Fall Feast!

 Yep. It's midnight and I'm blogging. I'm tired. It's late. But, I had a wonderful evening with great friends tonight! I hosted my Fall Feast dinner and it was so fun! The dishes are all clean, the hubs is asleep, and all I really want to do is snuggle up to my laptop and share! Yep, I'm a freak who doesn't know how to go to bed at a decent hour.

Anywhoodles.

Fall feast!

Here's the full menu! I'll break down each dish in the post! I made this using Tomkat Studio's Thanksgiving collection that I got for free for being a Top 10 finalist! Woohoo! I knew this dinner was the perfect time to use it :) Thanks Tomkat!!

The dinner table. This was before the food was set out.

I stuck with classic white, rustic chargers, and added pumpkins and pears to the placesettings. Plus, I went with somewhat of a 'mini' theme with the ramekins and small dishes. I had practically everything you see here already. Just had to get the fresh pears, and a couple of extra ramekins to have 6 that matched.

The little pumpkin holders are from Pier 1. I love them!!

Okay, now here we are with all the food out!!

Maple Sweet Potato Cups - Result=Delicious!!!! Loved them. So easy, so cute! I did double the brown sugar amount and stirred in about a teaspoon of cinnamon for extra flavor. I will make these again!!! Starting with the frozen sweet potatoes was brilliant; I would have never guessed them to be that good! Click here for recipe.

Sweet-and-Sour Green Beans - These were a hit! Everybody ate their entire serving. Everyone. I was impressed! These are a keeper, for sure. Those mini rectangle dishes are from Pier 1's Tasting Party collection, which I love!! Here is the Southern Living green bean recipe.

Bourbon-Cranberry Turkey Tenderloins & Grilled Oranges - Terrible picture, but absolutely delicious. This was an easy way to prepare turkey, and it was really fabulous. The grilled oranges were good, but not necessary if you have lots of other side dishes. Click here for Southern Living recipe. Another winner!!!

Here is the sauce that went with the recipe above. I'll be honest, there was lots of bourbon (Wild Turkey) in this. It seemed too strong to me when I taste-tested after first making, but it turned out to be great with the turkey. Fantastic!

Other dishes I made included:

Autumn Salad with Maple Balsamic Dressing - Ok, this was great! The dressing is a real winner. If you read the recipe, I would recommend not messing with the bacon/pecan/brown sugar step. Just add pecans and cooked bacon pieces in like normal. Click here for the Land O Lakes recipe. YUMMY!

Marinated Grilled Squash and Zucchini - I've made these before, and they are a good accompaniment to any meal. Here is my post with the recipe.

And last but not least is the dessert!

Here is a picture of the Justin Timberlake Bourbon-Flavored Pecan Pies before I baked them. They turned out beautifully and were very cute in the individual pie pans. BUT, they were very difficult to eat. Not sure if it was because I made them a day in advance or what but we practically needed jack hammers to get it out of there. Yes, I used Pam, but it didn't matter. It was like eating hard candy. It was delcious once you got a bite out, for sure. But, too much work. I will improvise this recipe next time to make it easier to eat!!!!

We had a wonderful, fun night sharing food, family, friendship, stories and wine. I LOVE our little family group! Like a dumb-dumb I didn't take any pictures of the people, hello!!! Ashley/Brooke, please let's get better about this!! 

I am thankful for them, for the delicious fall foods, and for the bed I'm about to finally crawl in!! Goodnight!