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!

In a little over a month, I will be packing my bags and making my first (ever!) trip to California.  I am SO excited!!  I’ll be heading to San Francisco for the 2nd annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival to enjoy a weekend of eating delicious food while meeting and connecting with many of my favorite bloggers.

Nature’s Pride bread is one of the official sponsors of the Foodbuzz Festival, and they are hosting a Bread Ambassador recipe contest, where bloggers are challenged to create unique recipes using Nature’s Pride bread.  For my entry, I knew I wanted to do something totally different and unexpected.  After two days of recipes trials, and 64 muffins later, feast your eyes on these…

Maple Cinnamon French Toast Muffins

Featuring Nature’s Pride healthy multigrain bread!

Ingredients for “French toast” topping:  (makes 18 muffins)

• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp ground flaxmeal
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 6 slices Nature’s Pride healthy multi-grain bread

Ingredients for muffin base:

• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (unpacked)
• 2 tbsp ground flaxmeal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.25 cups almond milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• pinch of cinnamon sugar

To Prepare:  First things first, start by pre-heating the oven to 375 degrees.  Next, you can begin preparing the “French toast” topping.  I chose this healthy multi-grain bread because it was soft and fluffy on the inside, and the outside was covered with yummy seeds.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Start by using a bread knife to cut all six slices into 1/2 inch cubes.

In a medium sized bowl, combine 1 tbsp ground flaxmeal with 3 tbsp of water (to make a “flax egg”), along with 1/4 cup almond milk, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  Whisk all of the ingredients together, and then add bread cubes to the liquid mixture.  Toss well and set aside to soak while the rest of the ingredients are prepared. 

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the muffin base – all purpose flour, rolled oats, baking soda, baking powder, flaxmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

Stir to combine.

In a smaller bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients together – almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla. 

Then slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients…

And stir just until all ingredients are incorporated.  Try to avoid over-mixing!

Once the muffin base is mixed…

It is time to gently fold in the toppings.  I chose 1/4 cup each of raisins and sliced almonds, but other nuts and dried fruit could be subbed in to your liking. 

With everything ready to go, get out your muffin tin and give it a healthy shot of non-stick spray.

Then spoon the muffin mixture into each cup, filling it only about 1/2 way.  You should have enough to fill 18 cups, so you’ll need 2 muffin pans (or you can just do two rounds of baking, like me).

Once they are all filled to the half-way point…

Grab the bowl of French toast topping that you set aside when we first began.  Give the bread cubes one more big stir, and then add a healthy pinch to the top of each cup of batter – just enough to fill to the rim of the baking cup.  As you add the bread, push it down gently into the batter a bit, so that some of the batter squeezes up between the cubed topping and holds it all in place.

With muffin batter and French toast topping in each muffin cup, we are ready to BAKE!

Slide your muffin pan into the 375 degree oven and let it bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Fifteen delicious smelling minutes later…

Oh.my.muffins.  Give them each a tiny sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top, before carefully sliding them out of the muffin tin.

Set them out on a cooling rack and try to resist sampling until they have cooled for a few minutes (yeah right). 

Set on your favorite pretty plate, and ENJOY!

These muffins are amazing – just enough maple cinnamon flavor to really bring the taste of French toast, without so much overwhelming sweetness that it turns into a cupcake. 

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And you know what’s even better?  By using non-traditional baking ingredients like almond milk and flax instead of butter and eggs, these muffins are HEALTHY!  Even with the delicious flavor of maple syrup, raisins, and almonds, these muffins cash in at only 165 calories, 2g fat, and 4g protein each!

In that case, I will have three please.  :)

Moist, soft, delicious, and healthy– what more could you possible want in from a muffin? 

Many thanks to Nature’s Pride for allowing to me to participate in their Bread Ambassadors Challenge.  Hopefully I will get the chance to showcase these delicious treats in San Francisco.

Until then, happy baking!