my dining room. Don’t get me started on their grocery and delivery program. I use it quite often for everyday household items, decor trends, crafts, and DIY essentials, in addition to groceries.
Today, I’m excited to share delicious recipes and trendy decor you’ll love for your Friendsgiving celebration!
The Best Friendsgiving Salads
The first item I made was an apple cranberry salad that is sensational! I could’ve used a pre-made dressing, but the recipe included an easy-to-prepare apple dressing that is phenomenal! I adore chopped walnuts, apples, cranberries, and feta cheese so this salad was right up my alley. It is absolutely phenomenal and easy to prepare, especially if you buy bagged lettuce, chopped walnuts, feta crumbles, and dried cranberries in a bag. The dressing is very easy to make as well, which is an added bonus!
I recently purchased this set of The Pioneer Woman cornucopia mixing bowls that are fantastic. It includes a set of three mixing bowls in a variety of sizes and colors. The bowls are heavy-duty ceramic and have fall-inspired embellishments. They’re gorgeous, well made, and perfect for mixing ingredients or hosting an event as you can also use them for serving bowls.
The ingredients I used to make the delicious apple salad dressing!
The seasonal salad with chopped red and green apples was divine!
I didn’t have time to chop walnuts, so bought a bag of chopped walnuts! Having bagged ingredients makes cooking so much easier!
I highly recommend this amazing apple cranberry salad with chopped walnuts and feta cheese!
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Easy To Prepare Broccoli Salad
Broccoli salad is one of my favorite dishes. I found a recipe that I love and honestly, don’t want to just wait for a party to prepare it. I am going to make it more often because it’s so good. This recipe calls for broccoli, craisins (cranberries and raisins), sunflower seeds, and a delicious homemade dressing. This salad is phenomenal and perfect for any occasion including “just because”! It’s super easy to make too, which is an added bonus. It looks amazing in one of my The Pioneer Woman serving bowls, which I adore.
To make the dish I used bagged broccoli stems, my favorite Walmart brand unsalted sunflower seeds, bacon bits, and craisins!
Closeup of the most delicious broccoli salad I’ve ever had!
My Friendsgiving Tablescape Essentials!
Charcuterie Boards Are A Must For Every Occasion
I purchased this farmhouse wood charcuterie board a few months ago and am thoroughly obsessed with it. Last month I was excited to create my first charcuterie board for brunch when my refrigerator went out. I ended up going with store-bought donuts instead and I am so glad I did as it turned out beautiful and was so easy to do. Now that life is slowly but surely getting back to normal and have refrigerated goods 😉 I was excited to create a gorgeous charcuterie board with fresh vegetables and delicious cheese. My mom helped me with the board and was bound and determined to make a salami rose using a champagne flute as the base. It turned out beautiful!
I’ve always enjoyed hanging out at the appetizer table – give me all the dips, veggies, and hors d’oeuvres! I hope that charcuterie boards are always a hot trend because they’re not only beautiful but easy to prepare, spark creativity, and are beloved by everyone.
One thing is for sure, Walmart has a great selection of cheese! I’m a huge fan of nearly every type of cheese and knew that my board HAD to include a wide selection. For my Friendsgiving celebration, I used brie cheese, blue cheese and I purchased a variety pack of sliced cheese. Can I just say how obsessed I am with the sliced cheese? I have since bought another pack and use it all the time when making sandwiches or while eating my favorite afternoon snack – cheese, salami, and crackers.
I’m such a huge fan of my beautiful Friendsgiving tablescape! This gorgeous charcuterie board featured cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, black olives, sliced red bell peppers, a salami rose, crackers, and lots of cheese!
Creating a beautiful and festive tablescape is very easy to do when you have the proper tools and delicious ingredients.
I purchased a few small bowls for olives, cherry tomatoes, and my salami rose! Having small bowls for ingredients you can’t sit directly on your board is a must. It makes everything look much more organized!
Shop The Farmhouse Charcuterie Board and Small Bowls
Green Beans and Bacon Are A Friendsgiving Staple
When I was growing up my grandma always made her famous green beans and bacon for Thanksgiving. They were so delicious and I’ve craved them ever since! I’ve been trying to find a good recipe for years but was struggling. Every recipe I found asked you to cook bacon on the stove and use bacon grease. Since I like making bacon in my Cuisinart air fryer, I decided to create my own recipe. It’s much healthier and beyond delicious!
While my bacon is cooking in my air fryer, I heat up my All-Clad frying pan with avocado oil spray on the stovetop and sauté chopped onions. I boil water in my All-Clad pot on a different burner for the green beans. Once that boils, I add my green beans to the boiling water. When the bacon is done, I add that to the skillet. Once the green beans have boiled, I then drain the water and mix in the green beans (in the skillet). This dish is delicious topped with a little salt, pepper, and even garlic powder! It’s totally up to you.
This green bean dish is not only one of my favorite recipes, but my family loves it too! You can add as many chopped onions, bacon, and green beans as you’d like! I think this would also be good with chopped cherry tomatoes. There are so many options!
Chopped red onions make every dish better!
My All-Clad pots and pans are my favorite kitchen tools! My family has had this set for decades, it’s the best! I used my All-Clad pot to boil water for my favorite homemade green beans and bacon dish!
Delicious green beans, red onion, and bacon on the stovetop!
Here is a closeup of my favorite green beans and bacon dish (other than my grandma’s!) in this turquoise The Pioneer Woman Serving Bowl.
Loaded Potato Boats
Potato boats are an absolute must! They are always a party favorite and very easy to make. All you have to do is bake a potato, scoop out the potatoes, mash it and add your favorite ingredients! You can bake the potatoes in your microwave, in your oven, or in your air fryer. I personally love making baked potatoes in my air fryer! It’s very easy, all you do is spray your favorite oil on it (I love avocado oil), and make a couple of slits. I usually set the temperature to 325 degrees for 30 minutes. My Cuisinart air fryer cooks food much faster than budget-friendly air fryers I have purchased in the past. Other air fryers may take a bit longer!
Once I scooped the potatoes out of the shells, I mixed them with melted butter, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, bacon bits, and green onions. If you don’t have a serving dish or are hosting a small party, you can always set the loaded potato boats on a dinner plate or a dessert plate.
I love my The Pioneer Woman dishware set (in the color linen) and think this dessert plate is the perfect serving dish for my small Friendsgiving celebration!
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The Pioneer Woman Berry Galette
The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond is one of my favorite people on the planet! Years ago I had the amazing opportunity of interviewing her, and she was as nice as you can imagine. During the interview, she made delicious springtime recipes, which I still prepare. Since I’ve been cooking so much this year and love her recipes, I decided to purchase her Super Easy Cookbook. I have so many recipes bookmarked, it’s ridiculous! 😉 I made this berry galette using frozen fruit/berries, puff pastry, apricot jam, and granola to name a few! The cookbook doesn’t say what type of granola to use, but since I love chocolate I decided to go with an amazing dark chocolate granola. It is fantastic! This dessert looks phenomenal on The Pioneer Woman pie plate! It’s only $12.03, is well made, beautiful, and very durable.
PS: The cookbook says to top the dessert/breakfast recipe with Greek yogurt, but since I served it as a dessert I topped it with whipped cream. It’s also delicious on vanilla ice cream. I plan on making this time and time again. It’s so beautiful and looks very patriotic with its red and blue colors. I really think it would make the perfect dessert or brunch dish for your 4th of July party as well!
I used one thawed puff pastry sheet for the crust!
I rolled out the puff pastry sheet and placed it in the pie dish. I then glazed it with apricot jam!
I had the option of using fresh or frozen berries for the galette, but ultimately went with Great Value frozen strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries! I love that they are in a resealable bag, and have used them to make smoothies since!
I mixed the frozen berries with cornstarch, sugar, and lemon juice!
After I stirred the berry mixture, I then added it to my The Pioneer Woman Pie Plate before putting it into the oven.
Here is the finished product! I am obsessed with this gorgeous Berry Galette, and can’t wait to make more recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks Super Easy Cookbook!
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Favorite Holiday Decor From Walmart
I am a huge fan of mercury glass! My obsession is so strong that I actually created my own mercury glass decor items using this spray paint years ago when this classic vintage-inspired style was hard to come by! Thankfully Walmart has a huge selection of beautiful mercury glass holiday decor. When I stumbled on this mercury glass ornament garland I knew I had to have it. The ornaments are heavy, beautiful, and absolute perfection. A few weeks I adorned my pink Christmas tree with the garland, but right now, it’s on my vintage buffet. I highly recommend it, and think it will also look great intertwined with greenery on your mantel. I’ve wanted it for years and I’m so glad I purchased it.
Shop this beautiful mercury glass ornament garland
Gorgeous Flocked Christmas Tree
Walmart has an amazing selection of flocked Christmas trees! I purchased a gorgeous faux Fraser fir flocked Christmas tree which I’m obsessed with. In my humble opinion, it looks as though it was freshly flocked at a nearby Christmas tree lot. It is absolutely gorgeous and looks much more expensive than it is. Here are a few beautiful flocked Fraser Fir Christmas trees!
Shop gorgeous faux Fraser fir flocked Christmas trees
Rustic Holiday Garland
I love pomegranates, pinecones, and greenery, and was so happy when I stumbled on this stunning garland a little over a month ago. It is perfect for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving and will be an absolute must for the holidays too. If you have a rectangular dining table, it will look phenomenal down the center of it. This gorgeous garland will look amazing on your mantel as well.
Shop this beautiful rustic holiday garland
Table Linens
I am a huge fan of table linens! I can’t count how many tablecloths and table runners I have purchased this year. I recently bought this plaid tablecloth for Thanksgiving dinner! One thing is for sure, you can’t go wrong with a beautiful neutral tablecloth. You can use it every day, and for the holidays too. A neutral tablecloth is easy to accessorize with garlands, beautiful vases, dishes, and more!
Gorgeous Flocked Wreath
Words can’t describe how much I adore this gorgeous faux flocked wreath with beautiful pinecones! It looks amazing on my vintage chair on my covered front porch. This wreath is less than $14. I have already purchased two so far. I have one on my front door (which I featured on LTK). I am really thinking of hanging them on my windows once the weather improves a bit! This wreath will look great on a mantel, on French doors, in your home office, and much more. I highly recommend it!
Shop This Beautiful Flocked Wreath
Kitchen Gadgets That Make Entertaining Easy and Efficient
My family and I have had our All-Clad pans for nearly 20 years and I’m so happy that Walmart carries the line. All-Clad is known for its durability and longevity. I use my pans every day and highly recommend them! We had an abundance of homegrown zucchini this summer, so I used the pans quite a bit to make zoodles on the stovetop! I always always use this can of no salt added tomatoes from Walmart’s Great Value brand for my sauce! I just doctor it up with sautéed onions, add garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and a few other ingredients.
My Cuisinart Air Fryer is my favorite tool in the kitchen. I use it daily! I haven’t baked in it yet, but I’ve made Stromboli, bacon, pizza (with pre-made pizza crusts), baked potatoes, homemade French fries, frozen French fries, and much more.
I have had multiple air fryers over the years, and I will say that this one cooks much faster! The Cuisinart air fryer can toast, bake, and broil!
Shop My Favorite Kitchen Tools and Gadget
I hope you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, and holiday season! xoxo
Discover even more entertaining essentials and delicious recipes with entertaining expert, Candie Anderson: https://candieanderson.com/entertaining
