My Favorite Things About Fall

I love Fall, I mean really what is there not to love. I love all of the scents, the air, the food and the clothes. I can not wait for fall to come every year. My favorite is the beginning with the cool crisp air, the beautiful Autumn colors and the way the leaves fall from the trees to the ground and the way the wisp around in circles. There are few things I could do without like the mess the leaves make, but hey...no one said everything is perfect. I wanted to share with you some of my favorites of the season.

A few of my favorite Better Homes Candle Wax Cubes for the season:

*Spiced Pumpkin Pie

*Shortbread

*Apples and Cinnamon

Favorite drinks for Fall:

*Hot cocoa

*Pumpkin flavor added to the White Chocolate Mocha with Soy at Starbucks

*Apple Cider that is Farm made- with all the little bits and pieces at the bottom...the cloudy kind.

Favorite warming foods:

*Chili

*Any kind of soup

Favorite foods for the season:

*Pumpkin bread, muffins, cookies, pie, cheesecake etc...

*Gingerbread stuff

Favorite thing to wear in Fall:

* Scarves occasionally

*  My Soda Boots from Shoe Carnival

These are from last year and I am looking forward to buying some more boots.

Favorite seasonal things to do:

*Going to Pumpkin Patches

*Having Halloween Fun

*Celebrating Thanksgiving

*Playing in the leaves

*Watching the trees change

*Doing arts and crafts for Fall

We are having fun working down our Fall Bucket List...do you have one? Whats a few of your favorite things about Fall? 

  



Apple Cider Shots with Tequila

Autumn has some of the best beverages and aside from hot chocolate, I would say that it is definitely apple cider. Not everyone loves it and I have not always been a big fan of it either, but I have come to like certain kinds. I love the kind that is all cloudy with lots of settle spices at the bottom...most of the time we grab some at a local venue like the Farmers Market or other produce store. One thing about living in the Carolina Foothills is that we aren't far from the mountains and all of the beautiful colors and tasty cider.

Spiced Apple Cider Tequila shots

We grabbed some cider while on an out of town trip and it was among the best cider we have tasted.

Now enjoy your tasty Fall Apple Cider Shots and share some with your friends. Do you have a spot to grab some fresh hot apple cider? Do you make your own?

Grab a cute glass, add some Tequila and you are good to go! I wouldn't say a specific amount, because everyones taste for liquor is different. I for one have super sensitive taste buds for liquor and I like the lesser of a shot in a mixed drink. I am more of a shot glass lady...no mixed drinks for me. That is why I like these Spiced Apple Cider shots so much because I altered it to how I liked it and I added a bit more liquor for my hubby...to fit his taste.

  

    

 Just because it says alcohol free doesn't mean it is a bad thing to add some...

               I hope you enjoy

Autumn Activities and Treats for Fall

I love October. I love the many things that come around in October.  I plan on sharing ALL kinds of favorite things about this month in future posts.  As for today I thought the perfect way to start this month would be to show you a few things we are up to this weekend that fits perfectly with Halloween and Fall.

The first exciting thing I want to share involves my sweetheart of a husband.  He travels for work all over and always picks me up some of the most delicious and decadent desserts all of the time.  This weekend he was in Charlotte and picked me up something special.  Oh my goodness it was so soft and tasty. 

Then we picked up these awesome little Halloween Mugs at A.C. Moore for only $1.  What a great deal!

 These are so neat! The kids got started on coloring their customizable "SPOOKY" cups.  I like this even more because not only did it come with 3 sheets each but you could probably find some coloring pages and print your own to size or cut to size and have a always changing cup. 

I haven't figured out how to attached pdf for others to print. If you know how to do this and filled me in I would be forever grateful.  I have so much that I would like to share with everyone.

 Oh and my husband picked these up this weekend for the kids for only $1. 

Even though it rained and the kids and I were sick, we had a really enjoyable weekend. 

How did your weekend go?  Are you excited it is October?

Our Families Fall Bucket List

LOOK....our very own Fall Bucket List Art.  We were ready to get started like yesterday on this list!  I have been seeing them everywhere and couldn't wait to get started on making one.  I am going to print it out and get it framed so we make sure we don't miss anything!

Have you made your Fall Bucket List yet?

  

Fall Crawl- DIY Centerpiece

Wow, there are only a few days until the official start of Fall.  We are blessed with beautiful Fall colors every year in North Carolina.

I am so honored to be a part of Marilyn's Fall Crawl with 9 other lovely blogging ladies! You can find all of their Fall creations over at the Fall Crawl link up. This is my very 1st feature in bloggy world; Yay!   It took me a while to figure out what I was going to do being the over analyzing procrastinator I am.  I have a great love of centerpieces, but have yet to create my own.

Fall Centerpiece:

Materials for Glitter Candle: 

Mod Podge Matte

Fall colored brownish/goldish/orangish fine glitter (on sale at Micheals for 1.99)

Artificial Fall leaves (picked up at AC Moore for .99)

Candle holder (Dollar Tree)

Candle holder Cylinder (Dollar Tree)

Glass Gems

Epoxy

Sandpaper(helps the Epoxy adhere better)

~Mix a some glitter with the Mod Podge and spread evenly on candles surface

~Sprinkle glitter around all sides(I put it on top of a cleaned out baby food jar to spread evenly along the bottom)

~Let dry

*Sandpaper slightly around the rim of the candle stick holder; clean off.

*Place Epoxy mix on surface and place glass cylinder on top; let dry.

*Epoxy gems around rim of candle stick for decoration.

Arrange artificial leaves around the bottom with corners facing up.
Place glittered Mod Podge pillar in the center.

Materials for Cinnamon Candle:

1 pack +1(10 1/2)cinnamon sticks cut in 1/2 (Dollar Tree)

Spool of sheer purple ribbon( $1 @ Walmart)

1/2 pearl bead

Rubber band

Glass candle plate(Dollar Tree)

Glass leaf gems

~Measure up your cinnamon sticks to your pillar and cut.

~Place rubber band around the top of 3 in. pillar & arrange your cinnamon sticks around.

~Fold your sheer ribbon in 1/2 and tie into a pretty bow; attach 1/2 sticky pearl onto center.

Pretty and smells like Fall!

Do you make your own centerpieces?

You can join the fun by linking up your Fall creations too.  We will be crawling all the way to September 22nd, so come join us @ the Fall Crawl linky party!

Olive Gardens "Zuppa Toscana" Cousin

Fall officially starts on September 22!  I am so excited for that cool, crisp air & the beautiful colors of the changing leaves.  It is my favorite season of the year.  When I am looking for a tasty, soul-warming, comforting food to take the chill off, soup is my go to recipe.  I saw this wonderful soup on Pinterest & had to make this. It has been a pretty good while since we have been to Olive Garden, but it seems to be just like theirs.

I added a bit more ingredients because I wanted to freeze some for later. 

I did use alternate for a few things. 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, cut into a small dice ( I used 3oz. real bacon pieces from the salad dressing isle)
• 1 lb. hot Italian sausage, with casings removed (5 Mild Italian Sausage-for my little ones)
• 1 large yellow onion, diced (1 yellow & 1/2 white)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (8)
• 4 cups (32 ounces) chicken broth or stock (I used 8 chicken buillon cubes-1cube=1cup)
• 3 cups Russet potatoes, cubed ( I used about 2 pounds)
• sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper
• 2 loose packed cups kale, in bite size pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream or 14 ounce can evaporated milk (24 oz. of evap. milk-I only found 12oz cans)
• Parmesan cheese, grated, for serving

1. In a large soup pot or sauce pan cook bacon over medium until crispy. Add sausage and break it apart as it cooks. Once sausage is browned drain off the grease.  Leave a tablespoon or two to saute' onion.
2. Form a well in the middle of the cooked sausage and add onion to center; saute' until translucent; add garlic.
3. Stir in broth and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, simmer for about 20 minute or until potatoes are tender. (I let it simmer on med for about and hour)
4. Add kale and evaporated milk. Bring to a simmer. Serve and top with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

 What kind of recipes do you love to make in the fall to take the chill off?

Crawling to Fall..........

Banana Bars with Butter Rum Sauce

We started baking for Autumn already. Sink your teeth into a warm banana bar with butter rum sauce and you will not be disappointed.  Fall just screams baking to me. I bake the most treats and crank up the oven often during the crispy and cool days. I love being in the kitchen, now I don't love the clean up part, but it is a worth while sacrifice to get wonderful homemade baked goods. We always share with our neighbors, and they love getting warm baked goods as a gift. Well, they say they do...so we will just keep making them. 

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

2 1/2 large bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375.

MIX 

Then

 

Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts if you wanted to use them.

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. milk

Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

*I boiled my butter for 7 minutes & it wouldn't turn brown. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but it still turned out good.  I didn't leave the butter because it wanted to pop everywhere(even on med) so I rocked the pan back in forth. That was a dangerous little step. I would say use less powdered sugar if you are not a fan of sweet, sweet icing. We actually ended up knocking most of ours off and the banana bar was so scrumptious all by itself...it really could do without the butter rum sauce.

Yield 12 bars if you use a 15 x 10 Jelly roll pan.

Yield 24 bars if you use a 9 x 13 casserole dish. I used this one because that is the largest size I had.

I tried this recipe from Life's Simple Measures.

Of Course I did omit the walnuts, & added a little cinnamon.

My husband gets home and tries it and say mmm bet this would be even better all warm with ice cream. This sounds awesome BECAUSE this is the ice cream we currently have in our freezer:

Let me tell you it does not disappoint.  The Oreo Birthday Blast is pretty darn awesome too.

Let me know how this recipe turned out for you if you tried it. Happy Baking!