Happy Halloween + Housewarming

After a week of menu planning, last-minute painting, and cleaning, our house was put together enough for a housewarming party! All the food was a huge hit- so here are some links to the recipes I used:

Appetizers:
Homemade Tomato Basil Soup: This was the first time I made homemade tomato soup, and it turned out really well! I ended up taking the whole tomatoes out and chopping them up a bit to make the soup a little smoother. Since we just did little cups of soup with mini grilled cheeses, the whole tomatoes made it hard to eat.
Ham & Cheese Sliders: These were absolutely amazing. I got some super tiny ham rolls, and all 24 of these were gone before dinner. For the sauce, I used fresh finely chopped onion in place of minced onion spice, and spicy dijon mustard in place of yellow mustard. I think they really added a lot to the sandwiches. I think I am going to make some more of them and keep them in the fridge so I can have them as snacks throughout the week.

Dessert:
Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins: Even though, I don't like pumpkin, I knew everyone else did, so I thought I'd give these a try. They look super difficult, but they were actually really easy! The only additional tip I have is to use a hand mixer to make the cheesecake filling. In my first batch, I tried hand mixing it, and the texture just wasn't right. My professional tester (read: husband) preferred the second batch by far.
Pumpkin Pie Dip: As delicious as everything else was, this was by far every one's favorite. I sent extra home with most of our guests, including my mom, who is an AMAZING cook (I was so proud of myself!) We put out fresh orchard apples and cinnamon sugar graham crackers as dippers- they both were flying off the plate. If you want something super easy to take to a holiday party, I definitely recommend this!

For drinks, we had spiked hot apple cider and an array of Oktoberfest beers, as well as some Sprecher Root Beer for anyone who didn't want alcohol. It was overall a great night, and I wish we had more leftovers so I could have some for lunch today!