Fall on the Tip of Your Tongue:Three Fall Recipes

With the busy Thanksgiving/Christmas season upon us, I wanted to share three simple, yet delicious recipes that embrace autumn. These recipes are easy enough for a simple autumn lunch at home, and special enough to serve at family gatherings.

No fuss. Just delicious.

~~~

{Creamy Pumpkin Soup}

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp butter

2 cans chicken broth (or 30 oz homemade chicken stock)

1 can pumpkin purée (found in baking aisle)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground ginger

dash of allspice

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

salt to taste

1 cup heavy whipping cream (plus extra for serving)

*optional - 1 to 2 tablespoons of brown sugar if you like a sweet pumpkin soup.

Directions:

1.Sauté onion in butter in a medium saucepan until tender. Add 1 can chicken broth (I used homemade chicken stock); stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 to 15 minutes.

2.Transfer broth mixture into the container of a blender or processor. (Or use one of my favorite kitchen gadgets-the handy Hamilton Beach hand blender, where you can blend your mixture right in the pot!) Process until smooth.

3.Return mixture to saucepan. Add remaining (can of) broth, pumpkin, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, and ground pepper; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Stir in whipping cream and heat through. Do not boil. Ladle into separate soup bowls and garnish with whipping cream and cinnamon.

{Cranberry Clafouti ~ Clafoutis aux canneberges}

This delicious French dessert replaces cherries with seasonal cranberries.

I plan on serving Cranberry Clafouti for breakfast with eggs and bacon when my parents come for a visit. (I topped mine with Cool Whip instead of whipped heavy cream.)

Recipe via Martha Stewart

{Acorn snacks}

I found this idea on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and I (or shall I say we) have already made these acorn snacks twice. This snack is perfect for creating with younger kids. Just create an assembly line: one person remove the foil paper from the Hershey Kisses, one add the peanut butter to the Nilla Waffer, and lastly one put them together...And who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter?

Bon Appétit!

_{images via à la parisienne}

Ladurée-inspired fête~~le menu, la table, et le thé

To all of you who have attended my Ladurée-inspired party thus far, thank you for your sweet comments regarding the invitations and décor. Now on to the most important element of my party planning-the food. Pretty invitations and a romantic atmosphere are nice but a delicious meal enhances the entire experience. An when throwing a Ladurée-inspired party, one must serve authentic French cuisine.

Months before the party I carefully planned the menu. Then I designed an actual menu to place on the table. Perched on top of a small, ornate easel, my French menu gracefully greeted each guest. I created mini menus, as party favors, and placed them at each table setting.

_{romantic table setting~shiny silverware, soft white napkins wrapped in rich champagne satin ribbon, and miniature menus}

I began planning this party nearly a year ago with a Ladurée theme in mind. I envisioned an all white table with gold accents. I wanted white linens and classy antique white plates with gold rims. Even though I searched for a year, I never found the plates that I was looking for...until YESTERDAY...yes, yesterday I found the set for which I'd been searching-three weeks after the party...C'est la vie.

Our lunch was a leisurely five course meal...comme les français, bien sûr.

All of the food was homemade by me-the day of the party-except for the crème brûlée. I want to thank Renée (my other sister-in-law) for helping me prepare the plates in between courses...You should have seen us scurrying around in the kitchen:)

LE MENU

L'entrée :

_{la soupe à l'oignon gratinée {French onion soup with cheese}}

This French onion soup was made following Rachel Ray's Recipe: French Onion Soup with a Sicilian Twist. I love the fresh rosemary cooked into the soup and the large homemade crouton {from a French baguette} that is covered with grape tomatoes and basil from the garden. This makes a delicious lunch all on its own.

La salade:

_{une salade verte au chèvre chaud {Warm goat cheese salade}}

When I studied abroad in France about 10 years ago, I remember eating warm goat cheese salads everywhere I went. This was my first attempt at bringing this salad to my home.
Simply slice chilled goat cheese, roll slices in flour, then roll in Panko crumbs and fry in the skillet with some olive oil.
Add fried goat cheese to a bed of green lettuces that have been tossed in a French vinaigrette-et voila! a classic French salad.

Le plat principal:

_{la bouchée à la reine {Chicken Friand}}

I never had Chicken Friand {la bouchée à la reine}in France, but it is my favorite dish at La Madeleine-a country French café chain here in the United States.
If you love puff pastries, chicken, and mushrooms, you will LOVE Chicken Friand!

Click here for the recipe.
And here's a little secret for a great tasting Chicken Friand-use a rotisserie chicken for the best flavor!

Le fromage :

Our cheese plate included:
gouda - not very French but delicious;
le fromage aux noix {cheese with walnuts- The BEST tasting cheese you will ever eat!}
and chèvre {goat cheese}

La crème brûlée:

My sister-in-law, Renée (the one who made Amelia's aqua birthday cake with white chocolate sea creatures) made the creme brûlée, and we all enjoyed torching the sugar on top~
It was so delicious we had to restrain ourselves from licking the ramekins clean.



Later that afternoon, we enjoyed un pause-thé {a break for tea}. We enjoyed drinking fresh loose teas such as Jasmine pearl tea, Imperial Pu-erh, and Earl Gray.
And as a gift, I gave each guest a vintage teacup and saucer as a party favor and souvenir of our special day together.

Along with our teas, we had homemade French macarons.
I enjoyed creating the uniquely flavored macarons just for the party while staying with the classic pale Ladurée color palette.

_{macarons by à la parisienne}

I used a butter cream base for all three macaron flavors:
pistachio-lemon;
cinnamon with fresh ginger zest;
& lavender/rosemary infused honey

By the end of the day, our souls were replenished not only by food by but also through convivial fellowship, and I was so thrilled (and relieved) that our fête surprise à la Ladurée had been a success.

I hope you have enjoyed your virtual glimpse of the party. I appreciate your visits and kind words of encouragement, and Felicia appreciates the birthday well wishes. Merci.

_{images by à la parisienne}

My Culinary Quest-The Beginning

Over the past few months, my interest in cooking has risen to new heights.

I tell you what, blogging has made such a positive impact on my life over the last couple of years, and a few of my blog friends can be commended for my sudden desire to kick my cooking up a couple hundred degrees!

*I have learned from Melissa {Reverie} that wholesome foods are a necessity at the dinner table. Her recipes are simple, delicious, and good for the body and soul.

* Angela's {Parisienne Farmgirl} passion for homemade desserts and French cuisine has inspired me to stop buying "food in a box" and to rely on my own maternal abilities to cook for my family.

*And I have witnessed from Koralee {Bluebird Notes} that baking desserts is a true joy and artform.

So, I'm taking the plunge to be a better chef chez-moi.

I won't even bore you with the long list of the things I've never made from scratch; it's quite shameful. Let's just say I've never considered myself a baker.

{homemade muffins with fresh blueberries}
{Recipe source}
I don't plan on transforming my blog into a foodie blog, so don't worry if that's not your thing, but I would like for you to share this journey with me. For all of you excellent cooks out there, you can snicker to yourselves at my lack of experience. From my souffléd flops to my fluted triumphs, I hope this quest will serve a little culinary inspiration and encouragement to all along the way.

_{images by à la parisienne}

Family.Farm.Fresh

"$4.98! I told you," I said to Aaron as I placed the pint of blueberries back on the shelf at our local grocery store. Just days before, we spent the morning at a local blueberry farm by my father's suggestion, and a wonderful time we had.
Amelia enjoyed picking blueberries from "the sticks" and it only took a moment for her to select only the blueberries, not the unripened green or red ones. At some point, I complimented her on how well she was doing, and she sweetly replied, "Thank you bery much." I couldn't help but smile to myself at her unintended pun. (The letter v can be tough for young children to pronounce at times. )

At weigh-in, our bucket full of organic blueberries was 5.5 lbs and only cost us $11.00. Yes, we saved quite a bit of money on high quality food, but even more special was that my father, husband, daughter, and I got to spend a special morning together among the blueberry bushes breathing their sweet aroma.

I hope that this will become a new family tradition-loading up the car and heading out to local farms for family picking. It's fresh, economical, and offers great teachable moments for both children and adults.

_{images by à la parisienne}

Here's a great resource for locating local farms in your area (in the U.S. and other countries)-http://www.pickyourown.org/

Simply scroll down, select your state, then you can narrow your search by counties near you.