One of our favorite discoveries here in the Birmingham area is Morgan Creek Winery out in Harpersville. I told you about it last year here and each summer Morgan Creek hosts an outdoor concert with fireworks once a month, from May through September. We’ve been several times over the last couple of years and always enjoy it. A nice way to spend a summer evening, under the stars, with a picnic dinner and fireworks top off the finale. So, on a recent June evening, we once again headed to the winery, picnic basket and chairs in hand.
They have a nice open field that is perfect for gathering and a stage for the live music.
Each month, there’s a different performer taking the stage.
And the wine tasting tent is ready for tasters.
We love to sample the muscadine wines that they are known for. Sweet and delicious, we already know our favorite is Carlos. I’ve mentioned before that we are not big drinkers at all and don’t keep it at home, but when we come here, we enjoy sipping the muscadine wines.
This is a family owned business and they live right on the property. Oakleaf hydrangeas are blooming prolifically right now and make a great flower arrangement.
Check out the use of burlap on their tables.
Muscadine wines waiting to be poured. They have mostly sweeter wines, but a few of them are on the dry side. They also do a couple of blueberry wines.
More burlap. We enjoyed the tasting and got our favorite, Carlos, to enjoy with dinner. Light and refreshing.
Penne pasta with roasted red peppers and chicken. I’ll share the recipe on both of these in case anyone would like them:
Chicken Pasta Salad with Basil Dressing
Basil Dressing:
1 large clove minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TBL minced basil or 1 TSP dried
2 –3 cups cooked/chopped chicken (I cooked 2 chicken breasts on the bone in crockpot & shredded)
1 box penne pasta
1 cup roasted red pepper strips
1/2 cup black olives (or Kalamata)
Mix garlic, salt, pepper & vinegar in salad bowl until salt dissolves; whisk in oil and basil. Add chicken, pasta, peppers & olives. Toss to coat. Cover and marinate at room temp 1 hour or chill overnight. Serve at room temp.
Hubby chilling out.
Broccoli Salad
1 bag of broccoli crowns
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup diced onion
Dressing:
1/2 cup mayo
1 TBL Balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
I didn’t use quite a 1/2 cup on the mayo or sugar for one bag but you might need that much if you use more, don’t like a lot of mayo on salads like this. I just spooned it out & added some sugar and the TBL vinegar. Mix well with a whisk and toss to coat & mix.
The band.
And this little sweetie was SO cute. She was 3 years old and was having a ball running around with all the other little kids playing on the lawn. She came over and talked to us a few times. It’s a great place to bring kids too and there were many families there enjoying the evening.
Around 9:00, the fireworks start and they put on a nice little show.
A fun summer evening. If you’ve never been, I’d highly recommend it. You can check their website for all the information, but the events are from 6-9 pm every month. Next one will be July 4th, which happens to be on a Saturday this year.
Fun and fancy! Looks like a great time:)
A fabulous looking place to be! We have a winery in our area that does the same thing…minus the fireworks! I'd love to go this summer…we'll have to get a babysitter though, now. I followed you here from Twitter!
What a heavenly place! So beautiful…thanks for sharing.
Blessings,
Spencer
YUMMY!! I'm adding this recipe to my "try next week" file (or pile, if I'm being honest). This pasta looks delicious. Sounds like y'all had a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing the fun.
I love fun events like that. And the muscadine wine sounds delish. This week has flown by and my computer time has been limited. It's been fun catching up with you tonight.
Hugs!
Kat
What a fun evening out! I had not heard of the winery here before. We'll have to check it out next time we are in the area visiting family. Thanks for sharing such a nice evening (and the recipes as well!)
Jennifer @ Fiddle Dee Dee
What a fun evening!! I love doing things like that and it is so much fun to "people watch" while listening to the music. The food looks yummy and I can't wait to try your recipes. Thanks for sharing. Love & blessings from NC!
It looks like you two had a very fun evening. Thanks for sharing your recipes. I will try your Chicken Pasta Salad recipe this week.
we ate a fabbo london broil last night. i tried your marinade recipe… thought it had everything in it but the kitchen sink :)LOL it was really, reALLy good. next up, this pasta salad.
It looks like it was a perfect day to spend with your husband. We like visiting some of the area wineries here, too.
Hi Rhoda 🙂
What a fantastic evening! If I lived nearby I would go for sure, but it's wonderful to see it through yours eyes 🙂
The anon was an issue, but we know who it is now. I'm sorry about yours.
(((hugs)))
rue
It looks like a great place to spend a nice day!
Looks like such fun! I definitely would check it out if I lived closer!
~Michelle
Oh Rhoda what fun! I was looking at all the decorating….man that would be FUN to decorate for something like that!!!
Thanx for sharing with us!
Awesome pictures! I bet Morgan Creek would like them for their promotional uses…
Rhoda,
We'll have to check this out when we are down that way, it is actually not too far from a house we are considering.
Cheri
I got all kinds of happy feelings from this post! I love community events like this; just good, clean, down-home fun. Good people, good food, good music – my kind of fun! I'm glad you and hubs had a good time. Oh, and I love those oakleaf hydies! Never have liked mopheads, but oakleafs are lovely!
Thanks for the Chicken Pasta recipe. I was looking for a similar recipe for lunch today so I decided to try yours and it was delish! The only difference is that I had to add some cheese because cheese just makes everything better for me! 🙂
I love events like this! What a fun time. I love the burlap!! thanks for the recipes-I love the brocoli recipe-yummy!
This looked like a really fun event. And the food look delicious!