Autumn Crunch Salad with Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette (Simply Elevated)

This Autumn Crunch Quinoa Salad with Fig Balsamic vinaigrette could be the new healthy and colorful addition you’re looking to add to your Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving menu.

A combination of simple healthy ingredients with the flavors and colors of fall with the bonus of a satisfying crunch. Just a little chopping is involved, then toss together in a large bowl. Sprinkle with seeds and dried fruit just before serving. I used mini syrup pitchers from World Market for individual servings of the vinaigrette.

To create this colorful salad I used the following.

• Cook per package instructions, 1 cup of multi colored quinoa and set aside to cool to room temperature

• One Napa cabbage (sliced into 1/4 inch ribbons and then in half for smaller pieces)
• 3 heads of endive (I found a multiple color package at Trader Joe’s) slice into 1/4 in ribbons.
• 1 small head of radicchio (sliced into 1/4 inch ribbons
• Rainbow carrots, 2 of each color – shaved into strips with a vegetable peeler
• 1 container or bag of mini arugula

Toppings:

• 1 package of diced pancetta (cooked in a pan until crispy & then drain fat)
• 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) toast in a dry pan until slightly golden
• 5 or 6 dried figs (chopped into 1/2 in slices) *** if fresh figs are available -sliced fresh figs would be lovely with this instead of the dried figs
• Shaved parmesan cheese

Once your quinoa is prepared and cooled set aside in a bowl. Serve separate from the actual tossed salad.

Toss all of the vegetables together in a large bowl.

Prepare the vinaigrette.

Balsamic Fig Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp fig butter, jam, or preserves
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp honey or agave
• 1/3rd cup olive oil (I used Kalamata olive oil)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small bowl whisk together fig jam, vinegar, salt and pepper until thickened and creamy. For more sweetness add more honey or fig butter, if too thick you can add more olive oil. Vinaigrettes take a little tasting and adding here and there to reach your desired flavor. Salt of course always amps up the overall flavor.

Whisk until thoroughly combined and you won’t have to worry about the ingredients separating. Serve on the side to prevent greens from getting soggy.

If serving individually a few edible flowers on the side will add an additional pop of color and whimsy. I plant several viola plants in my herb garden just for this purpose.

Gifts of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is only a few days away and there is still time to show gratitude to those who have helped us throughout this complicated year. My family has been very grateful to the group of kind and caring nurses, care partners and managers that have worked diligently to care for our Dad who is in an assisted living and memory care residence. The staff has followed guidelines all year to protect themselves and our loved one from the coronavirus.

• 

• 

I truly enjoy giving little gifts from the heart, but this year my full-time job has really consumed a lot of my time and energy (so grateful for my job); and slightly exhausted my usual thoughtfulness that seems to come in small bursts these days. I realized I hadn’t formed a plan as of yet, for the little gifts I wanted to give the staff – so when the weekend arrived I hit the stores in search of “a little something” to say thanks.

First I had to reach out to one of the managers to get a head count to prepare for. She told me there were 12 including herself (and I later found out this did’t include the 5 nurses that I later had to make another trip for). Make sure you ask questions to get all of the information you need. I certainty didn’t want to leave anyone out.

I was in Homegoods and found these Christmas Tree scented candles that really do smell like a fresh cut tree. The refreshing, familiar scent brought the feelings of Christmas straight to my heart. Now as you know if you’re a Homegoods shopper, the digging and searching began praying the entire time that I would find three boxes of four that could easily make into 12 individual gifts. I was so excited (and grateful) when I found the three boxes I needed.

I didn’t want the packaging to look too “Christmasy” and while I was in line browsing through what I affectionately call the “booby trap” area, I found two sets of six bags in a simple black and white pattern with elegant green velvet ribbons. The pattern looked familiar to me, and I left the line to go back to the wrapping paper area where I found the matching tags.

• 

• 

Back home, I pulled out some gray tissue paper from my stash, and repurposing the ribbon on the box of candles (I folded in half and cut and then folded the two pieces in half again and cut to form 4 pieces of ribbon); I tied the gray tissue paper over each of the votives and placed them inside of one of the bags.

• 

• 

• 

I then wrote a small note, creating two columns and sizing so that when cut I could use a glue stick to attach the note on the back of each card and tuck it into the bags. It took a little time, but I then carefully placed all 12 into a cardboard box and sealed it shut and was off to the Sr. Living Residence.

When I arrived, the manager that had given me the number of her staff happened to be at the front desk. I waved her over to the door, and asked her if she could please assist my Dad to distribute the little gifts during the week. It makes him happy to give little gifts to others. So she said she’ll be back on Tuesday, and she’ll get him ready in his mobile chair and guide him around the building to say Thank you and give his gifts of gratitude.

A true gift is one that comes from the heart and lets someone know how much you appreciate them. Another is allowing a beautiful elderly gentlemen enjoy the thrill of giving.

Dollar Store Elevated Pumpkin Decor

Dollar Tree purchases artificial succulents.

Craft store spray adhesive.

Dollar Tree moss, craft store 99 cent rolls of ribbon and glue gun.

• 

  Spray top of pumpkin with adhesive and press moss over the top. Spray the top of the moss with adhesive.

• 

  Loops of ribbon fastened with floral wire.

• 

  Hot glue to the moss.

• 

  Pull the succulents out of the styrofoam pot.

• 

  Trim the end off.

• 

  Add hot glue.

• 

  Attach to moss top.

• 

  Larger succulents can be pulled apart…..

• 

  then cut into smaller pieces.

• 

• 

  Tuck in the smaller pieces of succulent into the arrangement with hot glue.

A variety of colors makes a cheerful presentation.

The finished pumpkins can be used as table decor or placed on end tables,
in the bathroom for a touch of fall. The three of these will
be favors for my next small lunch gathering with friends.

A medium sized pumpkin can handle the larger succulents.

The succulents look very real. At the end of the season the pumpkins will not last forever, but the succulents can be pulled off and stored away to reuse next year.

So Grateful for Your Support!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the kitchen once again whipping up our Thanksgiving dinner!

This dining room table has been the gathering place where family and friends have gathered so often over the past five years for the holidays, book club meetings, wine club dinner parties, a mothers tea , a simple evening dinner and more! Here’s to another year of shared memories filled with conversation, laughter, food and wine. Today my family will gather around it once again, grateful for the many blessings in our lives while enjoying a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and then watching our favorite New Orleans Saints win yet another game this evening!

It’s been nearly a year since I started my blog and I can’t thank all of my followers enough for your support and kind words. While my parties are filled with a lot of themes and dressed up table settings, the true intention behind my blog is to encourage everyone to gather regularly with people who have wonderful loving hearts, faith in God and a positive thoughtfulness about life. Surrounding yourself with great people will add value to your life in the way God intended our lives to be. Here on my blog I’ve tried to share ideas that I welcome you to borrow and create your own version of to draw those that you love in your life closer.

While social media has made something like sharing ideas so much easier, it also has made us as a society reluctant to pick up the phone and actually call someone, have a true conversation, and share with one another. The sound of someone’s voice (and we are lucky enough with smart phones to also see their face) is so much more satisfying than a bland sometimes misunderstood text. (S I P) Social interactions are so important to our well being and parties are the way to get everyone to pause and join in a shared interest.

• 

• 

• 

  I finally tried making a layered leaf pie crust!

Each and every time I mention to someone I have a Wine Club and a Book Club their face lights up and they say “Oh Wow! I’ve always wanted to belong to a book club” or “That is such a fun idea, I wish I had something like that to go to!” My response is, why not form gatherings of your own with your friends? If you’re not into books, how about knitting, or game night? Not into wine, how about a potluck supper club, beer tasting party, or coffee tasting over Sunday brunch? I’ve been very fortunate to have a group of people in my life with shared interests, but chances are you and your friends also have “something” in shared interest that you could enjoy as a group. Remember, even if not everyone “likes” the same things, a good person will be open to learning or teaching something new.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Today’s gathering included a side of mashed potatoes with gravy, maple roasted sweet potatoes, green beans with dried cranberries and toasted almonds, corn casserole, Italian sausage and cornbread stuffing, and of course turkey.

Iced tea with rosemary simple syrup.

As I drove along a small road yesterday, I noticed an area covered with fallen leaves. Fall reached the deep south just before Thanksgiving this year producing these beautiful variegated beauties. I decided to stop and search through the piles along the side of the road finding several that I brought home to add to my table decor. While many have draped their homes with Christmas decorations weeks before Thanksgiving had even arrived, I choose to hold on to the beauty of Fall for one more day – my favorite season of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone – God Bless you and yours always and thank you for following along!