Flawless Fetes : Fall Feast Fest!

Last night my husband and I hosted a small Fall themed dinner party. I was itching to have one to stretch my Pinterest recipe legs before Christmas time and it just so happened to be one of my best friends birthdays this weekend. She likes to keep things low key so it worked out perfectly! Yummy treats and time with the birthday girl!
After scouring the internet for a couple of weeks (lookin' at you Pinterest!) we put together a fantastic menu - mini grilled cheese with tomato soup shooters and mini Thanksgivings as appetizers, butternut squash soup and caesar salad (my dad's caesar dressing recipe is amazing), biscuits with sausage gravy (another dad classic), mashed potatoes, homestyle mac 'n' cheese, cinnamon carrots, muffin tin potatoes gratin and a wonderful herbed roast (thanks honey!). Of course we had to have some alcoholic beverages so we made a big batch of Apple Cider Sangria (yum!) and came up with a pretty tasty recipe for pumpkin pie martinis. We had planned on getting the new Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie vodka but then we read this article, changed our game plan and the end result was very tasty! Dinner's not dinner without dessert so I whipped up a couple of pumpkin cheesecakes and a french silk pie, delish if I do say so myself!
It was a great night of food, friends and frivolity and I can't wait for the Christmas season to do it all over again!