All Things Fall

I love 89% of Fall. Among the items on the pro-Fall list are decorating, apples (and the things you can bake with them), pumpkins, mums, the coziness of sweaters and blankets, the crisp air and bright sunshine, and the thought of Thanksgiving and Christmas to come. This is not an all inclusive list but just the high points.

The one thing I don’t like about Fall is the chilly, rainy days. To be honest, I would rather have snow than cold rain. We have to take the good with the bad I suppose. So, I try not to complain and look at the first list of Fall attributes.

Another notable thing about Fall for me is a game I play against myself. I try to see how long I can last without turning on my furnace. The longer I can wait, the more Western New York tough I am! Silly, I know but hey, it saves on the gas bill too! I always make it until November but depending on how the weather goes determines how long in November I last. The one thing I can’t take is dampness. I can take a little cold but when combined with damp, I cave!

There is also my theory of decorating for the Fall. First I do early Fall decorating after school starts with sunflowers, some pumpkins, leaves, etc. Once October hits out come all the Jack-o-Lanterns, Day of the Dead and spooky things in addition. When Halloween is over we are back to just Fall and with a cornucopia and some Pilgrims added in for good measure. Since I love decorating and fussing with my surroundings this is a banner time of year for me.

Recipes

Apple Fritter Bread (*homeiswheretheboatis.net)

1. 1/3 cup light brown sugar
2. 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3. 2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
4. 2/3 cup +2 tablespoons sugar
5. 1/2 cup butter, softened
6. 2 large eggs, room temperature
7. 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8. 1 1/2 cups cups all-purpose flour
9. 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
10. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
11. 1/2 cup + 1 – 3 tablespoons milk
12. 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper, with ends hanging over edge of pan. Spray parchment with nonstick spray.
2. Mix brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon together in a bowl; set aside. Toss apples with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and remaining teaspoon cinnamon in another bowl; set aside.
3. Beat butter and remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar together with mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time; add vanilla extract.
4. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in another bowl, then add to creamed butter mixture and beat until blended. Mix 1/2 cup milk into batter until smooth.
5. Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan; add half the chopped apple mixture.
6. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture on top of apple layer.
7. Pour the remaining batter over apple layer and top with remaining chopped apples, then the remaining brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.
8. Lightly pat apples into batter; swirl brown sugar mixture through apples using a knife.
9. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. Watch bread and cover with foil during last 10 minutes of baking time to prevent overbrowning if needed.
10. Let loaf rest in pan for 15 minutes , then remove from pan using edge of parchment and place on wire rack to cool completely.  

To Make Glaze

1.  Mix powdered sugar with remaining 1 to 3 tablespoons milk, thinned to desired consistency.
2. Drizzle bread with glaze.

*The one thing I would do differently is do three layers of the apple mixture so there would be a little more gooiness involved!

Corn and Onion Casserole

2 Jiffy Cornbread mixes (or one of a larger mix)

1 can of cream corn

1 8 oz. container of sour cream

1 large white onion sliced thin

1 to 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease an iron skillet or 9X11 casserole dish. Mix the cornbread mix according to directions and place in pan. Saute the onions with olive oil or butter. When the onions are translucent mix them with the remaining ingredients and pour over the cornbread mixture. Do not mix together. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. When casserole appears solid and set it is ready.

You could add some dill or bacon bits to this if you desire. It is wonderful either way.

Hacks

* I had an abundance of bananas (I wonder why Karen D.) and I did do some baking with them. However, my son freezes bananas and makes smoothies with them and I reasoned that the same could be done for baking. I peeled all the excess bananas and put them in freezer bags. Now, when I have a hankering for banana muffins, bread, bars or cookies they are ready. You never have to toss a banana again!

*Do you struggle with making popcorn? I have. I have a wonderful popcorn popper for my microwave and use that a lot but when you are making a large batch or just want that top of the stove, popped flavor I have found the trick. Put 3 tablespoons of oil in your popper or a regular pan. To that add 3 kernels of popcorn and heat over medium high heat. When the kernels pop you are ready. Just add 1/3 cup of kernels to the oil and remove from heat for 30 seconds. You can actually count it out or use your stove’s timer. When the 30 seconds have passed put your popper or pan back on the heat and proceed to pop. The 30 seconds allow the kernels to all get to the same temperature and you are then able to pop most or all of your kernels to perfection. This works!!!!

*Did you know that you can make your own vanilla extract? I didn’t until I overheard a lady telling about how she does it. I came home and looked it up and sure enough you can. Even the Pioneer Woman has a method for doing it. The woman I overheard said that she uses a liter bottle of vodka and adds 3 vanilla beans to that. She then seals it back up and lets it set for one year. Admittedly, when you first start that would be a wait but after the initial time you would have your yearly bottle of high quality extract at a good price. Even though the beans are kind of expensive, for the quantity and quality you get it is still a money saver. I have ordered Grade A Madagascar vanilla beans and when they arrive I am starting it. The Pioneer Woman uses one cup of vodka, 6 vanilla beans and only waits 2 months. There are a variety of recipes and you can choose the one best for you. (Linda A., I thought of you when I found this out).

Fall Craftiness

I asked my cousin if there was a support group for people who did crafting. She told me yes and that they get together and make stuff. So, I guess there is no hope for me in this area. LOL! I have it bad, as you will see below!

*I bought a vintage child card table set for $10 on a Facebook sale page and decided to redo it. I sprayed it with apple red paint and ordered oilcloth from ebay to cover the top, seats and seat backs. I used E6000 glue to adhere the cloth to the furniture.

Before:

After:

*I used two pumpkin wreath frames from Dollar Tree to make a Fall centerpiece that I plan to use on Thanksgiving. First you wire the tops together using floral wire. Then you spread the bottoms out wide enough to allow for the decorations you want to put inside and staple them to a piece of wood or something similar. I used a Halloween sign saying “Beware” from Dollar tree, turned it over and chalk painted it a stone color. I used flowers, leaves, wheat stalks and a pumpkin pie candle to complete the display and the bonus is that I had all of the items at home already. For a finishing touch I made a refabbed bow for the top. The ribbon I already had as well from the Dollar Tree (I LOVE that store!).

*Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and it is a cause near and dear to my heart (my maternal grandmother died as a result of breast cancer which spread to her bones when she was 68.) I made a display using pumpkins. I bought 3 of the carvable foam pumpkins from, you guessed it, Dollar Tree. I cut out the tops and gave them each 2 coats of pink acrylic paint. I used 3 slightly different pinks. I then put some Spanish moss in the top and anchored it with a little bit of hot glue. I also had fake succulents from Dollar Tree. I removed them from the small plastic pots they were in and placed them with some hot glue in the top of the pumpkins.

*For a dear friend who is a BIG fan of Disney I made a Halloween Minnie Mouse out of embroidery hoops and some embellishments. It really turned out cute. Below you will find my inspiration from wdw magazine. I used Halloween ribbon to make a refabbed bow for one ear and Fall Flowers to place on the lower right of the large embroidery hoop. You could literally do one for any season, holiday or occasion! The hoops were adhered to each other using hot glue. For the ears you use the inside of a small hoop and the outside. I hid the metal fastener with the refab bow. The larger hoop you use the inner ring and outer ring together.

*I seriously think I have a crafting problem as I am not done yet! Next, I made a family of Jack-o-Lanterns out of vintage shovels. First I cleaned and spray painted the blades of the shovels orange. Then using outdoor acrylic craft paint I used stencils I found online to paint the faces. I tried to jazz up the faces with some points of light. Then I decorated the handles with a variety of embellishments. I tried to do a Halloween bowtie for the “Daddy” shovel.

I love 3 tiered trays or tidbit trays as they are called. I normally tend to the vintage ones but for Halloween I decided to try a Dollar Tree idea I had seen and kind of make a wacky one for this season. I started by using E6000 (which takes 24 hours to dry and a little hot glue to hold things together in the meantime) for attaching the various parts to my tiered tray. As you can see in the picture below, I used two bread pans, set a little off kilter, a cookie sheet and two taper candle holders to form my tray.

I then spray painted it all black and added Halloween ornaments and some other items I had on hand. This is the result. Yep, you guessed it! All items except for the paint was purchased at Dollar Tree.

*Lastly, I got together with my cousin and we made a witch’s hat using a a witch’s hat wreath frame, deco mesh and ribbon. All were purchased from the Dollar Tree. We cut the the wreath frame at the top joint and bent it a little to make the bend in the top of the hat. We attached 12 inch lengths of deco mesh which had been gathered up in the center and secured them each with a half of pipe cleaner. We did that all over the bottom of the hat. The crown of the hat was done with black deco mesh just wrapped around it and secured in the back again with pipe cleaners. Then a refab bow was fashioned from ribbon and attached to the top. For a little variety you can attach lengths of ribbon here and there with pipe cleaners as well. There are as many color combinations as you have in your imagination. My cousin actually did a scarecrow hat and used browns and other Fall colors. I was particularly attracted to purple, black and green but couldn’t find enough of the purple and green to do the project.

Whew!!! I have been busy! It appears just with fun things though. Oh well! Let me know if you like any of the hacks, recipes or craft ideas and definitely if you try any of them. Hopefully, this was a fun read! See you next month.