Foodie Friday: Cooking with Fall Produce

When I first graduated from college I taught school in Billings, MT. Before I received the position, I had never been to Montana! But I quickly grew to love many things about Montana. One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning was to visit the farmers market that was held in downtown Billings. Oh, I miss that farmers market. I only wish that I had taken advantage of it more while I had it. Anyway, a couple of weekends ago, the when the girls and I went to a fall harvest event, we took advantage of a produce stand and a pick-your-own squash and pumpkin patch in the area. I let the girls each pick out a squash of their own and several items at the produce stand. We ended up bringing home an acorn squash, some peppers, a spaghetti squash, a set of green onions, a buttercup squash, a couple of mini  pumpkins, and a couple of small eggplants.
I started with the spaghetti squash and the egg plants. I used the spaghetti squash as its name would suggest, in the place of spaghetti noodles with marinara sauce. We all really enjoyed it. I found a suggestion on an online forum for sauteed eggplants with onions, tomatoes, some of the peppers, basil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. We just ate it as is without stuffing the eggplants and it was really good, too. (You can find the post here at Chowhound.)
I used the acorn in with an apple crisp. Unfortunately, the squash flavor ended up overwhelming in the crisp. We decided that the buttercup squash may have been a bit of a better candidate for this one.
I used the buttercup in this Italian Sausage-Stuffed squash recipe and it was delicious.
It was really fun for me to use the produce we bought and try some new things with it. The girls really enjoyed seeing the produce they choose on the table as well. So go out and track down some local fall produce of your own and try out something new this weekend!

Fall Family Picture Style: 2013

As I mentioned yesterday, I went with a mustard, grey, and navy theme for our 2013 fall family photo shoot.
I found a great pair of mustard skinnies for Peachy at Target. It appears that they are no longer selling them online, but you might be able to find them at stores yet. I paired them with a navy cardigan from Carters.

Under which I put a grey raglan sleeve shirt with sequins at the neck, also from Carters.

I also got out a pair of Keen sneakers that I had been saving for her. I don't remember where I ordered them from, but I got a really good deal when I did and I ordered a size up.

For Cream, I started with this graphic tee from Carters.

That I topped with this great cardigan with heart elbow patches! Love it!

I got her a pair of skinnies to wear as well. And she looked so cute in them.

She has been wearing her Keens for a while now, but I also love them.

I made both of the girls felt bow barrettes similar to this one on Etsy.

I wore my Old Navy skinny maternity jeans again. These are my go to pair of pants so far this pregnancy.

I wore a non-maternity Ann Taylor Loft stripe tank that is discontinued. But here is a similar one form Old Navy.

And once again the mustard cardigan made an appearance.

The infinity scarf is of my own making. I will try to do a post on it one of these days. And the boots are Old Navy.

And Mr. Cherry's outfit is from his dresser. :o)

Fall Family Pictures: 2013

A few weekends ago we had our annual family pictures taken. I love having pictures of the entire family and I have found that fall is a good time to do it.

Both girls have had their birthdays, the scenery is always beautiful around here, and then I have pictures for our Christmas cards (which I already ordered!!!)

We were supposed to go out on a Saturday morning, but following the trend as of late, it was cold, damp and gloomy. No go for pictures. Since my friend was taking the pictures, we were able to reschedule for Sunday evening.

Unfortunately, I was only able to meet her at 6. Not the best time of day for fall pictures, but she worked it. Also, let me say here, taking pictures of kids is no small feat. Getting both of the girls to look at the camera at the same time with decent smiles took lots of work.

It may have even taken our photographer balancing a mini pumpkin on her head, jumping in the air, and telling us about the animal in her camera lens. Yeah, family photographers need to be in good shape and high spirits.

Tomorrow I will do a run down of the outfits I put together. I love planning picture outfits. I have found that the key is to go with a color palate rather than all one color.

This year I went with grey, mustard yellow, and navy. I also threw in a splash of orange with my scarf.

You can see my post about our 2012 pictures here.
And if you are a local reader and are looking for a photographer, please let me know. I would be happy to share Tina's information with you.

Fall Preschooler Activities

This week we had some little friends over for a Fall Art event with our moms' group. I did some searches on Pinterest to come up with the ideas. Here are the activities that we did:

Paper piece pumpkins from Frogs and Snails and  Puppy Dog Tails. I actually cut out a pumpkin shape and had the kids rip the orange paper to glue on their pumpkins.

Painted Indian corn from Spotted Canary. I cut out paper shapes and had the kids use cotton swabs to dab their paint onto their corn. I had crumpled paper bag strips that we stapled on for the husks.

Fall themed bingo dauber sheets from DLTK kids. Bingo daubers are always a big hit with the 5 and under crowd. And I like that they are a lot less messy than regular painting.

We also did a tissue paper stained glass window. I don't remember where I first saw this idea, but everyone enjoyed it. I taped contact paper to our windows with the sticky side out. The kids placed tissue paper squares onto the paper. I will definitely be doing this one again with my kiddos.

Of course, no good playgroup would be complete without snacks. We had the "traditional" fall mix of roasted peanuts and candy corn. Apples on a stick from Ellies Bites Decorated Cookies. And candy corn dipped pretzel moms from Your Homebased Mom.
What projects have you done for fall with your kids?

Pumpkin Patch 2013

A trip to the pumpkin patch is a seemingly quintessential part of fall is these parts. 

The girls and I made the trek earlier this week. 

Unfortunately an incorrect address sent us on a bit of a wild goose chase. 

But we made it there and got to thoroughly enjoy everything that the pumpkin patch had to offer.

 I also go to enjoy practicing taking pictures with the new camera. 

When I got the camera, I didn't take into account how difficult it would be to get a picture of a two year old and a four year old BOTH looking, BOTH smiling, and BOTH in the shot. 

Ha ha ha. 

While we missed last year, Peachy went to the patch in 2010 when she was one and a half,

and Cream came along in 2011 when she was less than 2 months old.

Autumn Chalkboard

It was high time for a new chalkboard design in our house. And what better occasion than Autumn?!! So I go tout the colored chalk and went to work.

I started by drawing a faint white line down the middle so I could try to keep the words mostly straight. Then I lightly sketched the different words with white as well. On to the fun part, color! I tried a new technique this time and dipped my chalk into water before writing with it. At first I wasn't sure if it was working, but after the water evaporated I was left with crisp bright colors. I am loving this pop of color for fall!
What about you, what have you done for fall?

Pumpkin Mug Cake

I am a fan, make that a huge fan, of all things pumpkin. Combine that love with my love for a nice carb loaded breakfast and you pretty much reach euphoric levels here. And if you can give me both of those things in under five minutes I am weak at the knees.
And so today I am willing to share this pure happiness in a mug with you, my dear, dear friends. Here she is, the Pumpkin Mug Cake. One single serving of pumpkin pleasure.

Pumpkin Mug Cake
(adapted from {2 Minute} Coffee Cake in a Mug)
Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar2 tbsp pumpkin puree
vanilla extract, few drops
1/4 C All Purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp finely chopped pecans
Directions

1. Soften 1 Tbsp butter in microwave in mug. Stir in 2 tbsp of sugar and mix until well incorporated. Stir in pumpkin, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt; stirring until just combined. Smooth the mixture into the bottom of a mug.
2. For the struesel topping: Combine 1 tbsp of butter, 2 tbsp of flour, 1 tbsp of brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Using your fingers, pinch together until toppings form a rough consistency  Pour over top of the cake mixture and top with pecans. 
3. Cook in the microwave for 50-80 seconds depending on your microwave. Make sure to check it after the 50 second mark to make sure you don't over cook it. (Believe me, you will not want it to be over cooked.)
4. Enjoy warm and if you really want to make your day, top with whipped cream.

It may not be as healthy as my pumpkin pie oatmeal, but it is worth every extra empty calorie.

Fun Fall Family Photos

Here are a few of the pictures from our fall family photo shoot. This is the very shoot where I lost my engagement ring. Since the pictures turned out awesome, I will say that they were worth temporarily misplacing my ring. Good thing! :)

And there are even more! Can you believe it!!?? If you are local, let me know and I can totally hook you up with Nina and her awesome photography skills!
Oh, and my plan to look through the pictures and locate the ring would have worked. You could easily tell I lost it while we were playing in the leaves.