We decorated outside and in for some Halloween holiday atmosphere.

Front walkway with some Halloween decorations

Even though no kids ever come Trick or Treating at our house because we are too far off the best routes for candy hauls, it is fun to put up the decorations and make a pretty table for our dinner.

Fall themed tablescape

Our friends that we are having over are a “meat” only couple originally from Minnesota. We have learned a lot of recipes from them that include lots of meat, cheese, and desserts. So to my vegan readers, sorry, this is not going to be a post you like.

We start out with some hors d’oeuvres in the living room. It is just easy stuff like chips and pretzels with dip, cheeses, and some cut up raw vegetables.

Hors d’oeuvres

For the main event we made a beef Burgundy with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots and onions. We also had a wedge salad and some dinner rolls. Our friends brought pumpkin bars for dessert.

Glazed onions and carrots

I was too busy to take pictures but when we ate the leftovers on Nov.1 I took a picture of the beef and mashed potatoes with a flavorful gravy and the vegetables which I added some parsnips to.

Leftover plateful of the fancy dinner

Overall it was pretty successful. They loved the wedge salad. It was a lot of work to make it look like we hadn’t really tried hard at all. At the end my back was hurting a lot from all the standing in the kitchen and I worry how it will fare when Thanksgiving rolls around in a few weeks!