Favorites: Fall Cheese Plate with 34 Degrees Crisps

I've been prepping this week to host Thanksgiving at our home. It's my favorite holiday of the year and I love everything going on in the kitchen. On the menu this year is turkey (brining is key), roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar, butternut squash soup with ginger, homemade pumpkin pie with gluten free crust and Nick is making a homemade non-gluten free apple pie. Our family will be bringing cranberry sauce, salad, mashed potatoes and my mom's making shrimp fly lice (aka fried rice!). :)

I usually like to put out a cheese plate for guests to nibble on before dinner. Remember the fancy spread I put together last year with 34 Degrees crisps? I collaborated with 34 Degrees again to put together a simplified plate with just a couple of cheeses (I used Cambazola and Manchego from Whole Foods) and some flavorful crackers like the Toasted Onion, Rosemary and Cracked Pepper. Beautifully simple and a delicious start to a giant feast!

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My Cheese Platter and a Giveaway with 34 Degrees Crisps

Is it weird that putting together a really nice cheese platter was on my list of things to do in life? Yes, I know. Well, I had the perfect opportunity to make that happen when I had my good friend Lisa and her lovely family over for dinner. They are a foodie family so I wanted to make something a little extra special -- I didn't want to just whip up my weekly tofu-dipped-in-egg-and-pan-fried-over-rice entree (though I know they would love that too!).

Anyway, I went to the new Whole Foods on Gilman Street and headed straight to the cheese counter. When I went on the preview tour of the store, one of the highlights was the cut-to-order cheese section. Mental note! Luckily, the cheese lady Julia was there to help me answer questions and provide samples of all kinds of tasty cheeses and olives. After making my final cheese selections, she also recommended 34 Degrees Crisps. Oh man, I thought the fancy cheeses would be the stars on the platter, but turns out I also fell in love with these thin and delicate crisps. They each had their own flavors that really complemented the different cheeses. I'm pretty proud at how my platter turned out.

In case you're wondering what was on my platter, here's a list:

• Cheeses: Brillat Savarin Delin (soft cheese, 6-year old Zoya's fave), Abbaye de Bel'loc (hard sheep's milk), Bay Blue Point Reyes (the perfect blue cheese) and Murcia Curado - Naked Goat (mild tasting, firm goat cheese)
• 34 Degrees Crisps: Toasted Onion, Rosemary, Cracked Pepper, Poppy Seed and Natural
• Olives: Whole Foods mixed olives with Parmesan rind that I baked in the oven, as well as Castleveltrano, my favorite olives ever
• Nuts: Rosemary Marcona Almonds from Trader Joe's
• Fruit: Organic D'Anjou Pears
• Next time I think I'll include these Spanish Olive Oil Tortas and maybe a fig spread
• Gold cheese knives from West Elm, Rustic oak pie slab from Food 52

I even dotted some creme fraiche on the cracked pepper crisps and topped it with smoked salmon and capers. Delicious! Look, I'm all fancy now!

The awesome crew over at 34 Degree Crisps is giving away a set of their limited edition flavors, Toasted Onion (my personal fave!) and Poppy Seed, along with their Natural and Rosemary flavors, including pairing and recipe cards.

Here's how to enter:

• Follow @good_on_paper and @34Degrees_ on Instagram, comment with your favorite cheese and cracker pairing, and tag a cheese loving friend

• Please comment by Friday, January 23rd, 12pm PST

• This giveaway is for U.S. residents only

• I will announce a winner selected by random number generator by Monday, January 26th

Best of luck!