When I first read the description for Project Food Blog’s Challenge #3 – a luxurious dinner party – ideas and concepts started swirling around my head. Ultimately, they all ended up coming back to one place.
Having spent my summer working as the culinary intern and chef on a USDA certified organic farm, taking ingredients quite literally “from the farm to the table” became somewhat second nature to me. Having since left the farm and moved to Virginia (one month ago today!), I have entirely transformed the way I shop for food and think about groceries. Grocery shopping is no longer just one more errand on my never-ending to-do list. Instead, it is a Saturday morning walk to the farmer’s market that I look forward to all week long.
So as I sat down to plan out a menu for my Project Food Blog challenge dinner party, I realized I needed to let the market’s seasonal availability choose the direction of our meal. And so our Fall Farmers’ Market Feast was born…
We were out the door at 7am Saturday morning, hoping to get the freshest selection and best pick of vegetables.
Signs of OCTOBER were everywhere…
These pumpkins were so cute, and I couldn’t help myself but bring home four of them. I had something specific in mind…
It’s hard to say whether I get more excited about fall fruit or fall vegetables. Squash, corn, and pumpkin versus apples, pears, and plums? Please don’t make me choose.
With our mini shopping cart filled to the top, we headed home with our loot to start getting ready for a fun evening with friends.
Casey and I spent our whole afternoon cutting, prepping, processing, roasting, and simply enjoying each other’s company and the delicious smells coming from the oven and stovetop. Just before the guests arrived, we prepped our patio for for our first dinner party at our new house.
I don’t know if it’s because of my previous stints working at Pier One and Crate and Barrel or what, but nothing says “fall” to me quite like pumpkin spice candles.
All set up and ready to go!
Here is a peek at our final menu selections…
For appetizers, we decided to go with freshly sliced veggies (all from the market), and a delicious spread for dipping.
Served on these cute autumn leaf plates!
One of my favorite things about entertaining is using creative serving pieces. Even the simplest foods – like sliced vegetables – can seem fancy and luxurious if they are displayed artistically.
White bean and roasted garlic dip – there is no better smell in the world than two giant heads of garlic roasting in the oven. Mmmmm.
And speaking of using creative serving pieces, course number two took things to a whole new level…
These delicious little sugar pumpkins doubled as bowls and part of the main course – you got a little spoonful of pumpkin with each bite!
Cooked inside each pumpkin, my favorite homemade vegan black bean chili.
Onions, butternut squash, black beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, chili powder, paprika, lime juice, and vegetable broth.
Clearly no chili is complete without a delicious cornbread companion.
Jalapeno cornbread muffins that were one hundred percent out of this world. Will you believe me when I tell you that they were both vegan and gluten-free? It’s true.
With giant hunks of jalapeno and corn on the fluffy inside. So freaking delicious. (Recipe coming tomorrow!)
Ashley and Jorge were the very first friends we made here in Alexandria, so it only seemed fitting that they would be the guests for our very first dinner party. Ashley reached out me through the blog way back when we were first thinking about moving here, and we bonded instantly over a shared love of Terri Walter’s Clean Food cookbook, perils of gluten-free cooking, and dreams of expensive, fancy cameras.
I ate every last bite out of my pumpkin, including most of the pumpkin itself!
Even though we had all just eaten an entire pumpkin’s worth of food (literally), there was still one delicious course to go. Continuing my mission to be as creative as possible through serving pieces, it seemed only natural to finish our meal with…fondue!
Feast your eyes upon this vegan chocolate pumpkin perfection…
Complete with farmers’ market fruits for dipping – Braeburn apples…
And my personal favorites – Asian pears, mmmmm.
And because you can’t have chocolate fondue without some sort of cake or cookie for dipping, we rounded out the selections with gluten-free ginger snaps.
A whole lotta chocolate with just a hint of delicious pumpkin. The perfect ending to a delicious fall feast.
From start to finish, our entire meal was vegan and gluten-free, but I guarantee you would have never thought there was a single thing missing. What we did have was so much more important…
Our dinner party was simple – a farm to table feast eaten outside in the sunshine on a perfect fall day. To me, there is no greater “luxury” than good weather, great friends, and of course – fabulous food.
You can vote for my entry here!
113 Comments so far
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WOW! everything looks amazing (as always!).
Is your Stone Harbor sweatshirt from Stone Harbor, NJ by any chance?
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:55 am
YES! Grew up there every summer on 95th street!
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the cornbread and chili look AMAZING!!!! love all of the fresh and local ingredients :) great job!
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Hubs and I are drooling over that chili in pumpkins — looks amazing!
Pumpkin spice candles are soooo evocative of fall. I carried four around with me at Target this afternoon before I MADE myself put them back. Maybe next week…
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I love that you let the market decide what was going to be on the menu and the pumpkin bowls are way too cute!
Great job Emily!
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Looks delicious. The pumpkins are such a cute touch. What did you do with the pumpkin innerds? (How do you spell that?)
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Looooved that chili in the pumpkin! That is genius! Did you just roast the pumpkins first?
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the pumpkins as bowls is such a cute idea! You did an excellent job!
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LOVE the farm to table theme considering your time at the farm this summer! I am dying for a bite of that sugar pumpkin.
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the pumpkins are beyond adorable. i am looking forward to the cornbread recipe tomorrow ;)
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Those pumpkins look amazing!
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The whole meal looks so yummy. I really like the idea of the pumpkin bowls it’s like a healthier version of bread bowls.
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Good job! It all looked so good and I love the pumpkin bowl!
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yum! are you going to share your chili recipe??? looks delish!!!
ps, i found ball jars at our target yesterday! score! :)
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Incredible job! A feast for the eyes and for the tummy as well :) Now I really want to serve something in a pumpkin “”bowl.” Good luck!!
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Wow I love everything, but especially the pumpkin bowls! I never would have thought do that. And thanks to you I’ve given gluten-free foods a try. My boyfriend even tried some gluten-free snickerdoodle cookies I bought and he couldn’t tell the different. Thanks!
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Gorgeous food! Love your menu and the presentation just says Fall. I may or may not have drooled on the keyboard…
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What a phenomenal spread! I totally agree about the power of serving pieces. It’s amazing how a special piece or a unique arrangement can make a meal so much more exciting.
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Wow, this all looks so delicious! The farmer’s market theme was such a good idea. I can’t wait to try out those muffins. Great job!
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Beautiful meal! You did a wonderful job — I was just thinking about whether butternut squash would be good in chili and you have answered my question for me with this post :)
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What a cute idea to serve the chili in pumpkin! I also love that you had fondue. It’s so fun at a group dinner like this.
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Everything looks so delicious! One of my favorite restaurants serves a vegetarian grain “risotto” in a mini pumpkin and I love it!
Any chance you’ll share the fondue recipe too?
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I can not believe how perfect that meal sounds! Wow!
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I would have gobbled that up with no problem! Love the pumpkin idea.
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I will drive down to DC just for you to make me black bean chili in a pumpkin. For real. Please open a restaurant!
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Looks amazing Emily! Great job!! And yes I was tweeting you while reading this :)
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It looks wonderful Emily!
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looks AMAZING!!! Congratulations!
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I love the pumpkin as a bowl idea! That is so GREAT and creative! Looks like you had a nice dinner party with lots of yummy local produce :) Congrats on your first dinner party (btw). I love reading your blog, keep up the great work Emily! :)
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Chili in a pumpkin and pumpkin chocolate fondue! Looks delicious!
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I made your spelt cornbread muffins tonight. I added cranberries at my husband’s request and they were wonderful. That is my second round making the vegan cornbread muffins and I like them even better than old fashioned recipes. Great job.
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Everything does look great. Awesome job!
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I’m putting my request in for the dip recipe!!
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The pumpkin bowls are such a neat idea!
I love that everything is vegan. It’s always a great reminder that vegetarian/vegan food doesn’t mean lacking in flavor!
The fondue looks absolutely amazing…I’m drooling just thinking about vegan fondue!
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Not going to lie, my mind is seriously blown over the chili in pumpkin idea!
Your menu and dinner looked amazing, congrats on making it into the next round of the challenge! :)
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Blow away by your post, especially because you had SO much going on this w/e and so little time to plan + prep. Everything looks perfect and your photos are fabulous. The outdoor patio set is gorgeous and I love the candle lantern + placemats. We just ate some delicious vegan stew out of acorn squashes baked w/the lids on today and they were soooo delicious. Reminded me of your pumpkins. Dessert sounds insane!!!!!!! xo You rock!!!!!
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Your patio looks A-dorable! & I love the orange top :)
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vegan and gluten-free? you wouldn’t have guessed with the menu. looks fantastic, and can’t wait to hear about the recipes… you know, in case i want to recreate anything ;)
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Wow thats the tastiest looking food buzz dinner party I’ve seen so far, everything looks amazing!
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I just LOVE your entire dinner party menu. Cannot wait to copy it all. So creative, fun, healthy and delicious! Thanks, Emily :)
Heidi xo
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Gorgeous meal! That’s exactly the type of dinner party I would love. Fresh, beautiful foods. The pumpkin serving dish was inspired! You’ve got my vote! (can’t wait for the corn muffin recipe!)
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I am enjoying foodbuzz season way tooooo much! :-) Great job!
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As someone who recently graduated from Culinary School myself, I LOVE the idea of eating fresh & local, so I absolutely loved this! I would have done my dinner party in a very similar manner. Excellent job, it looks fantastic!
xo
Kris
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Your presentation is beautiful! I LOVE the idea of the pumpkins as bowls, so creative and Martha Stewart-esque! :)
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You dinner party looks amazing!! I LOVE the pumpkin bowls! That is such a creative idea! I love pumpkin candles also! :)
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Awesome menu!
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wow, everything looks amazing! good job- great idea on the pumpkin bowls, btw!
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Great job!!! You must make your FIL those corn muffins when we come out. He would love those!!! (Me too, but it sounds more humble if I ask for him, LOL). U are so darn creative!!! I would never think of those things!
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Love love love!
Just voted for you… this has been one of my favorite menus so far. I love the FRESHNESS of it all!
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I love the pumpkin bowls!!!!!!!!!!!
Wish we could have been your guests too :)
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It all sounds delicious!!! Are you going to post your recipe for the chili? I would love to recreate it!!
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Oh my gosh, I LOVE this! Although pumpkin is the ONLY squash I don’t like (I know, I don’t understand it either) ANY squash could be used as a bowl.
My boyfriend may propose to me if I try this on him with my chilli…
Once again, you’re awesome and definitely get my vote (AGAIN)!
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1. I love your shopping cart.
2. I love that you use cut your carrots and don’t use baby carrots (the flavor just isn’t the same).
3. Your meal looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Totally agree with you on the baby carrots thing. Blech.
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deliciousness!!!! Will you post recipes for your dips? The white bean garlic dip and your eggplant appetizer look especially yummy. With the pumpkins-for-bowels idea, do you bake the pumpkins then fill them or put the stew in and bake it all together?
Your dinner party looks like good times and good fun!
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I would love for you to post the fondue recipe. We’re doing a dinner party at my house on Fri with fondue for dessert and yours looks incredible!
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Okay, I’ve been reading a lot of posts with these challenges. I have to say yours is the only one, I’ve seen so far, that I would like to eat every single thing served. Everything not only sounds fantastic but looks amazing as well.
Great Job!!!
p.s. I’m totally going to make that chili in the pumpkin for my husband!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Thanks Tracey! That means a lot. ;)
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I voted for you! Everything looked great and it was gluten free so I could have actally enjoyed it! :)
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Love the Pumpkin bowls! The meal looked amazing and I can only imagine how tasty it was. Love how creative you are!
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that just made me soo hungry!! I’m going to go vote. I can’t believe it’s all vegan and gluten free.
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Man, I wish we had a farmer’s market like that here! Ours are pretty small. The pumpkin bowls a terribly cute! Looks delicious! :)
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Emily,
It all looks amazing! Just voted for yoU! Can’t wait for the recipes for the cornbread and chili!
Eva
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This was spectacular!!!! Great job. I`m going to have to borrow your pumpkin chili in a bowl idea. Im DROOLING!!!
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I absolutely loved your dinner. I have to ask did you work from a specific recipe for that marvelous chili? I have to use pantry items for dinner this week and I know i have all the ingredients, I was just wondering about measurements.
That cornbread also looked to die for :-D
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:52 am
The recipe for the chili is posted, in case you missed it:
http://www.thefrontburnerblog.com/2010/10/recipes-from-the-fall-feast.html
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Yum. Yum. Yum. Can’t wait for you to share the recipes!
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Wow!!! That chili in those pumpkins looks outstanding! Can’t wait for the cornbread recipe.
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Gorgeous!
A) I love your pumpkin bowls.
B) I scour your site for Vegan friendly options to serve at all my dinner parties and our vegan friends are eternally grateful.
C) My favorite part of this post is your Saturday farmer’s market shopping. We do the same thing since we moved to California and I look forward to it every week.
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Very cool. I am sure your vegan friends feel lucky to have such considered people cooking for them!
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Did you save the extra pumpkin from the pumpkin bowls to make pumpkin bread or some other treat? I imagine with all that food, everyone would leave some pumpkin behind, but maybe it would be weird to use the leftovers from your guests’ bowls, though I’d have a hard time throwing away tasty pumpkin!
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VOTEDDDDDDD! Good luck! Wish you all the best!
jen @ http://www.passion4food.ca
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Pumpkin bowls with chili for Thanksgiving???
Yum!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:50 am
YES – yum!
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Beautiful meal! You’ve got my vote!
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Great job, Emily – what a clever idea to serve chili in pumpkins :)
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Looks like you had a wonderful dinner. Yum!Will vote right now!!!
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Would love to have your Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Fondue recipe!
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Holy yum! My luxury dinner party was vegan too- great job!
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This looks so lovely + tasty! I wouldn’t have even noticed it was vegan + gluten free until you mentioned it. That’s when you know it’s a good menu :)
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Everything looked great! I have a butternut squash sitting on my counter and I don’t know the best way to cut it into chunks. Any tips?
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Cut the peel off first, and then lay it on it’s side and cut it into slices. Then cut the slices into cubes!
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Just voted for you! This menu was autumn perfection and you are a beautiful hostess. :)
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:45 am
Awwwww thanks Dorry. :)
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Voted for you and love the pumpkins with bb chili!
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So cute! The whole meal looks amazing!
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OHMYGOSH! This has to be my favorite post out of all the contestants! :) You’ve got my vote for sure! :)
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Awesome! Thanks so much :)
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uhhh YUM! congrats on an awesome dinner party!
http://whitneysamusebouche.blogspot.com/
Whit
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I love how you let the market be your inspiration – I did the exact same thing! (I was also going to do a roasted pumpkin stuffed with vegetable stew as a main but left it out at the last minute.) Everything looks so warm and cozy. My vote’s in. Good luck!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Thanks so much!!
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Emily,
I don’t usually leave comments but I was literally reading with my mouth open. You are beyond creative and amazing in the kitchen. Holy crap! I wish I was at your dinner party! I totally voted for you. That pumpkin chili is the coolest thing I have ever seen and I must create to impress all my friends. You are a culinary genius!!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:40 am
Thanks Melissa! :) It’s actually really easy to do!
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Your feast looks great! I can’t wait for the recipes!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Recipe are posted! :)
http://www.thefrontburnerblog.com/2010/10/recipes-from-the-fall-feast.html
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This is so impressive! The food AND your setting are fabulous. I also LOVE that you put so much emphasis on local food. You have my vote!
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I love your take on this challenge, you’ve got my vote!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Thanks so much!
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I’m a committed meat eater (reformed vegan) but would be totally happy to gobble down this vegan feast! Well done!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Awesome – thanks! :)
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This all looks great! I love all the photos! Hope we both make it to the next round! :-) You have my vote!
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 6th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Thank you!
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I love your edible bowls. I hope you share the recipe for the chili as well!
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The chili in pumpkin looks SO good!! So, does the cornbread :)
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I’m a huge fan of gratuitous farmer’s market photos. Also, I love the way you display all your dishes, especially the pumpkin bowls. Good luck this week, you’ve got a vote of mine!
Lick My Spoon
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I love all of the beautiful, vibrant food you chose from the farmer’s market! And serving the chili inside the pumpkin is such a cute idea! Good luck in this challenge!
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Looks like we had similar concepts! You got my vote :)
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great job! you deserved that award!
good luck on the remaining challenges
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My favorite types of meals! I’m like you – doing the majority of our grocery shopping at the farmers’ markets makes it so much more enjoyable, and you really start to learn what the local seasons are for foods.
P.S. Love your patio area and choice of decor for the night!
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Congrats Congrats going onto challenge #4!!! Must be exciting for you! Good luck and all the best. Happy Thanksgiving to you! You’ll be getting the next vote form me as well :) Your awesome!
Have a happy thanksgiving!
jen @ http://www.passion4food.ca
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 13th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Thank you thank you!
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I can totally see why you got reader’s choice award. I wish I had been invited to your dinner.
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Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 13th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Thank you so much! :)
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