To Market, To Market

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

That old children’s rhyme popped into my head as I was headed to the grocery store. And while I did not come home with a fat pig, I came home with a pork loin and lots of fruits and vegetables. If you missed my tablescape yesterday, here’s the menu for my family dinner to usher in fall:

Apple-Fennel Salad

Marinated Pork Loin

Fresh Mustard Greens

Wild Rice

Cornbread

Apple Dumplings with Vanilla Ice Cream

I found this recipe in last month’s Southern Living and my husband, the salad connoisseur pronounced it a “keeper”! The slight licorice flavor of the fennel bulb and the parsley give the salad a light and fresh taste, while the walnuts and apples provide the rich hearty flavors of fall. I’ve adapted it slightly.

Apple-Fennel Salad

1/2 cup coarsley chopped walnuts, toasted

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 shallot or green onion, minced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Gala apple, cored, quartered and sliced thin

1 medium-size fennel bulb, sliced thin

1 celery rib, sliced thin

1 (5 oz. pkg.) arugula

1 cup loosely packed fresh flat Italian parsley leaves

Whisk together olive oil and next four ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange arugula on salad plate or platter. Top with desired amount of vinaigrette. Top with apple, fennel, celery, and parsley mixture which has been tossed with vinagrette. Top with toasted walnuts.

****personal note: Next time I might replace the arugula with mixed baby greens. It did not add that much extra flavor, in my opinion, and arugula is fairly expensive. I also doubled the vinaigrette recipe because my family tends to like a lot of dressing.

The dessert recipe appeared in my local paper yesterday in a column called Recipe Finder. Readers can write in to request or submit recipes. This was an answer to a request for apple dumplings previously served at a now defunct legendary local restaurant. It was offered as a substitute for the original recipe. What caught my attention is the surprise ingredient—Mountain Dew! Easy and delicious, this recipe was promptly added to the file! Once again, I have taken a few liberties with the recipe.

Apple Dumplings

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and quartered

1 (8 ct.) pkg. crescent rolls

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ground cinnamon

8-12 ounces Mountain Dew soft drink

Unroll crescent roll dough. Divide into four sections. Wrap each section around an apple wedge pocket style and pinch edges to seal. Place in a greased baking dish. Mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla extract and spoon over dumplings. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour Mountain Dew over dumplings. Baked in a preheated 350 degree oven 35-45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

****personal note: The original recipe recommended using 1 crescent roll per apple quarter. I found this to be a bit miserly and used the equivalent of two rolls. I found seamless crescent roll dough and used that cut into quarters. Also, in my opinion, the vanilla ice cream is not optional---it’s a must :)!

I must tell you—my claim to fame is my corn bread. Grown men have been know to whisper in my ear, “this is better than my mother’s. Please don’t tell her I said so” :) If you’d like the recipe, you can find it here. Also, the marinade we use for pork loin is very good. We love it on shish kebab and thick pork chops for grilling. You can find that recipe in one of my very first posts here.

I am joining Michael Lee West at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday. Click on her button on my sidebar for transportation. I am also linking to our sweet Laurie at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie for My Favorite Things on Saturday. This menu is truly one of our favorite things. You can join Laurie on Saturday here.

Thanks for stopping by! The good news: I’m over my guilt about not feeding my family. The bad news: I’m still cleaning the kitchen :) Happy Fall!~~Susan

Welcome Fall Tablescape

Tonight at 10:09 pm my little part of the world will officially usher in the beginning of fall with the autumnal equinox. We will be needing that official proclamation; the weatherman has forecast record-breaking highs of 96-98 degrees. But, no matter. Sometimes seasons are a matter of the heart and not the thermometer.

I’m afraid a busy schedule has made me a little lax in the feeding of my family lately. So I’ve planned a meal to welcome fall and the table is already set.

I bought this set of dishes several years ago at Steinmart. After using it for a while, I tucked it away and had almost forgotten about it. The pattern called Still Life has all the deep, rich jewel tones I associate with fall.

There are four different patterns in both the dinner and the salad plates so I like to mix them up.

The centerpiece is sunflowers I purchased for next to nothing in the last few minutes of a street festival on Saturday. The carafe makes an interesting vase.

Susan’s napkin tutorial last week sparked my interest in playing with napkins. These are “wash and wear” napkins made out of a blend, so they are perfect for a week night family dinner. I’ll show you how to make this easy silverware pocket next week.

The stemware, also from Steinmart several years ago, is sturdy and ready to hold water, milk, or your favorite merlot :)

You can nibble on some hors ‘d, oeuvres and check out the menu while I finish up in the kitchen. I put out some homemade sour dough bread, grapes and cheese.

Apple and Fennel Salad

Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Fresh Mustard Greens

Wild Rice

Cornbread

Apple Dumplings with Vanilla Ice Cream

**I’ll be back for Foodie Friday with the salad and dumpling recipes!

And I couldn’t resist this—Remember the street festival I told you about? I saw this and thought of Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Aren’t you glad this isn’t Susan’s philosophy? :)

Happy fall and thanks for stopping by. And thank you Susan for not “keeping it on the porch”! :) Click on the Tablescape Thursday button on my sidebar for immediate transportation! See you tomorrow with recipes and pictures ! :)

Christmas Luncheon

Thank you to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting this fun party every Thursday. I am so excited to invite you in for my luncheon today. We’ve been building towards it all week! On Monday I showed how I was making part of the centerpiece here. On Tuesday I showed you my decorations in the dining room. On Wednesday…I set the table!!

Tomorrow I am having a luncheon for nine friends. I saw a similar tablescape in early October in my Christmas with Southern Living and I’ve been plotting ever since. This will be a casual soup and salad for a dear group of friends.

I found these oversized mugs for soup at Kroger for $1.25 each. They match well with the Christmas china and carry out the red and green theme. It is supposed to be bitterly cold here tomorrow---just right for a big mug of soup!

I am using red chargers and my Christmas Tree china by Cuthbertson. I collected this as a young bride. I pull this out the minute I put away the Thanksgiving china and we use every day all season long. It is casual enough for just us and can be dressed up for more formal dinners! The glasses are by Spode. These two patterns are so similar. They mix well. The napkins are more of those 99 cent bandanas from Hobby Lobby. I found the napkin rings at Old Time Pottery this year for 99 cents also!

Salt and Pepper shakers tied up like candy!

Here is one of the moss ball projects I showed you on Monday—set in a martini glass and tied with red and green satin ribbon. That’s a dog gate in the background—I’d retake the picture, but I am busy cooking!

Here is the centerpiece idea from Monday also. I added the red carnations from Kroger to the moss balls and Gibson cup and saucer.

Each person will get this favor. Really Rainey at The Project Table showed us here how to make bath salts. I made a batch of red and a plain batch. These happen to be votive containers a friend gave me. She owns a candle business and passed them along to me. You could do this in a small jar for the same effect. Of course, everything has to be tied up with a ribbon…It’s Christmas :) Here is tomorrow’s menu:

Hot Cider and Cheese Straws

Baby Blue Salad

Crab and Corn Bisque

Wild Rice and Chicken Cream Soup

Herbed Muffins

Susan’s Cranberry Trifle

Red Velvet Cookies

The trifle recipe is from the “Between Naps on the Porch” Susan and you can find it here. I will be linking to Michael at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday with some recipes. I hope you will come back. Thanks for sharing this with…I’ve had S0 much fun doing it! Click on the TT button on the sidebar to see more festive tables at Susan’s!