Harvest Heirloom Pumpkin Table Setting

Fall is my favorite time of the year to entertain — the chapter has closed on summer grilling parties and the pressures of large holiday family gatherings are not yet upon us. It is the perfect time of year to invite a small group of friends over for an intimate dinner that celebrates nothing but the season of bounty.

The only rule? You must pull inspiration from the harvest season. Put all of those majestic squash and pumpkins at the farmers’ market to work, using them as the centerpiece of your table and your menu.

Harvest Party Table Setting

Set the Stage with Natural Elements

Setting the table is your chance to set the scene and mood for your party. I wanted my dinner to be special, but relaxed and casual, as well. It features beautiful seasonal produce in its natural form with little alteration — allowing the true beauty of these pumpkins and gourds to shine. Along with the pumpkins straight from the farm, the setting includes super-tall, elegant taper candles — elegant and rustic elements — my favorite combination. A centerpiece made of pumpkins, squash and gourds versus a formal floral design says all of the right things about my party.

As the harvest season is all about the celebration of bounty, I wanted the table to feel full and plentiful. With so many colors and shapes to choose from, it is easy to get overwhelmed and end up with a hodgepodge result. I recommend that you pick 2 or 3 complementary colors to avoid making the table setting too busy. I selected gourds that were all muted in color – pale butternut, green-blues and creamy white, then added pops of red-orange for contrast.

What You’ll Need:

• Linen runner:  I love how wide this runner is.  In my online store, I carry several extra wide and extra long runners.  If you don’t have one, you can use a piece of burlap or brown kraft paper, or create a runner out of a drapery panel folded in half, like I did.
• 2 or 3 medium blue pumpkins: If you are seating 6, place 2 medium pumpkins down the middle of the table, placing them in the gaps between the place settings. If you are serving 8, use 3 pumpkins, placing them in the space between the place settings.
• 8 to 10 small gourds and squash: Use a variety of sizes, shapes and colors (sticking to your coordinated palette), and lay them evenly down the center of the table in groups of 3 or 4.
• 2 branches (I used pear berry branches): Weave branches in through the pumpkins and gourds, creating a natural flow down the table. The branches help to visually pull all the elements together, creating a cohesive look.
• 6 mini pumpkins: Create candle holders by coring out the center of mini pumpkins. This is an inexpensive way to make candle holders if you don’t own any. For step-by-step instructions, visit the“How to Create a Mini Pumpkin Candle Holder” post.
• 6 taper candles: I used ivory, but an Edgartown Sand would be perfect would look great with this, too.
• 6 white pantry plates: I like to use solid white plates when I am using a large variety of colors on the table. The white helps to ground the table and provides some much-needed simplicity to the bountiful centerpiece.
• 6  linen napkins: Let the centerpiece be the center of attention. These hemstitched linen napkins are luxurious, but in a subtle classic way.

Harvest Party Menu

Not only should your table reflect the bounty of the season, but your menu should, too. When you’re at the farmers’ market selecting your centerpiece pumpkins, ask around for great recipes that utilize the season’s best. The menu I’ve compiled below is a balance of indulgent, fresh and flavorful seasonal recipes.

Spiked Mulled Cider
Pumpkin Beer
Baked Brie en Croûte

Autumn Harvest Chopped Salad
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Browned Butter
Caramel Apple Dumplings

Tips for Hosting a Great Dinner Party

Entertaining your friends for dinner can seem more challenging than it needs to be. With these helpful tips, you’ll be able to host a fall harvest dinner party with ease … and have a great time, too!

Make the House Buzz

Have you ever been the first to arrive at a party? If the house is quiet and the lights are bright, it doesn’t quite feel like a party. I like to have the lights low, candles lit, fun music going and a “help yourself” cocktail station ready to go 30 minutes before the party begins. Getting everything set out early allows me to wind down before anyone arrives and gives me a chance to feel like a guest at my own party. There is nothing worse than arriving when the hostess is frantically dusting the mantle and juggling pots and pans in the kitchen.

Cocktails, Then Wine

I like to start a party off with a fun festive drink for cocktail hour, then serve wine at dinner. I hardly ever offer a full bar to my guests – it is too much to put together for a small gathering. If you offer someone a tasty seasonal drink when they walk in the door, it gives you another opportunity to set the mood for the evening. For the harvest party, I recommend serving Spiked Mulled Cider and a local Pumpkin Beer to kick off the night.

Leave the Dishes!

After dinner, so many times my guests offer to help with the dishes … no way! No one really wants to do dishes, not even me. I encourage my guests to leave their plates right where they are — “don’t worry about the dishes, let’s have dessert!” — and we all move into the most comfortable room in the house (perhaps around a fire). I like to pre-set this chosen, comfortable area with coffee or an after-dinner cocktail and dessert.

If I want the evening to last forever, I’ll put out a big tray that is full of chocolate-covered fruit, cookies, candies and caramels that can be continuously nibbled on as the evening goes late into the night. This open-ended dessert invites guests to get comfortable and help themselves. Easy conversation and stories are certain to follow.

Christmas Cookies | Sugar Cookies

As I'm preparing for my Holiday Christmas Cookie Brunch Workshop next week, I'd thought I'd share my tried and true, favorite recipe.  This is the same recipe my mom used when my sister and I were growing up, decorating sugar cookies for each and every holiday.  The dough is incredible to snack on!

Jenny's
Deluxe Sugar Cookies

 

Sugar Cookie Recipe

2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of cream of tarter
1 tsp of baking soda
1 egg

In your Kitchen Aid fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter and powdered sugar.  Add Flour, vanilla, cream of tarter, soda, and egg.  On slow, stir together ingredients just until combined.  Turn the dough out onto a floured board and wrap it with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.  

Unwrap the dough and put it on a floured board.  Be sure to flour the rollin pin, as well. 

Roll out dough until 1/4 inch thick. 

Cut shapes.   Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.  




Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees just until the edges begin to turn brown - baking time will depend on size and thickness of the cookie.  

Utilize scraps of dough by making them into a ball and re-rolling them and cutting shapes.

Royal Icing

3 egg whites
4 cups of powdered sugar

In the Kitchen Aid fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until almost frothy.  Add in the powdered sugar and whisk on slow until smooth.  You may need to add more or less powdered sugar or water to achieve desired thickness.  For sugar cookies, you want the icing to be thin enough that it will fall back on itself and smooth itself out, but not too thin so it will run off of the cookie.

Good colors are so important to making professional looking sugar cookies.  Here are my tips :

Red : When making red you need to use a lot of food coloring.  I also add orange to the red to make it less pink.  Add just a touch of green to the red to make it less electric.

Green : I add a little bit of yellow and orange to green to make it more of a natural green.  For christmas, I like to use two shades of green - light and dark. 

Blue : I add a little bit of yellow and orange to blue to make it softer.  It is a more sophisticated looking blue.

Lilac Centerpiece in Pewter Serving Bowl with Lilly of the Valley

I’m not a huge fan of using stuffy, professionally design floral centerpieces when I’m hosting a party.  To me it always feels like a wedding or a catered affair when I have an arrangement that looks “too perfect.”  I prefer something that looks like it came out of my garden or my kitchen- it should to be something that compliments the setting, the menu, the occasion and the company.



A few weeks ago, I used this same serving bowl to create a centerpiece with planted pansies.  Here, I've used it with lilacs to create a really bountiful arrangement.  While most of us don’t have an expansive collection of large beautiful vases in which to create centerpieces, we do often have beautiful serving pieces that we’ve served food in for years.  So many times we feel limited by what we don’t have and forget to consider what we do have.   Beyond the practicality of using something you already own versus going out and buying something new, I like to use elements from my own kitchen to create centerpieces for my table.

You'll Need...
   
    Large Serving Bowl
    Double sided tape
    Scissors or Gardening Shears
    Water
    Flowers

Directions :

Fill the bowl half way with water.  Create a grid on the top of the serving bowl with the double stick tape.  Place the flowers in the bowl, using the grid to hold them in place.  Begin by using the largest blooms and branches to create the shape of the arrangement, then fill in with smaller flowers.

Here is the easy to pin strip!

Planted Pansies Centerpiece | Spring Centerpiece | Mother's Day Centerpiece

 
It is no secret that I like planted flowers indoors - I love that they are seasonal, last longer than cut flowers and are usually much less expensive.  Do you know how much it would have cost me to make a floral arrangement to fill this pewter bowl- especially if I had it done at a floral shop.  Hundreds.  Hundreds!  For $12 I made this very sweet and seasonal centerpiece that would great for Mother's Day... or any other occasion like a Tuesday? 

Use potting soil to fill the container.  After a couple of days the flowers should be transferred to a pot, as this bowl doesn't have any drainage.  It will work great for about 5-7 days, though.  

Start by placing the flowers around the perimeter of the bowl, then fill in with soil.  Pack them in tight for a full effect.

Use moss to cover any exposed dirt... not a lovely sight on the dining table.

 Lovely

 Here is the easy-to-pin strip!

Asparagus, Mushroom & Leek Spring Pasta

Spring Pasta Supper
Asparagus, Mushroom & Leek with Pappardelle Pasta

At the beginning of every season I go to the local market and long to make something that 'feels' like that particular season- roasted root vegetables in the Fall, heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers in the Summer.  This pasta took shape like all good recipes- it started on pinterest (are you following me?), and ended with a trip to Verrill Farm.



1 pound of pappardelle pasta (here is the homemade recipe- or buy it if you can find it.)
1/2 pound of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 pints of mushrooms, sliced
2 leeks, large dice
1 pound of asparagus, 2-inch pieces
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of cream
sea salt & cracked pepper
olive oil
parmesan cheese


Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add 2 tablespoons of sea salt.  Meanwhile...

In a saute pan, cook diced bacon on medium, rendering fat, cooking until crispy.  Remove cooked bacon and set aside, leave the bacon fat in the skillet.  Add olive oil.  Cook mushrooms in olive oil and bacon fat for 2-3 minutes until they begin to brown.  Add leeks.  Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add asparagus and garlic.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until the asparagus begins to get tender.  Add cream, salt & pepper.

Add the pasta to the boiling water.  For fresh pasta, only cook for 30 seconds.  For dried pasta, cook for 4-6 minutes.  Add 1/4 (or more or less) pasta water from the boiling pot to the sauce.  Remove the pasta from the water with tongs and put it directly in the sauce. Toss the pasta in the sauce.  Add more pasta water if needed.

Serve topped with parmesan cheese & good olive oil drizzled.

This pasta would be great for Mother's Day served with this dessert...

Vanilla Pound Cake layered with Lemon Curd Cream, Whipped Cream, Berries & Black Plums - Recipe coming later this week along with a planted pansie centerpiece.

Easter Egg Hunt Centerpiece | Blue Eggs & Daffodils

Last week I posted a Spring table setting that featured bowls of heirloom blue and brown eggs lined up with bowls of planted daffodils down the center of the table.  I decided to make another setting with the same 'ingredients' inspired by my planted paperwhites from the Holidays.  I used the same wooden box in which the paperwhites were planted and I 'hid' the blue and brown eggs nestled in the moss.  I love that it is so simple, but seems whimsical at the same time - almost like a little patch cut out of someone's garden on Easter morning.

For a really easy place card, I wrote names on the brown eggs with a black fine point Sharpie.  I love simple table settings like these - they seem so fresh and understated but have lots of style.  Don't you think?  What will you be using to dress your Easter table?

Spring & Easter Centerpieces | Yellow Daffodils & Blue Eggs

I love centerpieces that I can get at the grocery store or from other objects around my house.  For this table, I picked up all of these 'ingredients' from my local market - a couple of planned daffodils and heirloom blue and brown eggs. Not only would this be great for a party, but it will last for weeks so it is a great option to have displayed on your table all season long.

I'm a fan of simple, elegant tables and centerpieces when I'm entertaining at home.  It can be awkward and seem somewhat inappropriate when the table looks too fussy.  At the same time, it should be special.  The table should be designed to sort of 'go with' the menu and the company.  But don't make it seem that you've over done the occasion.  Have I contradicted myself enough yet?   Perfect.

Planted bulbs are (as you should know by now...) are my absolute favorite.  During every season, I try to have some sort of growing flower in my home - perched by the kitchen sink, on my kitchen island, or displayed on the coffee table.  It always makes the room feel better.



On each plate, I snipped a single daffodil to put on each napkin.  Little touches like this elevate your dinner to an 'occasion.'  

I designed a symmetrical, balanced centerpiece by lining up bowls of planted daffodils and pale blue and brown eggs.  The mix of powder blue and yellow is such a great color combination for this time of year.  Notice that I use restraint when it comes to mixing too many elements, colors or patterns.  Designs look best when they are anchored by strong neutral (in this case, white) pieces, like the linen napkins and bowls.  Don't be afraid to explore other containers besides vases and planters for flowers - I use these cereal bowls for so many different things.



Here's what I used :

- 2 planted daffodils, $5 each
- 1 dozen brown eggs, $3 dozen
- 1 dozen of heirloom blue eggs, $5 dozen
- 5 white cereal bowls
- green moss, $3

Total Cost : $23

Bunny Baby Shower Table Setting & Menu

If you haven't noticed, Spring has officially sprung on my blog.  This post, dedicated to a Bunny Baby Shower concept, is especially Springy, complete with bunnies, tulips, asparagus, spinach, chives and coconut.  Ok, I'm not sure if coconut is particularly Springy, but it seemed to fit the bunny theme - being white and fluffy, and all.

Enjoy a little photo tour of a Bunny inspired Baby Shower I created this week...

Cream of Asparagus & Spinach Soup topped with Pancetta

Peach Garden Roses

Coconut Cupcakes

Herbed Ricotta Cheese