Scents of Autumn

To bring a touch of autumn sweetness into your home, slice up a lemon and an orange.  Toss them in a pot with a couple of cinnamon sticks, a few star anise, and some cloves.  Add water and simmer on the stove top. Your home will smell delightfully fresh in no time.

Love,

Catherine Ann

Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

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I'm ready for fall.  And though the calendar says it is exactly two weeks away, I'm in denial and pretending it is here right now.  

In the spirit of all things fall, I baked Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins for an afternoon snack.  My middle Love is now eating vegan, so I tweaked a recipe in The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. 

Next time I will use gluten free flour as that is my newest adventure, eliminating as much gluten from the diet as possible.  I should have used gluten-free flour today, but I often cook on auto-pilot and I'm still accustomed to grabbing the big flour bin (maybe I'll switch out the contents and put gluten-free flour in it now).  

The muffins are tasty, not too sweet, and definitely fallish in nature.

Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins
vegan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners (I had pretty fall ones left from last year)

Stir 1 tablespoon chia seeds into 1/3 cup water (let stand a few minutes to "gel")
If you aren't interested in making this vegan you can substitute an egg for the chia seeds (no water necessary).

In a large bowl combine:

2 cups flour
1/3 cup natural sugar (you may want a tad bit more if you like sweeter muffins)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

In another bowl mix together:

chia seed mixture (or 1 egg, lightly beaten)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup applesauce
1/3 cup almond, rice, soy or  "milk" of choice
2 tablespoons cooking oil of choice
1 tsp vanilla

Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients just until combined.

Optional add-ins:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
( I used walnuts this time only because someone had eaten all the chocolate chips! Next time I'll add both.)

Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy with a cup of your favorite tea!

I love all sorts of apple and pumpkin pastries and I've pinned a bunch of new things to try on my Autumn Ideas Pinterest Board.

What is your favorite fall treat to bake?

Love,
Catherine Ann

Autumn Dreams

Autumn has me dreaming of sugar and spice- pumpkin bread, gingerbread, apple pie and all sorts of lovely cinnamon and spice flavored treats.
My Autumn Pinterest Board is loaded with great ideas for this time of year, and I have a stack of recipes from the Kitchen Adventures Recipe Pile that I'll be cooking my way through over the next few weeks. I'll share some of those here as time allows.

What are you dreaming of these days?
What are you cooking or creating this month?
Apples or Pumpkins, which are your favorite?

Autumn Blessings,
Catherine 

Welcome Fall

My favorite season of the year ...

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. ~Hal Borland

Thinking of pumpkins, apples, cider, cinnamon, and cups of spice tea; but also of the ocean, walks on the beach, hunting shells, watching the waves roll in ... late September is the perfect time for a vacation.

Autumn and apples just seem to go together, and this delicious recipe is a fall favorite at my house.

Apple Crisp

Preheat oven to 375.
Lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.

Apple mixture:
2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. sugar
Toss apples with lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to coat.
Place in baking dish.

Topping:
6 tbsp. butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (or 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup chopped nuts)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom (optional)

Use pastry cutter or your fingers to mix butter into other ingredients until you have a coarse, crumbly mixture. Sprinkle over the apples.
Bake until bubbly and brown, about 1 hour.
Serve plain or topped with ice cream, whipped cream or yogurt. Enjoy!

What do you love about Autumn?

Apple Cake

September is always apple month at our house. We eat apples and peanut butter for snacks, make caramel apples, bake apple crisp, apple pie.   Someday I’m going to try making apple dumplings.

We used to read lots of lovely picture books all about apples, but my girls seem to think they’ve outgrown those. Perhaps I will just read them to the cat this year.



Or maybe I'll just enjoy them all by myself no matter what everyone else thinks! It would be a sad thing to outgrow picture books, don't you think?

Below is my Kitchen Adventure version of an apple cake recipe that was in our local paper last fall. It is quite tasty and simple to make, and I plan to bake it again soon.

Philadelphia-Style Apple Cake

6 cups peeled and thinly sliced tart apples such as Granny Smith (about 3 large)
1 1/2 cups plus 5 tablespoons sugar, divided (I use Organic Cane Juice Crystals)
4 tsp. cinnamon
dash of cardamom (optional, but delicious)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tb. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar (I just use the same Organic Cane Juice Crystals)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.

Combine apple slices with 5 Tb. sugar and 4 tsp. cinnamon. Set aside.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Beat eggs with remaining sugars.
Add in vegetable oil, orange juice and vanilla. Beat well.
Gradually add in flour mixture and mix until well blended.
Pour one third of the batter into the pan.
 Top with half the apple slices.
Pour in half of remaining batter and top with the rest of the apple slices.
Top with remaining batter making sure the apples are covered.
Bake 50-60 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan 10 minutes.
Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.
This cake was actually better the second day.

* I will make a few changes when I bake it this time - less sugar for one, substitute at least part whole wheat flour, add some cloves, allspice, and nutmeg to the cinnamon … and I think it needs a few walnuts, too! 

What is your favorite apple recipe and/or picture book?
Please share them!

Autumn Apple Crisp

Autumn and apples just seem to go together, and this delicious recipe is a fall favorite at my house.  (And though I know it isn't officially autumn yet, I am ignoring the calendar and pretending it is already here.)

Apple Crisp

Preheat oven to 375.
Lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.

Apple mixture:
2 1/2 pounds apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. sugar
Toss apples with lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to coat.
Place in baking dish.

Topping:
6 tbsp. butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (or 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup chopped nuts)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom (optional)

Use pastry cutter or your fingers to mix butter into other ingredients until you have a coarse, crumbly mixture. Sprinkle over the apples.
Bake until bubbly and brown, about 1 hour.
Serve plain or topped with ice cream, whipped cream or yogurt. Enjoy!

Autumn Leaves

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

I'll be gathering Autumn's glorious bounty of fallen leaves this weekend ... some for their beauty, many more for their benefit as mulch and compost in the garden! 

It's Pumpkin Time!

It's that time of year ...

Pumpkins ...

pumpkins ...

 pumpkins everywhere! 

Plethora of pumpkins  at one of our favorite spots to visit this time of year-

a wonderful shop filled with books (old books, my favorite kind), antiques, and pumpkins of course!

Tucked right behind the shop is St. Joseph's Chapel, a lovely place to spend a few quiet moments in prayer. 


My pumpkin is cooked and the seeds  are roasted.  Now to decide what to make ...  pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie bars ... so many delicious things you can make with a pie pumpkin!

Fall Garden Tasks

"If it is true that one of the greatest pleasures of gardening lies in looking forward, then the planning of next year's beds and borders must be one of the most agreeable occupations in the gardener's calendar. This should make October and November particularly pleasant months, for then we may begin to clear our borders, to cut down those sodden and untidy stalks, to dig up and increase our plants, and to move them to other positions where they will show up to greater effect. People who are not gardeners always say that the bare beds of winter are uninteresting; gardeners know better, and take even a certain pleasure in the neatness of the newly dug, bare, brown earth."
-Vita Sackville-West






Brightest Blessings,
Catherine