Fall Flavors/ Crop and Cackle Weekend

It’s getting cooler outside and the leaves are beginning to turn colors. Fall is so many people’s favorite time of year. I love all the new magazine covers that come out during this season. They brandish pictures of country roads, farms that have beautiful pumpkins and brightly colored mums to entice you to get outdoorsy. Many people head to the mountains to see God’s show and honestly if I could I would. As lovely as those covers are, they’re not the ones that get me going. My fall senses go into overdrive when I see those distinctive fall flavors in full color. You know the ones I’m talking about: hot apple pie with melting vanilla ice cream on top, or those pumpkin muffins with walnut crumb topping. THOSE are the fall colors that make me want to feed a crowd of hungry visitors. Spiced hot apple cider, crickets chirping at night, and front porch rocking are the sights, sounds, and smells of fall to me.


This past weekend I hosted a Crop and Cackle. It’s a scrapbooking retreat. Cropping is what they do to their pictures and cackling is the sound the ladies make when they are doing it! Eight ladies from Greensboro, NC came to spend three nights and days to work on their memory albums. These are some of the finest women you would ever want to meet. They have been “Cackling” here for about 5 or 6 years. They love my cooking and I love their appetites! Here was their menu:

Thursday Lunch: Pumpkin Curry Soup (see recipe)

Baby Green Salad Fresh Vinaigrette

Crackers with Cream Cheese and Olive Tapenade



Thursday Dinner: We enjoyed a meal at our local Mexican Restaurant

Yes even chefs like to eat out!



Friday Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Fresh Grapes

Link Sausage

Blueberry Juice



Friday Lunch: Italian Wedding Soup

Monte Crisco Sandwiches

Sweet Slaw (see recipe)



Saturday Breakfast: An Egg Casserole called – Angel Puff

Bosc Pears with Caramelized Pecans

Orange-Peach Juice



Saturday Lunch: Sesame Pork over White Rice

Fresh Sautéed Zucchini and Yellow Squash

Cookie Dough Brownies



Saturday Dinner: Puff Pastry Chicken Pot Pie

Steamed Sugar Peas

Fresh Baby Green Salad and Apple Salad for Connie 



Saturday Dessert: Baked Apples stuffed with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

Hot Vanilla Drink



Sunday Breakfast: Biscuits and Gravy

Nectarine and Plum Fruit Salad



Sunday Lunch: Pan Seared Pork Chop

Steamed Green Beans

Tortellini Salad

Chocolate Cranberry Cashew Tort



I also want to give a shout out to my special helper Gabby, who came to enjoy the weekend with her mom, grand mom, great aunt, and several people who love her very much. Thank you Gabby!