Thanksgiving 2008 - the appetizers

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! I've decided to recap my thanksgiving over a couple of posts, because I took quite a few pictures. I didn't make all the dishes pictured, so I'll mostly provide details on the items I brought.

It's a family tradition to have a mexican layered dip on thanksgiving. Start with refried beans spread onto a plate, and add layers of sour cream, guacamole, salsa and shredded cheese. You can garnish any combination of chopped tomatoes, olives and green onions.

Here's a vegetable tray my mom made, it was quite colorful.

I made this white cheddar cheeseball. The recipe is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and it couldn't be any easier. It's a block of cream cheese, 8 oz of shredded white cheddar, 2 T butter, 1 T lemon juice, a dash of cayenne, salt and pepper. The cream cheese and butter need to be softened ahead of time. Throw all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and blend. Shape into a ball and roll in chopped herbs or toasted nuts.

Next up - the main event!