Fall Dinner Party

There is no other perfect place to serve Mason Jar Apple Pies than a Fall Dinner Party with great friends. We turned Matt & Whitney's back porch into an outdoor dining room. 

Here is what we used:

white christmas lights

wine glasses with tea lights lining the rail

lamps

beautifully clothed tables

mixed matched plates

pumpkin candle holders

cutests circle rug of my life

outdoor fire

mixed match chairs

anthropologie placemats

cloth napkins 

hanging mirror 

Here is what it looked like:

Please note the fall wreath on Whit's door. Does it look familiar?

Here is who was there:

 We were a bit crazy to have an OUTSIDE dinner party in October in Washington, but everyone just bundled up & enjoyed the fire & the dry sky. I think it was about 45 degrees.

 Menu:

Cider Roasted Pork & Cranberry Quinoa Wild Rice (Whitney saw it on The Today Show)

Garden Salad (Colby)

Mashed Potatoes (Robbins)

Bread & Butter (Jeanette)

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Laura)

Mason Jar Apple Pies (Whitney & Lindsey)

Pumpkin Seeds (Whitney)

Mulled Apple Cider

Beer

French Press Coffee

Water

Thank you Matt, Whitney, & Quinn for opening up your home!!!

It was a magical Fall night full of laughter, good food, creativity, & lasting memories.

Winter Dinner Party anyone?

Mason Jar Pie Adventure

Whitney is full of great ideas and motivation to do them! Here is our Mason Jar Pie adventure...

Step 1: Buy apples

 Step2: Peel apples

Step 3: Make pie crusts

Step 4: Butter Jars & Soup Cans or whatever you are using

Step 5: slice apples & mix with brown sugar & cinnamon & flour

Step 6: Piece together crusts inside of jars/cans

Step 7: Fill with apple mixture & dollop with butter (we forgot this but they were still delicious)

Step 8: Cover with pie crust & sprinkle with brown sugar

Step 9: Place in oven @ 350 degrees until heated through. We covered them and cooked them the night before and then uncovered them when we heated them up right before we served them the next day at our fall dinner party (blog to follow). 

Step 10: remove & enjoy. The jars & cans surprisingly cool quickly enough to hold with your bare hands. Especially when you are eating them outside in 45 degree weather. You can also serve them with a scoop of ice cream right on top.

 You can also just scoop them out into bowls if people would like to share...

 Or you can just grab two forks and dig in with someone else.

Me & Whitney enjoying our handiwork. 

Matt hoping there would be leftovers...his dreams came true. Also, next time he & Whitney go camping they are making Mason Jar Pot Pies!!!!

Dinner with the Raigosa's

My cousin Lenny and his wife Samantha (originally from Washington) recently moved back up here. They are still about 4 hours away, but that is about 20 hours less than before. I offered to make dinner (mainly because I want to blog about whatever I can). This was a great opportunity to make something blog worthy: sweet potato souffle from the Williams Sonoma Autumn cookbook.

 http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/sweet-potato-souffle.html

 First you poke your sweet potatoes with a fork & bake until mooshy. Then butter a souffle dish and dust with Parmesan cheese. 

Mix all ingredients together. It's more fun with help. 

It fell a bit before I took a picture, but it was delicious & successful for my first try. 

 Taking the first piece.

 Lenny likes it.

 My first bite.

I LOVE it! 

A lovely evening with the cousins, and a lovely centerpiece. 

The Cutest Autumn Wreaths of My Life & Yours!

Whit & I got together to make autumn wreaths...she originally brought the idea up when we had our soup day. Yay to both of us being free on a Saturday afternoon. We watched the fabric rosette making tutorial on pinterest & went to work cutting fabric we already had into strips. Quin helped. Of course. 

We thought we made too many rosettes, but I think we had 2 leftover. 

Here is a tip: hot glue from a hot glue gun is hot. We burnt our fingers a lot, but I feel it was fully worth it. 

Lace. An item you should always have on hand. We cut strips from an old tablecloth and wrapped it around the wreath. 

We then braided a strip of lace, orange fabric, and burlap for the hanger. We just tied a knot on each end & jammed the knot in between twigs. 

AND...TADA...beautiful autumn wreaths.