Please send some of that snow to NE Texas :) Our high tomorrow is supposed to be 28 and a low of 15 :o How about some stuffed mushrooms? I think I'll make a pot of Bacon-Corn Chowder. Going to surprise mom and dad tomorrow with come homemade cookies and coffee. They get really lonely on cold days when they can't get out and have no company.

How about taking Monica's cue and starting your meal with a soup?

For the menu, I'd serve another veggie-- probably green veggie. i think your menu sounds wonderful but given your description of the weather, I'd go for a menu more in the "warm your bones" category... spinach lasagna or stuffed shells with green beans, salad and bread..

I would probably save the salad for another time and do asparagus and a potato (roasted, baked,scalloped, etc.)or rice pilaf and then have a comfort food dessert like cobbler or apple pie.

If you know your guests like salmon, I'd serve the salmon. And if you love the wild rice salad, that goes nicely with it. And I am sure a vegetarian would particularly enjoy it. To me, it sounds like a healthy and gourmet meal, and I'd be delighted to partake in it.

I think warm-weather recipes too often skew very rich. And people either want to eat that way, or don't ... regardless of the temp. You know your guests best.

So, what to add in? Maybe sauteed spinach? Maybe broccoli rabe? A nice loaf of warm bread. Mulled spiked cider. Baked apples or pears with yogurt or creme fraiche.

I would probably add a green detox type of soup with broccoli, leeks, a bit of garlic, and a touch of lemon juice and pureed until silky smooth. A simple soup like that would be easy to prepare early and reheat and is light enough to leave room for the salad and perhaps dessert.

Thanks everyone! I think I will go with one of the green veggie suggestions. I've already purchased the ingredients for the other dishes and will stick with those - but many more cold days (and meals) to come if the long term forecasters are to be believed (why are they always right about bad weather?). I've got an apple tarte in the works, but I'm a lousy baker so we'll see how that goes - baked apples will be the fall back (thanks, mtn!).

My motto for this winter has been to think like a Norwegian and get outside, but even that is not helping right now. We built a snow hut around our firepit, went out to our unheated cottage for a couple of days and have tried to walk for an hour everyday, but this current drop in temp has us hiding inside like the wimps we are.

My daughter made a ginger carrot soup Christmas night it woukd be SO good in really cold weather. Just add a warm roll!

I need a green with your planned menu, which sounds really delicious. I would do roasted broccoli, plain steamed green beans or sauteed chard or spinach.

Can you share the salad recipe, I found this one online using your key words is it similar. Looks sooo good. https://www.mynewroots.org/site/2010/02/warm-salad-month-wild-rice-butter-bean-and-garlic-roasted-carrot-salad-2/ 

Oh my that wild rice salad looks wonderful! I always lean green beans but all of the green veggies suggested sound good too.

I applaud you for entertaining and getting out despite the weather! Our temps aren't nearly as cold and I have been rushing home to hibernate with pajamas and soup!

Yes, we have been doing loads of soup - last night was creamy broccoli. The ginger carrot sounds fabulous. I've done a sweet potato ginger with lime soup and loved it. Unfortunately, I don't have a good set up for serving soup to guests (ie, no nice bowls or tureen). I do a big soup night in January/Feb. but it is more casual and everyone helps themselves right from the big pots.

That's it, localeater! It is delicious - as are all the dishes of hers I've tried.

Speaking of soup - many of the recipes I use call for blending the soup in the food processor in small batches. I always use my immersion blender and I'm wondering why that is never suggested. It seems so much easier. I can't be the only one with an immersion blender handy. Would my soups be better if I processed them rather than blended?

I always use my immersion blender for my soups. I think many of recipes may have been written before the advent of stick blenders. I don't miss the days of laboriously transferring soup from one container to another, blending, splattering, then ladling more into the processor, etc. I also don't need to wait for the soup to cool to use the immersion blender, whereas it was advisable to do so when I did it with my processor or the heat would build and potentially blast me with steam!

I had almost that same menu for Thanksgiving dinner, and I served squash soup as a starter. Also roasted asparagus as another side, which is festive for a dinner party. Go to the dollar store and get some cheap glass mugs, they will look fancy when filled with soup. I have a set that I use for both hot drinks and soups. A great dessert would be warm vanilla pudding topped with warm dried fruit compote. I had that at a friends house in Great Britain one miserable winter day, and have been a fan of that comfort food ever since. I just mix whatever dried fruit that looks good that I can get, with some orange juice, a cinnamon stick, a slice of ginger, a touch of maple syrup, whatever floats your boat.

Edited to add this link as an example of a cheap glass mug, from Dollar Tree, Clear glass mugs

There are many different styles out there.

Edited to add that if you are not used to the immersion blender and use it on very hot soup, it can splatter and burn you, but once you get the hang of it, it works great. However, I think the plastic ones will wear out faster if you use them a lot on very hot foods. At least that has been my experience. I usually let my soup cool before blending, if I can.