House of Jade & The Food Nanny: How To Set a Fall Tablescape + A Recipe!

We are so excited about today’s post because we get to tell you about the dreamiest adventure we had with Lizi of The Food Nanny. She invited us up for a dinner party complete with new product from the shop, her famous recipes, and most importantly, her cows Franny and Moose! We also had a blast chasing the chickens around the farm. Keep scrolling to see our tips and to enjoy our new favorite fall soup.

When styling a large table setting we like to come prepared with plenty of items to work with, then see what happens! Luckily, we just stocked our new shop, House of Jade Home with plenty of decor for a special evening.

We aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty for the sake of a beautiful dinner. Kirsten and Erin foraged all the stems, florals, and branches from the side of the road on their way to the farm. They came covered in minor scratches with a few spiders and bugs running around, but it was totally worth it. Those tiny, perfect pumpkins? Grown by Erin! All the pumpkins in the photos came from her home garden.

Now let’s set that table!

FALL TABLE DECOR TIPS:

• Start from the bottom up. We set the tone with the New Haven Table Runner and then built on top of that.

• Then we layered on the most beautiful cutting boards as trays and continued to layer, layer, layer. It’s super fun to experiment! We added on buffalo check napkins, and protected our warm delicious soup with the most gorgeous demi-john cloches.

• Finish off the look with place cards for each guest, and a large floral arrangement at the center. We layered on more pumpkins and florals to make the space feel full.

• Like we said, we use what we have! Not only did we provide the greenery and pumpkins, but we threw on pieces of rosemary from Kirsten’s garden and dried some sunflowers from Erin’s. The beautiful scenery is all props to Lizi.

Italian Peasant Soup (via The Food Nanny)

• 1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound mild Italian sausage links casings removed, cut into 1- inch pieces or use ground sausage.
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 4-6 garlic cloves minced
• 2 15- oz. cans cannellini beans rinsed and drained. May substitute great northern beans.
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice.
• 4 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 6 cups fresh spinach kale or Swiss chard leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions

1. Wipe off the chicken with a wet paper towel. Cut into pieces, cut away any extra fat or gristle. Set aside.
2. In a large pot over medium heat cook sausage with 1 Tablespoon olive oil until browned and no longer pink. Drain any extra grease. Add onions and garlic. Saute until the onions are soft. Add chicken pieces and sauté and stir until no longer pink. Add beans, tomatoes, broth, basil and oregano; stir to mix. Cook uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the spinach, kale or chard and heat just until wilted. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

We’d highly recommend pairing this with one of The Food Nanny’s famous Kamut Bread. She made it for us, and showed us how to make it and our team devoured it along with the soup. You can shop her amazing Kamut Flour here, and pre-order her cookbook while you’re at it! Did we mention we had the most fun while making it?