Foodbuzz 24x24: A Fall-Inspired Progressive Dinner

Warning!  This is a long post filled with many photos!  🙂  Last night our friends got together to celebrate fall, friendship and food!  What a better way to do it than a progressive dinner where each course is served at a different house.  The hosts were responsible for implementing a fall theme to their part of the menu, both in the food and the decor.

I was assigned to the main course, which can be pretty expensive when there are ten guests.  Luckily, I was able to serve up something nicer without breaking the bank thanks to Foodbuzz.  They chose to sponsor my portion of the menu through this month's 24 x 24 event.  (Every month, Foodbuzz chooses to sponsor 24 parties thrown within 24 hours by 24 of their featured publishers.)  Below are the highlights of the night!

We started at Nate and Kati's place for appetizers and drinks.

Everything was awesome, but my favorite of this course were the bacon-wrapped sausages.

Kati also made Spinach and Artichoke Dip...

...and Pumpkin Dip with Cinnamon Chips.  She used fall themed cookie cutters to cut out the tortillas for the chips.  Creative!

Although Kati made all of the delicious appetizers, Nicole was responsible for the drinks.  First up?  Her Pumpkin Pie Martini!  Such a cute presentation!

Even the water was served up in style.  Check out these lovely glasses Kati snatched up for cheap at an estate sale!

We were off to a great start!

Next up were soup and salad at Chris and Adrienne's.  Adrienne served us a beautiful pear salad accompanied with a homemade pumpkin soup.  Even the guests who claimed to normally not like pumpkin loved the soup!  It was creamy and fantastic!

The guys and gals decided to separate at this home, with the men seated at the kitchen island...

...and the women seated at the dining table.  Adrienne's candles set the right mood!

We then headed to our home for the main course.  I took some photos of the table before everyone arrived because I knew I would forget once the party started.  (And, yes, I completely forgot to take any photos of my food and ME!)  I served this Island Pork Tenderloin because the cinnamon flavor reminds me of fall.  Since I figured everyone would be pretty full from the appetizers, soup and salad, I kept the sides simple with Cauliflower Gratin and Buttermilk Biscuits.

The food was comfort food at it's best, but I was more into the fall decor than anything.  I picked up some garland and candles to make a centerpiece, then copied an idea I saw on Pinterest to fill the candle holder with corn kernels!

Each guest was welcomed with a favor bag of caramel corn, situated at each place setting to double as a name card.

Nicole also served up drinks for the main course, giving everyone a flute of sparkling pumpkin-apple cider so we could share a toast.

In order to save time, the couple responsible for dessert decided to just serve it at our house instead of driving the 15-20 minutes to their place.  To end on a sweet note, Mandy made us pumpkin cheesecake (that stole my heart)...

...and a Peanut Butter Cake (that stole Ben's heart).  🙂

Overall, the entire evening was a memorable time of both serious conversations...

...and laughter.  Great time had by all!!