Farewell to Fall

November is ending and with it, the last few remnants of fall. Thanksgiving looms around the corner and with Black Friday comes (in my non-official opinion) the beginning of the Christmas and winter season. I checked off the last of my Autumn Bucket List activities I was able to check off this year by wrapping up fall with a “Farewell to Fall” party at my house this weekend. I accomplished half of my bucket list – I wish I could have done more, but I’m happy with all of the things I did get to do!

So, what is a “Farewell to Fall” party? I used to have parties in the fall called “Autumns Toasts & Roasts”, but this year I prolonged the gathering a little longer to say goodbye to fall – it seemed fitting for this year. The agenda was still the same – fire pit, good food, and friends. Today, I’ll share some of my new and favorite fall recipes that are non-complicated and perfect to put together when you are short on time!

People can make fun of Pinterest all day, but I really utilize it for organizing my thoughts and for things I want to do – especially when it comes to cooking. Check out each of the recipes below for the Pins. I prepared a few days in advance for what I wanted to have at the party and picked a few things that would be easy and not too time consuming. Below is my menu for the evening:

• Chili + Toppings

• Corn Muffins

• Cheesy Corn Dip + Tortilla Chips

• Baked Potatoes + Toppings

• S’mores

Super simple, right? It was the perfect amount of substance and snack. I was able to throw everything together in just over an hour. My kinda meal!

Chili – for the chili, I don’t use much of a recipe. I kind of do my own thing. I’m a real winger when it comes to cooking, which is surprising since I’m pretty OCD about a lot of other things I do in life. However, here is a breakdown of the ingredients I use in mine :

• 16 oz tomato sauce

• 2 cans diced tomatoes

• 1 can light kidney beans

• 1 can dark kidney beans

• 1 can chili beans

• 1 lb. of lean, ground beef

• minced garlic – added as desired

• 1 small, yellow onion – added as desired

• garlic powder – added as desired

• chili powder – added as desired

• cumin – added as desired

• salt & pepper – as desired

• a dash of Italian seasoning

• a dash of cayenne pepper

I have a deep love for my Crockpot, so these delicious ingredients make their home in it on LOW for about 8 hours.

Corn Muffin Recipe – this recipe was very basic and QUICK! So easy to put together in just a few minutes. It’s also the perfect recipe to add some pizazz to your muffins – corn, jalapeños, etc. Make it your own! I stuck to the traditional way and these turned out perfect. Under 20 minutes for perfect muffins – can’t beat that.

Cheese Corn Dip – Talk about a super simple and delicious appetizer… this is it! It’s cheesy, it’s warm, and it’s a little hot! Perfect combination for a fall or winter treat for your guests. I will definitely be keeping this on the forefront of my snack lists.

Baked Potatoes – I’ve always known baked potatoes and foil to go hand in hand, but this spin on baked spuds is sans the aluminum. It’s like “Baked Potatoes Gone Naked!” I like it. They turned out great and I’ll be using this method from now on.

Toppings – You can get creative with this. I stuck to more traditional toppings – sour cream, bacon bits, cheese, and butter. Green onions are good to add as well. But, you can get really creative and pick a variety of toppings for your guests to choose from or maybe even go with a theme. The possibilities are endless and completely up to you and how fancy you want to get.

S’mores – This campfire treat doesn’t need an introduction. I had a separate setup outside on a table with the S’mores ingredients beside the fire pit.

Throwing a get together doesn’t have to be extremely time consuming and stressful – remember the reasoning behind having a party and getting people together and let the stress take a back seat.

Don’t be like this little pup and get too worn out…

’til next time… xoxo, patty lauren

Comments

Charlie lupo says

November 23, 2014 at 1:57 am

What a simple pleasure it is to reminisce of the fading out of one season and the door opening, brrr, to the next. Thanks patty for slowing us down to enjoy this seasonal farewell

- patty lauren says
  
  November 23, 2014 at 12:00 pm
  
  I’m trying to soak up the last few days as chilly as they have been 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement, Charlie! Hope you and Joanie are doing well – and staying warm! We’ll be having Egg Nog soon at the shop!

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