Sweet Potato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Save yourself the hassle, just buy a box of prepared sweet potato soup (or 2 cans of sweet potato puree), a box of red pepper soup (or 2 jars of roasted red pepper, pureed).  Combine two soup bases, add your favorite spice, some garlic, some salt, bring to a boil.  Serve and tell everyone you slaved over the stove all day.

Fall Fruit and Nut Salad with Honey Dijon Vinagrette

Using baby arugula or baby mixed greens as your base, dress your salad up with the best of Fall's harvest-- sliced pear, apple, dried cranberries, walnuts.
To make the dressing, combine 1 part honey, 1 part dijon mustard, and 1 part olive oil.  Add a few dashes of balsamic vinager, and whisk until combined.

Rosemary Apple Cider Chicken

You can use any cut of chicken you like here-- or do a mixture of cuts to offer guests white and dark meat.  I recommend about 6-8 ounces of meat per person (so like 2 pieces per person, depending on the cut)
Cover cleaned and salted chicken with apple cider. Marinate chicken overnight in a glass dish or tuperware in refrigerator.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
Cook chicken in oven safe dish with enough of cider marinade to halfway cover chicken, a whole head of garlic, peeled and separated, and sprigs of rosemary.
Cook covered for one hour.
Remove cover and cook until browned a bit.

Roasted Squash and Eggplant

These vegetables are at the height of their season in mid-Fall.  Try experimenting with roasting different varieties.
Cut up vegetables and toss with olive oil, your favorite herbs, and salt and pepper.
Lay vegetables out, not overlapping, on a greased baking sheet.
Bake alongside your chicken in the 350 degree oven-- they should take about 30-45 minutes, depending on how you like them.

My good friend Danielle likes to add a little brown sugar to the veggies to give them a little sweet carmalized glaze.

Wild Rice Pilaf

I think there are some great boxed pilafs out there right now-- I especially like the Near East brand's different varieties.  To spice it up a bit, add nuts or dried fruit.

The Stanley's Pumpkin Sponge Cake

My best friend and her husband always make this cake in the Fall. It's always the hit of the party, and always super easy.

1. one box of yellow cake mix
2. 2 eggs
3. one can of pumpkin 
4. one teaspoon All Spice
5. just a splash of water (about a table spoon)
6. one bag of chocolate chips

-mix together and bake for about 30 mins at 350 degrees.
-also do not follow any of the instructions on the cake box, you are just throwing in the dry mix.