Today was my harvest brunch.  After a week of rain, the weather came through and the day was absolutely gorgeous.  All the guests who said they would attend came — and my dear neighbor who thought she couldn’t come did make it after all.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and they were certainly well-fed.

I ended up not making the fruit nut bars.  I had made mints as favors and had tons left over to serve.  Plus, I had some storebought sweets that I decided to serve.  And the pumpkin layered cheesecake was huge.  Everyone had some, I dumped a piece down my sweater (the sweater was apparently quite hungry), and I still have some left.

I also decided against serving the sweet potato chips.  I made them, but I wasn’t pleased with their look or texture.  Clearly, I need to get better at using my mandoline (a tool for slicing fruits and veggies).

The squash dip was great.  I served it with pretzels because I couldn’t find breadsticks at the store.  This dip has so many wonderful layers of flavor.  On the downside, it uses a ton of ingredients, takes longer than any dip I have ever made (don’t let the four-step instructions fool you), and has a LOT of fat.  Crazy when the squash dip is likely the least healthy dish on the table. Also, the recipe makes a lot of dip.  It’d be fairly easy to halve the recipe and that’s what I’d recommend. 

The apple gorgonzola salad turned out well. I just made it with a romaine base, topped with crumbled gorgonzola, craisins, toasted pecans, and chopped Granny Smith apples.  For dressing, I made a pomegranate champagne vinaigrette.  The vinegar is available at World Market, but not online.

We had heart-shaped waffles (it’s my waffle iron) with butter, maple syrup, apple topping, blueberry topping, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. I’d made up plenty of waffle batter.  After the guests left, I baked all the remaining batter.  I can crisp the waffles in the toaster oven and have yummy breakfasts.

I baked a ham and roasted a turkey breast.  I learned one critical thing.  I will never again buy a ham that is not spiral sliced and pre-cooked.  It’s not worth the effort otherwise.  I will chunk up the remaining ham and use it to make potatoes au gratin with ham, ham and bean soup, and split pea with ham soup.

The turkey breast was lovely.  After it was almost done, I pulled back the foil and rubbed on some butter (maybe a tablespoon) and put it back in the oven for 30 minutes or so.  It was the loveliest shade of gold.  I also saved the carcass to make turkey rice soup.  I’ll probably do that tomorrow evening since it will take several hours of simmering.  I’ll put most of the soups in small containers in the freezer so I’ll have good dinners in the busy and chilly weeks ahead.

The layered pumpkin cheesecake was a HIT!  And it requires no cooking apart from melting butter.  The recipe is from Harry and David, but it isn’t on their website, so I’ll share it here. It does require a jar of Harry and David Pumpkin Hazelnut Butter.  That is not available online. 

Crust:

• 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (I crumb my own —  great tension reliever –it takes a pack and a half of graham crackers)
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons sugar

Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan

Cheese layer:

• 8 oz.cream cheese, softened
• 12 oz whipped topping
• 2 tablesppons milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Blend together and pour over crust.

Pumpkin layer:

• 19 oz of pumpkin hazelnut butter
• 2 4 oz pacakes of instant vanilla pudding
• 1 cup milk

Blend the pudding and milk together, then add the pumpkin butter.  Spread over the cheese layer.

Cover and chill.

If you have never been to a Harry and David store, go now.  The stores are often found in outlet malls, so you may be able to make a stop while Christmas shopping.  The stores give away free tastes (I always get peckish when shopping and thinking Christmas — it’s why the North Pole has a 24 hour cookie and hopt chocolate bar.)  Also, the stores, unlike the website, sell things that are very useful party foods — like fruit nut butter, appetizer pastes (artichokes laced with merlot, and sun-dried tomato pesto), bagged snacks, and the like. You can also get their catalog and online stuff without the shipping charges.  It’s an elf entertaining staple.  (No, I am not sponsored by Harry and David and I receive no endorsement fees from them.  However, both Harry and David are responsible for at least 2 inches around my middle.)

Oh, just to show that even elves have challenges entertaining, my power was out for 3 hours yesterday — while I was cooking.  I’ve also had my kitchen sink back up the day of a party.  But if you’ve left yourself enough time to prepare, it doesn’t have to be overly stressful.  I figured that, if the power didn’t come back on, I could run up the street to a take out place and pick up ham and turkey to serve with the salad and cheesecake and I could whip up a different dip from ingredients in my cabinets.  LIfe would go on.  So, while I waited, I took a shower, read a novel, and had a diet Coke.  Once the power came back on, I was back at work.

I think it was worth it.