Fall Dinner Party Menus

Today's post showcases 3 fall-oriented menus for your upcoming dinner parties. Enjoy!

Menu 1:

Pork Chops with Apple Chutney, Mustard Greens, Sweet Potatoes and Ice Cream with Caramel Brioche

Menu 2:

Hanger Steak, Apple Bistro Salad, Matchstick Fries and Creme Caramel

Menu 3:
Mediterranean Chicken, Herb Feta Salad, Rice Pilaf and Apricot-Fig Compote

Halloween Inspiration: Part II - Treats

Happy October! It's time for the next installment of Halloween inspiration. This part focuses on spooky treats and creative ways to serve them. Leave it to Martha Stewart to come up with such fun and eerie dishes!

- Halloween party picks in sandwiches
- Sweetly packaged cookies
- Chocolate Fig Pumpkins
- Ladies' Fingers and Men's Toes (eww!)
- Ghoul's Graveyard cake
- Chocolate Witch Hats
- Tombstone Cupcakes
- I Scream Ice Cream
- Orange and white candy buffet

Stay tuned for more parts in my Halloween inspiration series!

Summer Ice Cream Social

My husband and I received a ice cream maker for our wedding and we are anxious to give it a try. So I thought it'd be a lot of fun to throw a party and make different varieties of ice cream with friends.

Invite your guests with an ice cream themed invitation such as this fun polka dot invitation by Stacy Claire Boyd. (from FineStationery.com)

To start, you'll need an ice cream maker. We have a Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine and it seems to be a rather popular choice as most stores carry this model. If you don't want to actually make the ice cream, have an ice cream social with many mix-ins and toppings for an equally fun occasion.

Now for the accessories- for toppings or mix-ins consider using one or more of these pastel colored serving trays. To scoop your delicious creations, give these funky ergonomic scoops a try. These neat scoops create small cylindical blocks of ice cream providing for a contemporary fresh look. Need to transport your treat later? This insulated ice cream tote will keep it perfectly cool.

Serve your ice cream concoctions in these sweet pastel bowls. Lastly, top your custom ice cream with toppings from Stonewall Kitchen. Pictured above is their Spiced Rum Butterscotch Sauce. They have several other sauces too, in an array of great flavors.