Last weekend, I hosted a baby shower for a close friend. What a great excuse to get friends together, celebrate the upcoming arrival of her little one and enjoy some tasty fall favorites. I went back and forth about whether to do serve brunch or lunch, and I decided to go with the latter. Below is a summary of the menu:

• Butternut Squash Soup- This simple soup has Fall written all over it. It’s easy to prepare and can be done ahead of time. We roasted butternut squash, garlic, little yellow potatoes and a variety of pearl onions. Once pureed, I added some chicken stock, heavy cream and minced sage over heat.
• Variety of sandwiches- Lunch wouldn’t be complete without a sandwich. I decided to go with three choices: classic egg salad, pesto cream cheese and English cucumber and salami and sharp cheddar with Dijon mustard.
• Fall Salad- To accompany the soup and sandwiches, we enjoyed a salad featuring spicy walnuts, feta and Granny Smith apple over a bed of lettuce, with a Dijon lemon vinaigrette.
• Cupcakes- Recipe courtesy of the famous Magnolia Bakery in NYC, I prepared vanilla cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting.
• Chocolate Chip Reese’ Cookies- A favorite of all who know Jaylene and her family, her mom brought this delicious bites featuring a mini Reese Pieces Cup.
• Cream Cheese Brownies- Courtesy of Shelby Reed, these rich goodies definitely satisfied our chocolate fix.

To quench guests’ thirst, I served hot cider and a cranberry spritzer for the mothers-to-be, and champagne with raspberries for those looking for a little pick me up.