I believe I’ve mentioned my intense love of all things gastronomic, and so planning a feast fit for The Princesses and friends was not a chore in the least. Figuring out a menu that will balance diets, please a variety of palates, and still be fun to cook was, as always, a challenge, but I believe TheScott and I were up to it.

One of the trickier things we found about planning an SG menu for a sit down dinner was not including anything fried. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some fried food and wish it was as healthy as carrots and apples (this princess does not have the metabolism (nor workout schedule) of champions, and therefore must take such mundane things into consideration when eating), but my main reason for avoiding it at dinner parties is not the calorie count. Serving fried food fresh and crispy requires frying while the guests are seated, and we didn’t want to spend that much time away from the table. In fact, we avoided all “serve immediately” items.

This one omission of “no fried” knocked out nearly half our prospects. Ah, southern food…

Here she is in all her culinary glory; the menu:

Appetizers:

Soup:

  • Pumpkin, of course (it’s a tradition ’round these parts). I’m still working on a recipe that’ll incorporate southern spices (probably Cajun). I appreciate all the comments on soup recipes so far, and will be studying them for ways to adapt my normal recipe.

Dessert

  • Chocolate Pecan Pie
  • One other (we’re thinking about bread pudding with bourbon sauce, but I would prefer a lighter option, as chocolate pecan pie is not light. Anybody have any ideas for a not-too-heavy fall dessert that’s southern? No? Me either…)