With Thanksgiving in just a few days and my super serious diet on hold, I thought I would post up a few alternatives to the old pumpkin pie for the holidays. I'm not much of a cook, nor can I bake, so Jennea, darling, Cottage Cheese Pie please!

First, we have the Fig Goat Cheese Pie with Basil. It's hard to go wrong with figs and goat cheese. Of course, this mini-pie recipe is perfect to prevent that holiday weight.

The Cottage Cheese Pie, my personal favorite, should definitely satisfy your sweet tooth. The chocolatey crumb crust combined with cottage cheese makes for a satisfying dessert after your endless plates of turkey.

Well, it finally happened. Perhaps the most infamous cheese in the world has arrived in the US: Ornella Trattoria in New York has apparently imported the cheese, and Bradley Hawks has the story at his blog, Amuse Bouche. 

Update: Original tipster Matt Spiegler notes: "I called the restaurant, and the person on the phone (I think it was the owner) was very clear about the fact that they DO NOT sell it, but rather offer it as a tasting treat for customers."

Jose Andres from the ThinkFoodGroup is at it again. How can you not like a recipe that begins by making cheese and ends with that cheese wrapped in a milk skin, accompanied by jellied whey and a cappuccino-like foam topping?

Previously: Idiazabal Cheese Eggs and Almond Cups with Spanish Blue Cheese

I'm on a quest to discover my inner cheesemonger. Why? Because I feel like I'm culture's version of Emile, Remy's unsophisticated brother in the Disney Pixar movie Ratatouille, and I will have it no longer. If you haven't seen the film yet, here's a short video clip to demonstrate my current state of cheese illiteracy:

I want to become Remy, the savant, the connoisseur, the little mouse who places a morsel on his tongue and colorful swirls and pops of flavor appear about his head.