Fall Inspired Dinner & Dessert

If you are looking for a dinner that tastes and smells like fall (and of course that's easy and quick) then this is for you. Two years ago we started having weekly Gossip Girl dinners as a way to get our group of friends together every Monday. The idea has really stuck and we still rotate apartments each Monday, drink some wine, eat dinner, watch Gossip Girl and chat. As the hostess for the season premiere, I made this menu:

salad

To make the salad you'll need...
1 bag of mixed greens
1/3 cup off candied pecans
1/4 of one red onion, sliced
1 pear, sliced

For the dressing you'll need...
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

penne with sausage and pumpkin sauce

This is one of those times I wish I could add taste and scent to my post because holy pumpkin did this smell and taste amazing. I used this recipe with a few changes. I used half an onion instead of a full onion, a little less nutmeg and cinnamon than the recipe called for (it just looked like a lot) and about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Also, remember to take out the bay leaf before you serve so no one winds up with that in their bowl! One note: the sauce seemed a little soupy at first, but after reducing it and then adding it to the pasta it was extremely creamy and not soupy at all.

salted caramel brownies

After seeing this recipe in Cooking Light, I was dying to try it. It definitely did not taste light! The salt and the sweet caramel/chocolate was an amazing combination. Absolute perfection in every single bite.

And... if you happened to have left over ice cream from when you made this, you might just want to put a scoop (or two) of that beside your slightly warm, just out of the oven brownie, maybe... just saying.

As for the season premiere of Gossip Girl, that was some serious stuff. B pregnant!? Well, at least there's no chance of her walking down the aisle with carnations (that would have been awful).

Only two days left to enter my giveaway! I'll be announcing the lucky winner on Monday.