Nine Favorite Things.

Thanks for joining me for another Nine Favorite Things post!

{October Pumpkins}

Happy October 1st! After a week off from my usual favorites post, I am very happy to be back. I had to skip last Sunday’s post, as I was busy with the HBH Retreat (all the details below), but I am glad to report that I actually missed writing this post! We all know I write A LOT of content every single week, and while I obviously love telling you all about my new favorite recipes, these posts are just a little different and always so fun for me to write…love them!

So far I’ve spent my weekend working away. I know, I know, I’m sorry! So many of you are yelling at me to just stop, but the last two weeks have been so hectic with the book launch, travel (hey I did go down to Denver and actually get on a plane…I just never left!), and the upcoming holiday season. It’s been kind of go, go, go. I was hoping to take today off, but after a failure shooting day on Friday, I am spending the day reshooting a few recipes. It’s the perfectionist in me shinning through, I cannot help it. I truly do not mind though, because after a gorgeous day yesterday, today is kind of dreary fall weather and it’s perfect for cooking up a storm inside. What are you guys up to?

Coming up this week on HBH we have a new fall inspired lasagna, healthy (and easy) miso soup, something with just a little pumpkin (hint it might just warm you up inside), my favorite autumn salad, and then we’ll finish the week up with the first “spooky” dessert of October! Oh and if you missed it, I kicked off “spooky” cocktail Saturday yesterday with this Death Eater Negroni.

Have fun reading today’s favorites. I kept things a little short after the retreat recap because that’s pretty long. Have a great Sunday!

{My favorite horses}

1. The HBH Retreat:

There is so much to say about the retreat, I don’t know were to begin. For starters, it was a huge success and off the bat I want to say a thank you to all the sponsors who helped to make the retreat possible. Thank you to Land O’Lakes for sponsoring the most delicious brunch. Their European Butter will forever be my favorite and if you have yet to try their seasonal pumpkin spice butter, you have to do so ASAP, trust me!

Thank you to Crate and Barrel for sponsoring an epic cheese board lunch and for providing me with tables, chairs and enough dinnerware to serve twenty plus people. I love you guys! Big thank you to Niki at Flourish Flower Farm for sending me the most gorgeous autumn flowers for my table. I wish I could have these flowers at my finger tips year-round. They are the prettiest (be sure to follow Flourish Flower Farm on Instagram you will love what you see!). A huge thank you to everyone over at Colorado Tourism who really took the reins on planning the entire event. And then of course, thank you to my Clarkson Potter family, one for putting up with me, and two, for making the event so much fun!

Last but not least, I am so thankful to Kroger for providing me with all the groceries for the dinner and brunch. I am so lucky to have our Kroger store, City Market, right nearby (my dad has all of the City Market produce people on speed dial!) They also sponsored a really fun Ice Cream Social with their Simple Truth Low Cow Ice Cream.

{the prettiest flowers}

{my Crate and Barrel cheese board}

We kicked everything off on Thursday night by gathering in the bar at The Maven Hotel. Then it was on to drinks and appetizers at the Denver Central Market, dinner at Il Posto, and we finished the night off with a winery tour at The Infinite Monkey Theorem…so cool! We sure know how to kick an event off huh! Dinner at ll Posto was the highlight for me. It’s all Italian and all things delicious. Plus, I had the best time chatting with everyone. It was a perfect way to kick off the long weekend. The group stayed in Denver on Thursday night, but my mom and I headed home after the winery so that I could continue prepping for Saturday night’s dinner and Sunday’s brunch.

Friday the group did breakfast at Snooze in Denver and then headed up to the mountains to meet up with my mom and I. Sadly the weather was not on our side for most of the weekend. We had planned to do a cool wild food foraging hike through Breckenridge, but we had to cut it a little short due to the rain and cold temps. But Erica our guide did a great job of getting in a lot in a short amount of time…never knew we had edible rose hips, huckleberries, juniper and more, all right along our trails.

We were all pretty wet and cold after the hike so everyone went back to their hotel to get warm and relax before dinner. Dinner was extra fun though. We headed to the Breckenridge Distillery for a whiskey tasting, mixology class, and dinner. I’m not a big drinker…err like I sip on things but never finish a drink, but this was so much fun. We had the entire barrel room to ourselves and even though the whiskey tasting was a bit intense for me, I think everyone really had fun!

Saturday morning we headed back to Breckenridge for horseback riding. The weather at first was horrible, I’m talking freezing cold rain. So at first everyone decided to bail and sit by the fire at the hotel, but then suddenly the sun popped out and we all decided to saddle up and go for a trail ride. Not going to lie, I was still freezing and I think everyone else was pretty cold too, but the ride was beautiful and I think everyone enjoyed riding through the the orange and yellow aspen trees.

After horseback riding, it was time for the Crate and Barrel cheese board lunch. Yes, I did say a cheese board lunch. We gave everyone this pretty cheese board set and told them to build their own boards. Pretty sure everyone loved this lunch the most. I mean, what’s not to love about meats, cheese, and fruits for lunch? It was kind of awesome.

Once we finished up lunch, I basically rushed home to start prepping everything for dinner. You guys, cooking for twenty plus people is not the easiest task, especially when you are supposed to be entertaining at the same time. I was just a little stressed…

Thankfully everything went amazing. The food was great, the company was better, and I finally got to show off the Half Baked Harvest Cookbook.

We finished the night off with plenty of desserts and some yummy Simple Truth Low Cow Ice Cream. It really could not have gone better, so I am very thankful! Once everyone left, my amazing parents helped me clean the kitchen from top to bottom and then reset up for brunch the next morning. It’s safe to say that when my head finally hit the pillow that night (errr morning…), I was out.

For our final morning together on Sunday, I made a brunch spread from the cookbook (see the menu below) using my very favorite Land O’lakes butters…seriously not just saying that, I love their butter. The food we great, but I think we all just enjoyed having one last relaxing and fun morning sitting around the table chatting before the group had to head back to Denver to catch their flights.

As you can tell, it was a pretty jam packed weekend, but I could not have asked for a better way to launch the cookbook. Not only was fun, but I was able to meet some really incredible people. Check out the list of bloggers that attended.

Alexandra Stafford of Alexandra Cooks

Amanda Rettke of I am Baker

Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grand Baby Cakes

Phoebe Lapine of Feed Me Phoebe

Michelle Lopez of Humming Bird High

Hitha Palepu of Hitha On The Go

Erin Ross: of Cloudy Kitchen

Adeline Waugh of Vibrant And Pure

And lastly, shout out to my two incredibly kind readers who joined us, Andrea and Summerlin! These two are troopers and we all had so much fun!

And that’s a wrap on a really great weekend!

2. Favorite Fall Dessert this week: easiest caramel apple clafoutis 

3. My Fall Bucket List…

4. Items I am Buying for a Fall Kitchen…

this autumn travel mug.

this bubbled up coupe set.

this copper sugar sauce pan

this pumpkin serving bowl (so cute!)

5. New videos: 

Cuban Beef, Avocado, and  Zucchini Rice Bowl with Pineapple Salsa…30 minute dinner!

Pumpkin Beer Pretzels with Chipotle Queso…perfection.

Dad’s One-Pan Friday Night Pasta (cookbook recipe)…my favorite pasta. ever.

5 Ingredient Honey Butter Beer Bread (cookbook recipe)…nothing beats this. nothing.

Sage Browned Butter Chicken Piccata with Herb Mushroom Pasta…the perfect Sunday night dinner.

6. Fun Read…

7 top chefs on their favorite food memories…Phoebe Lapine’s is my favorite.

7. Some tile Inspiration for the Studio Barn…

these cement black tiles…what a gorgeous bathroom tile.

these dragon fruit hand glazed terra-cotta tiles…so bright and fun.

these weathered white tiles…a possibility for the studio kitchen’s backsplash.

8. the 5 pieces I wore for the HBH Retreat that I Love…

these high Camille boots (sold out) other cute option.

this Barry jumper.

the 1973 flare.

this vegan mini (in chestnut suede) the black is cute too.

the Alicia coat.

9. This Week’s Dinners: 

Monday: Better For You Instant Pot Chicken and Spinach Ramen

Tuesday: Sheet Pan Sticky Pomegranate Chicken and Honey Roasted Squash

Wednesday: Cider Apple and Sage Roasted Pork Chops with Brown Butter Polenta

Thursday: Pumpkin Beer Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Friday: Autumn Braised Chicken Escabèche with Roasted Apples and Grapes

Check out all the past Favorites posts here.