Autumn Recipe and Tablescape Exchange

Heidi of Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly has put together an idea exchange to celebrate the beginning of fall (the best season of them all!). Head over to her round-up to check out more Autumn themed tablescapes and recipes contributed by some great bloggers.

This is my first Autumn tablescape! I just got excited about DIY nesting this year and the wonderful ladies in blogland have inspired me to make some beauty happen every day using things I already have or things I can get on the cheap, so I'm learning slowly, but surely.

My ode to Autumn is very simple (so simple, in fact, that I forgot to put out glasses...). I've had the feather wreath, napkins, cream pillar candles and jewel tone fruit for a couple years. More recently the candle holder and orange pillar candle came from Pier 1 (half price of course!) and the little pumpkin candles came from Cracker Barrel.

Look at the detail on these plates; love these.

And here's my little secret about them; can you believe that price??

What is a table without something delicious in front of you? This perfect-for-fall recipe is from Epicurious, and it is indeed delicious: Butternut Squash, Rosemary and Bleu Cheese Risotto.

Last fall I finally made up my mind to try my hand at making risotto. I'd never eaten it but had heard such good things about it and had to try making it myself. I live in a bit of a rural area and arborio rice was nowhere to be found so a brief internet search assured me basmati rice would be a reasonable substitute. It turned out wonderfully! It even made delicious leftovers.

My changes:
--used Basmati instead of arborio rice
--referred to Betty Crocker's trusty veggie cooking chart and microwaved the butternut squash to soften it up before chopping. Have you tried to cut one of those things raw? It's way hard and a hazard to my fingers' health.
--didn't use the whipping cream in order to cut down on a couple calories

Pulled out all the stops and made the roasted pear and walnut salad Epicurious suggests to go along. Verdict: easy and yummy.

If you were here right now I would serve you a big bowl of risotto at my Ode to Autumn table. Enjoy!