In the past, my husband and I have cooked a main course of turkey, gravy and cranberry, and our friends have each brought a side. This year, because we love to cook and entertain, we decided to make it more of a food and wine pairing dinner, and asked our guests just to bring themselves and consider donating a little extra to the cause in lieu of bringing a dish or a bottle of wine. We made a fall salad with arugula, pears, candied pecans and goat cheese, and then cooked beef tenderloins sous vide, seared them and served the fleets with a whipped horseradish cream sauce, roasted asparagus with parmesan & crispy herbed new potatoes, and a pear/apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
For additional fundraising efforts, I also posted my personal fundraising page to all of my social media pages. Since this is my 4th year, I have established a relationship with some local vendors for small discounts on party rentals/serve wear and flowers, and this year Hestan Vineyards even donated a case of wine for our event. AXR Winery also donated a silent auction item of a VIP tasting and reserve bottle from the owner’s personal cellar, which also helped to raise money. I hope to add more of these fun silent auction items next year. Each year, we try to make it a little bigger and better. I was excited to reach just over my goal of $2,000 this year, as it was the most raised ever.