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I have this great method for making baked apples. I throw some trail mix (the kind that has only nuts and dried fruits, no chocolate) into a food processor and whiz it until it’s chopped tiny. Then I add some butter, a surprisingly small amount of brown sugar, some vanilla and nutmeg, and a lot of cinnamon and give it another whiz to fully combine. I store this “dough,” which is really a compound butter, in a covered butter dish in the fridge.
Whenever someone wants a baked apple, for desert, for a snack or even for breakfast on a nippy morning, all I have to do is core an apple, put it in a ramekin, jam the hole full of dough and nuke it in the microwave for a few minutes. The dough leaves the nuts and fruit as stuffing and makes a perfect caramel and that heavenly smell gets the family out from under warm blankets when the first crisp mornings hit. You always know autumn is here when I make the “dough.”
It’s a perfect fall day here on the Island of Long and I’m thinking tonight may be a good night for the first fireplace fire of the season. You always know autumn is here when I go buy a big box of fatwood.
Last weekend was surprisingly chilly at the 2 HS football games I attended, so this weekend I’m packing away my shorts and tennis shirts and trying to remember where I stored my winter clothes (I never seem to use the same spot twice). You always know that autumn is here when I resurrect my big Irish sweaters.
And I think this may be the weekend for the first batch of beef stew with root veggies. You always know it’s autumn here when I have a pot on the stove going low and slow.
So what are the things that mark this change of seasons at your house? Is it canning and preserving your or your farmers market’s harvest? Is it planting the mums and the spring bulbs? How does fall come to you?
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Good morning all.
Good Morning, Cynthia and eCAHN.
Autumn is my favorite season of the year. And, living in So Cal, we don’t even get much of the fall colors. But, the air is crisp and clean and there’s the relief of knowing that the summer heat is behind us. For the most part. It’s been a beautiful week with chilly mornings and we even got a full day of rain on Wednesday.
Frankly, I’m a little tired of all the summer food, salads and smoothies, and I’m looking forward to a season of soups and casseroles. I made chili this past week at home and when I volunteered in the kitchen at MEND last Thursday we made and served Beef Stew.
Yep, it’s autumn.
I’m in & out. Still dealing with aftermath of storms, 2 months later & cleaning lady having trouble at her full time job which I am trying to help her with.
Be well & I’ll be back if things clear away.
Good to see you…’Morning All….still probably go the the 90s here, but definitely a different feel, esp. in the morning.
Morning Cynthia, demi and eCHAN. The baked apple recipe sounds delicious. Despite 80 degrees here today I’m longing for soups, stews and casseroles. Started making a Cassoulet yesterday despite the warm weather. It can be done over several days so maybe by the time it’s ready to assemble it will be cooler and more fall like.
Nope. just high 80s….Nice
And, I also brought in an armload of of salvia to arrange in a huge glass vase on top of the book shelf. Add a pumpkin and it makes for a very nice autumn color display.
Good for you in helping her. We all need help sometimes, and it’s prolly a good idea to help someone who helps you.
Later, then.
It’s sorta nice to have to put on socks in the morning. I’m discovering that the bare floors are not as warm as the carpet was. Heh, heh.
O, Really?? ;)
Not to mention the dog’s nails make quite a racket. It’s kind of a mood barometer for me. When the clicking is bothering me, I know it’s time for an adjustment.
Morning pups, I just came in from a just before sunrise walk of about two miles, had started the coffee before I went out, timed it to get some nice first light pictures.
The landlord has a compost pile in the back forty that is largely unattended except for when they add to it. It was covered with dozens of beautiful small gourds and I picked a couple for the table centerpiece.
Thirty lbs of bonemeal is being added to the raised beds today and I’ll be turning it in with the garden fork. I am only putting in on at about half the recommended rate on 750 square ft. Then I’ll continue preping bulbs for planting the last week of the month.
When I start making coffee is the best indicator that it’s autumn here. I only drink coffee when it’s cold.
Good morning.
Good Morning, Non and Peg
I was starting to think I must have bad breath this morning.
On the food end of things, a second planting of beets in July was somehow good timing, two six gallon buckets of soft baseball sized beauties. Had one meal with oven roasted, chunks. A couple dozen prime leeks are ready, pulled a couple and made soup, with carrots, onion, chicken and millet. Early this coming week I’ll be roasting and later souping a couple of the butternut squash that were put up this last week, the deer discovered they could just jump the electric fence once they knew the squash were ripe.
Always a great indicator for the home gardener as to when it is time to harvest something. :-)
Good morning, friends! I am visiting longtime friends in Grand Rapids MI for their huge city-wide contemporary art exhibition known as ArtPrize. Top award is $250,000! It has been unseasonably warm and I had to buy a couple of inexpensive shirts because I had packed only long-sleeved shirts for the visit. It IS October in Michigan after all, so I wasn’t expecting 80 degrees.
One thing that means autumn to me is SOUP! I made my first batch so I could bring some to my hosts. Maybe we should start a soup thread!
Good Morning, I love Fall except for the part where winter follows. When I start hearing crickets, I know it’s just around the corner.
To Autumn:
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun. John Keats
Mornng Demi,
Not your breath, just that annoying clatter from your dog’s nails on the floor.
So, I should put socks on the dog’s paws instead of mine? ;)
Is your floor project all finished now, Demi?
One year I made pickles this time of year. They were tasty, but a little mushy. I read later you have to make sure you cut off the ends, and also add something to it to keep them crunchy. It might have been anise, but I’m not sure.
Morning All,
I enjoy fall as well. I have been working hard to make soups from the last of the summer veggies. I freeze it in quart sized bags. I’ve also been doing the apples in many ways. Pears are falling like crazy so I’ve been making pear tarts of all kinds.
Oh, Honey! Fall is the harvest for fresh Honey. You can replace sugar in almost any recipe with that golden goodness. Also, I have similar recipes for Cynthia’s apple stuffing for putting into fall Sweet Potatoes.
YUM!
Just catching up on the news a bit. No demi, I’m sure your breath is fine.
Well, now, that depends. I’ve finished painting the LR floor, but haven’t put on a layer of clear gloss yet. So far the paint’s holding up very well. We’d like to pull the carpet in the rest of the house, but that’s on the back burner. T’was a lot of work, and I’m a baby sometimes.
You’d have to give me a kiss to know for sure. :)
I was thinking of those little rubber dog booties, wouldn’t want the pooch to slip. :)
Nice to see you here. We are having gorgeous weather also. With Illinois having a Monday holiday, there is not room for another car in any direction on our local roads. Three tourist related festivals, and music performances and every gift shop and art gallery running a “sale,” I did some canoeing and biking mid-week to enjoy the season in its quieter mode.
Any nonjuan action happening?
Though the memory of the one lesbian relationship I’ve been in is very special to me, it proved one thing to me once and for all: I don’t swing that way, though if I was to kiss another girl in the future, it would be you or chicagodyke. :)
I hear you, though if we could raise money for FDL, and some of the guys might go for that, I could handle a couple of chaste ones.
One Saturday night about 4 years ago, my mister was out of town on business and I was at the Lake and said I was lonely and asked if anyone would be willing to dance with me. Mary McCurrnan said she would if I’d hold her hand. I said yes and some of the folks really fell out.
Peg, did you ever read Tom Robbins Even Cowgirls Get The Blues?
Well, if it was for a good cause….
I did read it, yep but it’s been so very long ago that it might be time for a re-read.
I have left a couple of clear invitations and a door open wide. Thinking that some reciprocated interest might be in order and that’s where I have left things.
I was in a college readers theater production of that and I played Bonanza Jellybean. There was a scene where BJ and Sissy kiss. During a rehearsal where we were blocking that scene, the director and assistant director had us try the kiss a bunch of different ways. It took us a while to figure out that they were just messin’ with us. In the end, it was staged very cleverly, where I was looking away and turned to her abruptly and she had her face right next to mine. We did a little lip press and went up on our toes, sort of slow motion, almost like a dance movement. It worked well, but my mom wasn’t real thrilled about it and I actually had students come up to me on campus who were quite shocked. Good grief, it was so innocent and it was “theatre”.
Sounds right to me. Maybe there’ll be some interesting people at the march and rally you’re going to go to. Like minded if nothing else.
Did your mom and those appalled students believe that you wrote and directed it as well as starred in it? Some people need to take off their chin touching underwear and loosen up!
Good fall morning to everyone.
I experienced a sure sign of the season last evening. We had our first GA of Occupy Chatt last evening at a local park, and just as night was beginning to fall, thousands of starlings began roosting in the trees. The sky was nearly black with them and their cries were deafening.
We all moved hastily to the other end of the park, and not just because of the noise!
My mom finally got over the ewtheirgay thing after she had a boss who was gay. She said he was just such a nice man. That’s what usually makes people get over their own bad selves. Putting a real face on The Other.
Yep. I’ve no doubt that if not for Lynn, Darth Cheney would have been the ranting homophobe as well, though I couldn’t help but notice that she was always excluded from campaign appearances and so forth.
Cute! I read upstairs what you wrote about last night. Glad the leader was able to handle that guy so calmly.
Heading outdoors. I will probably run to town later, to see the jugglers and the clowns as they all do their tricks for us. Should be some normal fest food being sold for a good local charity.
Bratwurst, roast corn, apple cider, a polka band. Ten to fifteen minutes on the bicycle, easier to find a parking spot. Chicago fashion (city-folks’ interpretations of what is thought to be normal small town fall dress) is always a hoot. Those really practical two and a half inch platform heels on knee-high fall leather boots, some brand new rustic plaid, and of course everybody strutting their stuff, always several people walking their designer dogs and never without their cell phone to their ears. It’s kind of like a, “occupy main street,” by the people who have enough to drop several hundred bucks each on a weekend.
You have triggered a thought that maybe I should bring my ten years after anti-war sign and walk around with it as the likely lone remembrance.
She was half his age but twice the person.
I think you are so right about putting a real face on the Other.
I agree 110%. It is too bad that he didn’t have Lynn and her family out there with him.
It could provide some interesting conversations.
Now you’re cooking!
Have a good afternoon everyone, all the soup talk has made me crave a big pot of lentil soup! Off to the market for carrots, onions and celery.
ohmmmm
I usually do split peas and lentils, with the carrots, onions and celery.
I might have to make some too. Start your crock pots!
I have some split peas, too, so I’ll add some. Great idea.
bye again!
hey cynthia — love your PUACs last week and this. my favorite thing to do with apples is core and peel and chop into rough chunks. add to a pot with just a touch of water, put a lid on and cook down until the apples soften. i then smoosh them into smaller chunks (i like it to have some chunks and not be completely smooth) and add a boatload of cinnamon – most times i don’t have to add any sugar at all and the most i have had to add in the past is one tablespoon.
i then can store it in the fridge and its instant apple sauce, makes a great filling for apple pie or turnovers, and is a great sauce to spoon over pork. freezes well too. i bet it would be good in baked apples too.