First Apples of Autumn :)

Zach had to buy some apples for a project at work, which meant he got to bring them home when he was done.  :0  We were supposed to go to a welcoming fall party Saturday night, so I considered making something with the Galas then.  However, after seeing what everyone else was bringing, I decided to make baked beans...but we had to bail on the party because Zach and I weren't feeling too hot.  So we stayed home and had a dinner of the beans, potato salad, and leftover steak from our anniversary dinner.  And the apples continued to chill in the fruit bowl.

We've been eating loads of crap lately, so I'm trying to get more fruits and veg back into our diet.  Sunday, he and a coworker spent 14 hours editing a video--they were up until 3 a.m.!--so I wanted to make some quick and easy for dinner.  Lots of times, we end up having breakfast for Sunday dinner (brinner, if you will), so I decided to go with that.  I had come across an apple and cheddar frittata recipe when I was on Pinterest Saturday morning, and I thought it would be awesome with bacon, especially since I was trying to use up the last few strips.  And so the ABC Frittata was born!

ABC FRITTATA

2 apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)

3 strips of bacon, cooked (I used turkey--turkey, apples, and cheddar is soooo good!)

1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded

8 eggs

2 egg whites

1 Tbsp. butter

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of nutmeg

-Heat oven to 450.  Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.

-Beat eggs and egg whites.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese and salt and pepper.  Crumble bacon into egg mixture and stir.  Add egg mixture to skillet.

-While the edges cook to set (3-4 minutes if using cast-iron skillet), layer apple slices around the top of the egg mixture and sprinkle the remaining cheese over all.  Then add pinch of nutmeg and more salt and pepper, if desired.

-Transfer skillet to oven and bake from 17 to 20 minutes until the center is set and frittata is turning golden brown.  Remove frittata from skillet and let rest on a platter or plate for five minutes before cutting.

This was my first time making a frittata, and it is definitely going to be in my rotation this fall and winter!

How are you marking the first days of autumn?

Also, if you are so inclined, my friend's cousin and his wife are trying to adopt.  If you haven't heard, adoption is very expensive.  They need about $20,000 more to bring a baby boy home this weekend.  I know that sounds kind of wild, but the mother wants to give her son to a couple who cannot have children at all, and they are currently the only ones that fit that bill with the agency the mother is using.  They only found out a few days ago that the mother will be induced in a week.  Since this morning, they have raised almost $8,000!  They have four more days to get the rest taken care of.  If you cannot support their efforts financially, please join us in praying for Baby O.

Menu Monday: Cinnamon Toast

Last week, we didn't do a ton of cooking because I started off the week sick, which mean we hadn't bought groceries.  Then we were struggling to find time to hit up the grocery store after work, and the one day I could go, my purse got locked up in my office!  (The new security officer couldn't find the right key to let my boss and me in.)  I finally made it Thursday evening, but then the weekend arrived, and we had plans with friends.  So...not much cooking happened.

But I did make some more Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Toast for breakfast, which was the third time I had made it in about a week and a half, which is crazy for us because I have to have variety.  If you try it, you will understand why!

CINNAMON TOAST, THE PIONEER (WOMAN) WAY

(It just happens to match my coach.  Apparently, it really IS cinnamon-colored.)

4 slices of bread

1/2 stick of butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

-Preheat oven to 350

-Mash butter with a fork.  Add in sugar and spices, and mush to blend.

-Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

-Spread one side of bread with the cinnamon butter mixture.  Place on baking sheet, buttered side up.  (Duh. ;)

-Bake for 10 minutes.  Then broil for one.

[serves 2--you probably want to double this!]

Sooo good!  It reminds me of my childhood and of fall and yummy things to eat.  SOOO GOOD!

Are you getting in the fall mood with food?  The weather has been ridiculous here, so I've been wearing boots and dreaming of pumpkin bread and spiked apple cider.  :)

Be Grateful #8

a portrait of George Washington at Crystal Bridges

1)  I'm thankful it's cooler in these parts (NWA).  It got down into the 30s over the weekend!

2)  I'm thankful for visits with family, even when it gets a bit stressful and chaotic.

3)  I'm thankful that this week will allow for some baking, some knitting, some Jack White, some time with friends before my husband goes to a conference for a few days next week.

4)  I can't life--I'm thankful we are at the midpoint of the semester!

5)  I'm thankful for friends at work who keep me laughing.

6)  I'm thankful my husband is a neat freak because it keeps me organized and clean.  ;)

7)  I'm thankful to live in such a beautiful area with so many opportunities.

8)  I'm thankful that I don't live in Panem.

9)  I'm thankful to begin my favorite unit in composition week--analysis (of advertisements)!

10)  I'm thankful this is my last week of Phoenix.  I'll get my Thursday nights back to snuggle with my husby and catch up on TV (and knitting).

11)  I'm thankful for Stephen's cocoa with bunny mallows.  Nighty-night.  :)

Photo a Day in September #28

28.  Front Door

I've already posted about my wreath earlier, but I never shared a picture of it on my front door. :)  I was too lazy to take a newer picture, but since you folks haven't seen this one, I think it will suffice.  (I rarely slack off in this photo challenges; I don't feel it's honest to reuse a photo or find one online.)  t looks pretty much the same, except it has sagged more, so it has a more of an oval shape now, and one of the pumpkins (lower left) looks blistered.  (But it may have looked that way originally, and I just didn't notice it!)

Our door is a darker red, but it always photographs fuchsia.  :)

Photo a Day in September #26

26.  Apple

This weekend, I made some caramel apple cider cookies. I found the recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff through Pinterest; I pinned the recipe last fall, but I felt it was too late in the season to make these cookies (it was more pumpkin fall time than apple fall time, if you know what I mean).  So I HAD to make them this year, and I knew the first weekend in fall was PERFECT.  I have been wanting to try more recipes from Pinterest anyway, so I've made it a loose goal to try a new recipe each week, and if it turns out alright, take part of them up to work.  I hate wasting food, but I also hate gorging myself on rich foods, so it's a win-win situation.  Everyone is always sharing food at work, so I feel like Zach and I should give back.

I brought half of the cookies in on Monday morning.  There were about twenty.  Most were gone by the end of the day!  Everyone commented that they liked how they were unusual but familiar and tasty. I would have to agree.  I altered the recipe a bit: I cut the caramels in half and rolled them out so they would disperse throughout the cookie better.  They taste just like fall with a crunchy exterior and chewy, caramel center.  Very interesting but delicious!  All of the cookies at work were gone by Tuesday, and we only have seven left (out of our 22) today.  :)

Be Grateful #5

I love my furry brats!  They enjoy getting inside the hampers we use to tote laundry up and down the stairs.  It doesn't matter if the laundry is dirty and wrinkled or clean and folded.

1)  I am thankful for the IHOP coupons we received this week--two free Fresh 'N Fruities can't be beat!  Going to IHOP definitely takes me back to college and reminds me of Black Friday shopping.  I can't wait for the holidays.  :)

2)  I am pleased as punch when it comes to the weather we are having in these parts.  Ah, fall, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways (and bake autumnal desserts to show you)...

3)  I am happy that I have finished the big chunk of mentor training for this semester.  Oh, five hours of training wears me out...

4)  I am grateful my first Phoenix class went well, even if we fell behind a bit.  ;)

5)  I am so excited to celebrate THREE years of marriage and FOUR years together with Zach on Wednesday.  He is cooking me dinner, which is a big deal if you know him.  We are going to watch Parenthood and hang out.  I hope he likes my present!  My husband is one of my greatest blessings, and "we" makes me a better "me."

6)  I am blessed to have had today "off;" I think I worked too many hours this past week, and I was so worn out, I decided to work from home today.  I may have not been as productive as I had hoped, but I got a lot done on all fronts!

7)  Yep, I'm gonna have to say praise Jesus for funny shows like Community (even if they aren't exactly wholesome and politically correct).  Yep, I'm obsessed.

8)  And it doesn't make me mad to listen to Christmas music as I run errands.  Too early?  Not if it puts me in an excellent spirit!

9)  Thank you, Lord, for my brown sugar Cadbury chip cookie-baking talents.  I baked some "NWACC" cookies for my mentor training--I used green and white M&M's--and I only brought home 2 of 42 cookies!  I love baking, and I am so thankful I am a good cook for my husband, our family, and our friends.

10)  I am grateful for the week and weekend ahead.  It won't be as busy as last week (I hope!).  :)

Photo a Day in September #15

15.  Hat

We store a good many of our hats on this rectangular mirror with hooks.  Zach keeps his summer hat and the one ball cap he wears (from Legoland in Windsor) there while I store my "Virginia Woolf" cloche, my sun hat, and my vintage beret I got the weekend we got engaged (it's hiding in between my straw sun hat and Zach's ball cap).  I can't wait for it to cool down so I can start wearing my cloche and beret again!  Actually, it may be cool enough tomorrow...  It will be especially wonderful when it's COLD, and I can pull out my knitted berets and wool tam!  :)

Photo a Day in September #14

14.  Store

Ah, I was so tired from my week that I forgot to post my photo last night! :(  As you can see, this is Walmart.  I spend many an hour here picking up items we need.  (Lest you forget, we live in Walmartland--Bentonville, AR, the home and world headquarters of Walmart.)  After my week, I just wanted to come home from work and curl into a ball and rest.  But I had to prepare for my mentor training today, and Zach also invited his friend Andrew to dinner (we had yummy Reubens and blackberry pie), so we had to swing by the Bentonville Butcher and Deli AND Walmart for a few groceries.  Thankfully, I got to wait outside and admire the pumpkins because I was driving and let Zach off at the front.  I also had to go to Sam's Club to order five pizzas for my mentors, and I intended to take a picture of it because I LOVE Sam's, but I'm glad I ended up forgetting because the pumpkins make me so excited for fall!  (And I don't feel so bad having my fall wreath up when I see these beauties.  :)  Oh, and the picture may look weird because it was raining, and I took this photo through the raindrop-splattered windshield.

Pinteresting...yes? :)

So I find all of my ideas on Pinterest lately.  Last night, we had some friends over for dinner, and everything but the dessert (which was courtesy of Marie Callender) was from Pinterest.  AND THEY WERE ALL DELICIOUS!  I made stuffed peppers, Crock Pot mashed potatoes, and homemade bread.  Ah, it makes my mouth water...

Yesterday, I gave you a sneak peek of something I was in the process of creating (for "Create" for my Photo a Day challenge).  Well, wait no more because here it is:

I made a lovely fall wreath!  I saw one on Pinterest and fell in love with it.  I loved it so much that I pinned it twice!  (No, it wasn't an accidental pin the second time around, as in I pushed the button too much.  This was my very first pin on my Holidaze board, and months later, I pinned it again.)

Zach and I like natural holiday decorations rather than whimsical or ostentatious ones.  We like our decor to be somewhat traditional and look as if it could have been plucked from the outdoors.  If, for the most part, Alcott's Little Women couldn't have made it, then we don't want it.  (Think pine boughs and cranberries and pinecones for Christmas.)  *lol*  So this wreath seemed perfect for us.  After all, I can hang this from September through November, and it will work just fine for Halloween and Thanksgiving.  The original was moss-covered with some realistic pumpkins and a simple burlap ribbon to tie it up.  I decided to recreate it with very few changes!

I had also seen on Pinterest how to avoid buying expensive styrofoam wreaths by using plumbing tubing instead!  The size I would have needed for this wreath would have cost me around $10 or more, according to my estimates, but I got a six-foot-long tube for $1.37!  I felt so proud marching into Lowe's and heading to the plumbing section as if I knew what things were.  ;)  This was great because we are short on our budget this month, and I didn't have much to spend on this wreath.  I simply cut where needed and taped them together.  What is even better is that this tubing doesn't flake like styrofoam does.  :)

I hot-glued moss around my tubing.  I didn't do the backs because 1) I was lazy, and 2) I wanted the wreath to lay flat, and 3) hot-gluing moss is hella messy!  I knew it would be very, very messy, but it was MESSY.  I decided to go with a variety of pumpkins to create interest, and I bought ones with picks (except for the very orange one in the center).  I trimmed the picks to fit, poked them into the wreath where desired, pulled them slightly out, coated the pick with hot glue, and stuck back in.  I had planned on using burlap ribbon, but I had some of this lovely brown fabric leftover from my bathroom shelf curtain and decided to cut a "ribbon" from it.  The ends and sides will fray, so it won't look too neat.  :)

Ah, it was an adventure making this.  Our kitties kept hopping up on the table to investigate the moss, and I was certain they were going to ingest some and die or get burned by my hot glue gun or knock the gun to the floor, getting hot glue everywhere.  Every five minutes, I was yelling, "Hobie!  No!  Dinah!  No!  Zaaaaach!"

I hung it in my kitchen to see how it will look on the door.  We have got to get a wreath hanger or put in a nail on the door.  I think it looks fab!  Don't you?  :)

Photo a Day in September #7

7.  Create

Guess what I am making tomorrow?  ;)

Ah, it's going to be in the 50s (THE FIFTIES) in the morning, so it seemed appropriate to start on this...