Fall Things

Well, even though it snowed yesterday (grrr!) and I've been sipping my holiday themed gingerbread tea, I am still in the mood to savor the things of fall.

Some good ones I've been enjoying:

Raking leaves. I actually love seasonal chores like this. Plus it is a FANTASTIC upper body workout. I feel ripped after raking both my front and back yard. I had no idea how big they are, or how many leaves would fall! See all those piles??

Football. I have never been to a live football game in my life, but somehow I got talked into going to my first one last weekend. My hubby's college roommate is way into the University of Utah's football and they were playing Airforce, so we couldn't miss it :) It RAINED on us for about an hour, it was freezing and they went into overtime. Ugh. Evidently I am a super fan now, too, because I tolerated and sat through the WHOLE game and I didn't even complain once. What a good wife. (jk babe) Of course, I've been getting some great fall time eats in, too! Still sitting in bazillions of apples, so what's a girl to do?

Get cookin!

Inspired my Susan's homemade applesauce the other day and Lauren's instruction, I whipped up a batch of the sauce myself.

Before

After Easiest thing ever. Apples, water, cinnamon and vanilla. Delicious. My only mistake? Not making enough! Luckily it's so simple, I can do it any time I've got an extra hour or so for the apples to simmer on the stove.

This thing:

In all my leaf raking and yard prep the other day, D and I discovered these watermelon radishes that we planted in some pots this summer. So pretty! Pink and green is one of my favorite color combos, so I was all about this. They tasted just like regular radishes, except perhaps not as spicy. Great with hummus!

More apples. This time in the form of some struessal-topped Dutch Apple bread from Eating Well.
This recipe was suggested by a couple of you readers during my apple giveaway. Thanks guys! I seriously loved those suggestions--so creative! I'm still going back and checking them for more ways to use up my apples.
The streussal was the best part of this bread. It turned out kind of dry which was disappointing, but is definitely better second or third day.

Also, I don't know if you guys can see, but the weirdest thing is happening to my apples when I put them into baked goods with the peel on! There is some sort of strange oxidation or something occurring during the baking process because the RED peels are turning slightly purple and then bright GREEN! It kind of makes the apple chunks look like onions--weird! Anyone know what's up with that?

Oh, and a lot of you were anxious to know where I'd picked up that Gingerbread Chai mentioned in my last post, and above. I understand your excitement for sure! I almost peed my pants when I saw it :) I just got it at my local Smith's store. It's a Kroger brand chain, so hopefully you all can find it in your neck of the woods(s).

Have a great Wednesday everyone! Almost to the weekend again! xoxo