PUMPKIN MUFFINS ON A FALL DAY

 This morning I made these muffins to 

take to a seniors church meeting.

You could make them for dinner tonight

or for a tea time.  There are lots of possibilities.  I guarantee they will be eaten!

This is a very simplified version of the

Pumpkin Muffins from the Sept/Oct 2012 issue of TeaTime: makes 12 muffins

Ingredients: 1 cup reg flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp bak powder, 1 tsp bak soda, 1 tsp grd cinnamon, 1/2 tsp grd ginger, 1/4 tsp grd cloves, 1/2 tsp salt

**1/2 cup dried cranberries or even raisins, 1 cup canned pumpkin, 2 large eggs 2/3 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup veg oil  (If I don't have buttermilk I just put a little lemon juice in milk)

Mix all the dried items and add moist items.

Fill the wells of large muffin tin tray 2/3 full and bake 18-20 min or 15 min in a convection oven.  I used some fun fallish muffins papers.

I hope you have been stocking up on some non perishable groceries at home.  Who knows where things are headed with all the decisions they are making.

**I used 1/3 cup craisins, 1/3 cup raisins and 1/2 cup walnuts  The recipe made 12+

COZY AUTUMN WILD RICE SOUP FOR DINNER

 I was online looking at various fall

soup recipes and today I made one for

our dinner tonight:

Our weather has turned cooler and I

imagine the leaves will begin to turn now.

Each day now, I have to pick up the

 acorns and walnuts in the back yard.

I try to get them before the squirrels

bury them.  That's impossible but I try.

The Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup is

perfect for fall!  I served it with the

$1.00 French Bread loaf from Walmart.

I buy them and immediately divide that

long loaf into several cartons and put

that in the freezer.  That way, it doesn't 

get stale before we eat it.  My husband

actually loves it for toast.

Like you I often put my own spin on a 

recipe and change one or more things.

In this case, I used 1 cup brocolli instead

of kale, I used 1 medium sweet potato and 1 

medium regular potato.  I also added 1 cup

fresh green beans and used red onion instead

of white.  I cooked 2 small chicken breasts

in 6 cups of water.

We loved our soup and you might

like to try it too. 

PULLING OUT THOSE FALL RECIPES

 I love each season for it's own special

characteristics and unique visual 

changes.  I also love seasonal foods and

baking delights.  Fall is here and the 

perfect time to smell Gingerbread,

 Carrot Walnut Cake 

and Soups and Breads.

One of the joys found in cookbooks is

the memories of past baking and

serving food to those you love

and friends you 

cherish. 

I recently went through all my

fall recipes I have collected over

the years.  I have those specifically

for Afternoon Tea but also others we enjoy ourselves or for company that are

both cooking and baking.

Here are some ideas for fall:

Look for recipes with cranberries, nuts,

and dried fruits. Baked apples always

smell so good.  In the fall I think about

pomegranates, persimmons and figs.

One year I tried a Persimmon Cake

although I wasn't overly excited about

it even though it was really pretty.

What recipes do you love for fall? 

LYNN BEAN'S DECADENT CHRISTMAS ORANGE/CRANBERRY BREAD

After seeing Lynn Bean post a wonderful Decadent

 Orange/Cranberry Bread, (click for recipe) I decided it was a "must bake"!  

I did everything just as Lynn's recipe suggested except I also added 2/3 cup of chopped dried apricots.  The only other suggestion I have is that in the past I found chopping the cranberries makes them all taste sweeter so I make sure 
each one is opened with a chop!

I have done some serious baking this Christmas and tried some things I've always wanted too. I make mistakes too.  You know like dumping the cake out too soon and it sticks.  I try to make a note of my mistakes so I can avoid them the next time. Have you been baking?  It has been great fun!

Every day my husband and I joke about "not having to go to work" and believe me I am so happy to be retired.

My husband had a big glass jar on the floor by his desk where he always throws his pocket change.  Today he took it to the bank and dumped in the machine.  He came in the door later and asked me to guess how much it was.  My guess was - $47.47 and he just laughed.  He said no - "it was over $400.00". 
 Can you imagine that?  I said, let's go to the grocery store!

PUMPKIN SWIRL BREAD TASTES YUMMY

Early in the week I baked this bread and it makes a total of 3 loaves so 2 went in the freezer:

This was before they were glazed:

Here is the recipe: 

here

This Ellsgreave teapot was 

a recent bargain find:

APPLE BUTTER SPICE MUFFINS (with Craisins too!)

I am sharing some muffins I baked

 today that 

you might like to try too! 

 They tasted

 great tonight with Goulash!

I am sure you notice those little recipe books at the grocery check out.  I have purchased them in the past and even bought used ones in antique/flea markets.  This recipe was in a 2011 copy.

Ingredients:  1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground allspice, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, also 1/2 cup craisins, 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 cup  milk, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg and 1/4 cup apple butter.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  I used 12 paper muffin cups

Combine sugar, spices in a large bowl.  In another bowl toss 2 Tb sugar with chopped walnuts and sit aside.   Add flour, baking powder and salt to remaining sugar mix

In a small bowl, mix oil and egg and then pour

 into flour mix.  Stir all.

Spoon 1 heaping Tb of batter into a muffin cup, now spoon 1 Tsp apple butter on top and now another heaping Tb of the mix.  On the top sprinkle the walnuts/sugar combination.  Bake 20 min

HARVEST OATMEAL TEA BREAD for "Tea In The Garden"

  Today I set up a little tea time in the garden.  While in Missouri a few weeks back, I got some bittersweet at an antique mall called Artichoke Annie's east of Columbia.  We always enjoy stopping there when we visit my son and his family.  I put some of the bittersweet on the birdhouse in the corner of the yard.  I hope you are ready to sit and relax a little while this morning!

I recently pulled out some of my fall cookbooks to enjoy.  Don't you love the recipes for apples, pumpkin, squash, etc.  I would imagine that the pumpkins will be arriving at our market soon.  This is the really colorful time of the year.

Please pour yourself a cup of tea and
 have a nice slice of this Harvest Oatmeal Tea Bread. 
 The recipe was in an old 1997 November
 issue of Victoria Magazine.

Harvest Oatmeal Tea Bread:

You will need: 3/4 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 1/4 cups boiling water, 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal, uncooked, 1 cup of sifted flour, 1 tsp baking soda,  1/2 tsp ground cinnamon,  1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup dried chopped apricots, 1/2 cup dark or yellow raisins, 1/2 cup craisins, 4 Tb cognac (you could also add nuts if desired). I did not have cognac so I used Rum.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter and the sugar and mix in the eggs one at a time until fluffy.

Boil water and add oatmeal and stir setting aside.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda spices and salt.  Add the dried fruits to this mixture.

Add the cognac and the creamed butter mixture to the dry components.

Fold the oatmeal into this mixture.

Now pour into a greased and floured bread pan 5 x 9 and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Next, turn the oven down to 325 degrees for an additional 45 minutes and check with a wooden skewer. (Frankly - I only baked this an additional 15 minutes this morning and it was done.)  If it comes out clean this means it is done. Turn out of pan while warm!

Indoors I have pulled out my fall decorations and transferware pieces and will share those later this week.  I am like many of you who leave these items out until around Thanksgiving November 26.  I like the Canadian Thanksgiving Day of October 12th so much better!  That gives them so much more time for Christmas decorating.

ROSE SHAPED BAKED APPLES

I have seen these Rose Shaped Baked Apples and the videos of how to make them on face book for quite some time.  Last night I decided I'd better try them and they are easy if you pay attention to a few things.

I watched the video by Manuela M. several times on YouTube and then wrote some directions.  It only take 2 apples to make 6 roses. Buy a package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and thaw one sheet.

#1 Cut 2 washed and unpeeled apples in half and remove all the core.  Red Delicious Apples were recommended but I used Gala.
#2  Slice very thin on a cutting board.  The reason it must be thin will be clear to you when you go to roll them up - thin means they will roll better.

#3 Fill a medium bowl 1/2 full of water and stir in 1/2 lemon juice making sure there are no seeds - put the apple slices in the bowl separating them
#4  Microwave the slices for 5 minutes (3 min was not enough for me)
#5 Stir 2 Tb water into 3 Tb apricot preserves and stir and microwave 1 minute

#6  unwrap the pastry and roll it out on a floured cloth about 1/2 larger
#7 Cut into 6 strips - brush strips with apricot
#8 overlay a row of apple slices with the tops of the apple pieces dropping over the side of the dough 
#9 mix 1 Tb ground cinnamon with 2 Tb sugar in a small bowl

#10 sprinkle over the apples - now fold down the dough in half and roll it up into a rose
#11 put this in a muffin pan which has been sprayed with pam
#12 Bake 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  
SPRINKLE WITH POWDERED SUGAR OR SERVE WITH WHIPPING CREAM!

I would highly recommend these for a party dessert, Afternoon Tea Tray or Fall luncheon.  I am an amateur and I thought they were pretty easy.  At first the apples weren't tender enough to roll into a rose but I recooked them more in the microwave which is why I suggest 5 minutes!  Also, the apple slices must be sliced very thin - I had to go back and re-slice some of mine which were too thick.

TRYING A SCONE MIX

This is such a busy time of year as we begin preparations for the upcoming Holidays:  Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  Like many of you,  I have pulled my Thanksgiving Cookbooks and also my Christmas ones!  Tea provides a nice break to pursue them here in the kitchen! 

We are enjoying the cooler weather

 we have been having. The change of four seasons is always nice.

I usually make all my scones from scratch but for fun this morning,  I tried an Orange Cranberry Stonewall Kitchen Scone Mix from the Gourmet Pantry at my store.  I was pleased with the results!