When it’s crisp, beautiful, and so pleasant outside, enjoy dinner among the trees and nature. Offer warm, savory beef soup from a tureen surrounded by nature’s bounty of leaves, cones, berries, and bittersweet. Serve soup in pumpkin soup bowls with golden stems and leaves on an ironstone plate edged with harvest golden leaves. Add a harvest salad of fresh baby spinach and spring mix greens topped with sweet Bosque pears, cranberries, and seasoned pecans drizzled with a honey balsamic vinaigrette and rosemary cornbread muffins. A delightful fall meal in an idealist setting! And just for fun, create pumpkin-shaped napkins by folding orange cloth napkins through a small cylinder napkin ring, and add a cinnamon stick or small branch stem and a small leaf imprinted with each guest’s names as place cards.
End the evening with a delightful fall pumpkin dessert of delicious Pumpkin Crunch Cake that is a wonderful blend of fall flavors and spices topped with sweetened whipped cream sprinkled with ground cinnamon.
In this beautiful fall, take special time to enjoy the season, the outside, the atmosphere, the wonderful flavors, and your family and friends!
Menu
Mock Turtle Soup or
Savory Beef Soup
Pear and Cranberry Salad
Rosemary Cornbread Muffins
Pumpkin Crunch Cake
Mock Turtle Soup
10 ginger snaps, broken
1 cup boiling water
2 pounds ground beef
½ onion, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 cup ketchup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 (15-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (32-ounce) container beef stock
Zest of l lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
¼ cup dry sherry
For garnish: fresh parsley and green onions
Place ginger snaps in a bowl, and add boiling water; set aside to soak. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, brown ground beef, onions, and celery. Drain fat if necessary. Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Whisk ginger snaps and water until smooth, and stir into meat mixture. Add tomatoes, beef stock, zest, and juice of lemon, and stir. Bring mixture to a boil. Pour into crockpot and heat on low for 2 hours. Stir in sherry. When serving, add eggs, and garnish with parsley and green onions.
Yield: 12-16. servings
Savory Beef Soup
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ cup diced celery
¼ cup diced onions
1 (14.5-ounce) can sliced carrots, drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can sliced potatoes, drained
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1 (10.5-ounce) can cream of potato soup
1 (10.5-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk
1 tablespoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon seasoned salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 cup water
In a sauce pan over medium heat, heat oil and sauté celery and onions. Stir in carrots, potatoes, and beef. Transfer mixture to Dutch oven. Add soups, milk, chili powder, garlic salt, paprika, seasoned salt, pepper, parsley flakes, and water. Bring mixture to simmer, cook and stir for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Yield: 12 servings
Rita Black, Jackson
Pear and Cranberry Salad
Vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and black pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil
Salad:
1 (8-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
1 (8-ounce) package spring mix salad
1 Bosc pear, cored and thinly sliced
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup spicy pecans (recipe follows)
1/3 cup goat cheese
For vinaigrette, in a bowl, whisk together vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. Slowly whisk in oil.
For salad, arrange greens on plates. Top with pears, cranberries, pecans, and goat cheese. Serve with vinaigrette.
Yield: 8 servings
Jamie’s Spicy Pecans
4 cups pecan halves
1 stick salted butter, melted
4 heaping tablespoons light brown sugar
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
Zatarain’s Creole seasoning
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a bowl, toss pecans in melted butter. Add brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper flakes. Toss until coated. Spread evenly in one layer on a foil-lined rimmed baking
pan. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, then turn pecans and bake other side for 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with Creole seasoning. Pour onto paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container or zipper bag in refrigerator or freezer.
Yield: 4 cups
Winnie and Jamie Jackson
Pecan Creek Farm
Meadville
Rosemary Cornbread Muffins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 (14.75-ounce) can cream-style corn
2 eggs
¼ cup buttermilk
1½ teaspoons dried rosemary
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar baking powder, and salt. Whisk in corn, eggs, and buttermilk. Stir in rosemary and drop batter into 24 greased muffin cups. Bake for 12 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.
Yield: 18
