Archives for posts with tag: fall

celebrating fall

September 2, 2013 //
1

I forgot just how happy baking makes me. No, there’s no chocolate in this one – but I had to share because I’m celebrating fall and a return to baking and the realization of just how much I missed creating (in the kitchen and with my sewing machine) over the summer. This summer was incredible and I wouldn’t change it, but I am so excited for fall, for apples, pumpkins, leaves, foggy mornings and crisp evenings, curling up with a book, cozy clothes  & boots and best of all baking.

At the beginning of each new season I’m convinced it’s my favorite, but truly I know that designation only goes to fall for me. And I’m celebrating with food (cause that is one of the best parts of fall, right?). Yesterday I enjoyed an egg, smoked jack cheese, apple and sausage scramble – delicious! And tonight… my most favorite apple, a Zestar, with honey roasted peanut butter (thank you Bellewood Acres for both) and now… I have pumpkin poppers in the oven. The smell of the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger made me grin and then the taste of the batter (yes, I love my raw baked goods!) just made me giddy. The recipe describes them as baked pumpkin donut holes and I’d have to agree, yum! I did adjust the topping a bit. I made brown butter and used maple sugar with the cinnamon – might as well take it to the top for a fall celebration, right?

007

Tags ,
Categories Baking

pumpkin & patchwork

October 22, 2012 //
2

More fall love… Both last weekend and today (a Monday no less), I had perfect lazy fall days with friends. Last weekend a friend who’s learning to sew came over for the afternoon and we had a mellow few hours talking, sewing and enjoying some homemade pumpkin soup. My project that day was to start some pillow covers for fall/winter. I got one front done and they’ve been mocking me ever since. But today another friend came over to teach me how to bake bread (yeast and I just don’t play well together). The bread baking took a few tries – there just might be something to my yeast jinx… but we got one tasty if somewhat dense loaf out of it. And… while we waited for the dough to rise we enjoyed more pumpkin soup and did some sewing. Once she finally pushed me to get back to the pillows I got back in the groove and got them both done! And I’m feeling motivated to keep sewing and to keep trying to make friends with yeast. We’ll see how it goes…

A sure sign of fall, one roasted pumpkin just waiting to be turned into tasty goodness.

First up… pumpkin soup. At first I was disappointed that it was so mild. But it worked out for the best, I added a different combo of things to it each time I served it. A few things on the list: bacon, parmesan cheese, cashews, chilli oil, garlic croutons and I wanted to added roasted apple but ran out of soup before I tried it.

I saved some of the pumpkin puree because I have to bake with it. This is gluten free pumpkin, chocolate, hazelnut bread for a stitch ‘n bitch.

Sewing day one about all I got done was cutting the strips and piecing together one front (that was the intimidating but fun part). But finally a week+ later… here are the two pillow fronts.

Here are the two quilted backs.

completed pillow #1

and completed pillow #2. Oh, it feels good to have those done! And to finally have some new fall pillows on the couch.

And just for the fun of it, here are the bacon maple biscuits I made on Sunday while I was avoiding the pillows 🙂

Tags , ,
Categories Baking, Sewing

falling

October 8, 2012 //
1

I feel like I say “this is my favorite season”, every time we start a new one. But for Fall, I really mean it – if I had to choose only one to live in forever it would be fall. The leaves are turning, the sun is out but the mornings are crisp or foggy. Plus my morning walk hits right when the sunrise is turning the bay aqua and orange. It’s time to pull out my favorite clothes, boots and even scarves and gloves. It’s all about orange and other cozy fall colors. It’s time to switch back to red wine, darken up the beer and enjoy some hot chocolate or apple cider. And… fall is the best season for cooking. The harvest is still in full swing so there are tons of fresh ingredients to pick from and I can turn the oven on again! I’m craving getting into the kitchen and making soup, pasta, pork, bread, anything with apple or pumpkin and of course it’s time to bake, bake, bake.

It was all about getting the house and yard ready for winter this weekend, but I did manage a trip to the farmers market first. And in between chores, I took time to play in the kitchen.

First up, Autumn Salad with toasted hazelnuts, goat cheese, arugula and roasted acorn squash.

Squash dish number two I’ve literally been craving since last fall! This was the first time I’d made brown butter on my own, so I’m sure that helped make it even more memorable. But what a perfect fall comfort food dish. Spaghetti squash with sage brown butter and parmesan cheese. (I know it’s not the most photogenic dish, but it sure is tasty!).

Just one more… Luckily I still had some acorn squash on hand from the salad, because after a trip to the dentist I needed some soft food. I heated the squash up, added some chilli, lime, garlic vinaigrette and a bit of parmesan and had an easy fall dinner.

Next up: pumpkin! (or maybe soup…)

Tags ,
Categories cooking