get baked

When I found out the Birthday Girl doesn't really like cake and loves caramel (I do cake and I don't do caramel) I went to the best bakery in DC for some of her favorites. And some of my new favorites!

Tasty Treats; Happy Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday to you, and you, and you...

Sometimes (almost always!) I come up with ideas that complicate my day and take much longer than I anticipate, but this project didn't turn out that way. It is amazing what happens when you have all the materials and the right tools for a project, how easily it comes together. This banner was made with P's help with crayons, construction paper, stencils, hot glue, and yarn. Simple! And oh, so festive! We had a number of birthdays to celebrate last week and this sweet little banner added to the celebration.

my little maker

the finished product

Happy Birthday

Needle and Thread

Sometimes, I sit down at the sewing machine and everything goes right; those days I feel like a master seamstress.

Some More...

On a lovely fall night in middle America, we had a fire, and we had s'mores!

Papa helping with the marshmallow melting

silhouette of s'more making, dadda and papa

by firelight

what is left, just a few smears of marshmallow

We look forward to a few more fires this fall season! S'more, please?!

Pumpkins!

We picked the perfect pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, took them home, and decorated them. We had a fall-fun-filled week last week in Nebraska complete with a trip to Poppy's Pumpkin Patch. So, we check a number of things off the Fall to-do list!

pumpkin patch through the corn maze

Phoebe and her painted pumpkin

Papa carving the pumpkin

The finished jack-o-lantern

Baking

When we got home from the farm we were left with a good question; what were we going to do with all the produce? I made soup with the broccoli and cauliflower, kale chips, roasted beets with Tilapia, and roasted cauliflower all in the first week. Then the apples....it seems clear that the ONLY thing to do with apples is bake and apple pie. So, let me introduce you to my first apple pie entirely made by me. (normally I go with the frozen pie crust!)

I followed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and added the extra spices like she suggests at the end. I figure when baking something for the first time, there isn't a whole lot of space to veer from the recipe so it is as the recipe says.





The crust is delightful! Crisp but not hard, flaky but it also holds together. The apples are amazing, and the spice was nice against the lemon.

For me the process felt long but worth it. In the future I might make the dough a day or two ahead of time to spread out the time it takes. And certainly part of the fun and added time was due to my little helper; apparently we forgot to put her apron on. :)


During the chilling of the dough, I also made a couple apple breads, this was a simple recipe and OH so tasty! We just finished one bread and the other is in the freezer for next week. The dough seems a little dry but it is perfect for the juicy-ness of the apples, try it.

Apple Picking: Check Check

We started on our Fall List of Fun last weekend with Apple Picking! It was a little frigid but we were committed; the day was predicted to be a sunny mid-50's kind of day and it was about 45, cloudy and wet. We met our playgroup out at Larriland farms for some pick-your-own adventure. Our family picked broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and beets before we met everyone else at the Apple Orchard.

There they are, way up there!

Nina and Phoebe

Phoebe. Notice all the apples that weren't picked!

Next up, baking! Since we brought home SO many apples.