Touches of Fall

In addition to our Halloween decorations (which, now that I've posted them, I will now put away), we have little touches of fall around the house. I absolutely love fall! It's my favorite time of the year. All of those autumn colors just really dazzle my eye and I can't resist them.

With that in mind, the daughter of a friend of mine is attending Harvard. So that we could partake in a New England autumn without actually having to be in New England (though I'd love to be there!), she sent us a big box of fall leaves from Haaahvahd Yaaahd. Hmmm ... I forgot to take pictures of the stack of pumpkins on our front porch! Oh well, maybe later. Like the leaves, the Indian corn and the other pumpkins around they house, they'll be hanging around until Thanksgiving.

What happened to the rest of October?

Huh. I was thinking that I'd just posted something and I looked at the last date and it says October 17th. My gosh ... how did October skate past me so fast?

Since we're now into November, it seems a bit silly to show you my Halloween tree, but I'm going to do it anyway! Afterall, it is just the first of November - it's not as if it's the middle of the month or anything.

So without further ado, here are a couple of pics of the Halloween tree for this year: I made some cute little ornaments to hang on the tree:
(sorry, I think they may be a bit blurry...). I also bought these sweet little ornaments from someone on etsy...but I can't remember who! If you're out there reading this, thanks! I love them! Okay, I feel better now - we can move in to November =)

The Ultimate Comfort Food

We woke up this morning to light rain. YAY! I was sooo happy to see the rain and feel the chill outside when we went to the park. It is fall afterall, and this is how it's supposed to be!

As luck would have it, I began making a huge stock pot of soup yesterday. The cold, rainy weather was the perfect incentive to finish it off this afternoon. I had the soup on our menu for later this week, but Kevin decided that the house smells too good, and he wants the soup for dinner tonight. I didn't put up much of a fuss ;o)

I really think that a nice, hot bowl of soup on a cold, gray, rainy day has got to be the ultimate comfort food. It warms the house as well as the soul (not to mention the tummy!), and nourishes you in a way that few things can. It's filled with delicious vegetables, tender meat and lots of love. Oh, and some barley, too!

Very shortly, we'll be sitting down to steaming bowls of beef barley soup and warm asiago cheese bread. Mmmmm. What's cooking at your house?

A meal fit for ...

a wonderful office staff!! This past Friday was my free lunch from Stonefire Grill. What a feast! How wonderful that I was able to share such a fabulous meal with my friends at work and my awesome hubby (he was able to take a long lunch and join us for the festivities!).

The delivery guy, Matt, couldn't have been nicer. He was there about 10 minutes early, in fact, and set everything up for us. After he went over everything with me, he handed me my invoice (zeroed out, of course); that was a $100.00 meal!! In addition to that, he handed me a survey and said that, if I mailed the completed survey back, I would receive a $10.00 gift card to the restaurant!! The only thing the meal didn't include was drinks, so I stopped on the way to work and picked up 6-packs of rootbeer and creme soda. YUM! I'm sorry to have do this to you, but ... I'm going to anyway! (Sure wish this were smellivision ;o)
Oh my. It was all so delicious! There was just enough Greek salad leftover for Kevin and I to enjoy for dinner - with a little tri-tip and chicken mixed in. And enjoy it we did. I can't say enough wonderful things about Stonefire Grill. You definitely must go if you live close to any of their locations. It's a wonderful restaurant and they are a terrific bunch of folks. Thanks, Elly, for choosing my card!!

Moral of the story: put your business cards in those fishbowls. They really do pull them out =)

Yes Sir! Yes Sir! Four Bags Full

Over the weekend, Kevin picked the apples on mom and dad's tree. This was the largest crop they've had! While it wasn't a 'huge' crop by any means, it was definitely more than they've had in past years. In the late spring, Kevin helped dad hang squirrel deterrent bags in the tree. They seemed to have done the trick because the squirrels didn't even touch the apples. A bird or two here and there, but even that wasn't a big deal.

After picking, mom and dad saved a couple of apples and then insisted that Kevin and I take the rest home. We shared a handful with one of our neighbors and then kept the rest.

I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and process the apples tonight before they had a chance to bruise or go bad. I wanted to make apple pie filling for the upcoming holidays. I chose to make filling over just preparing the apples for the freezer because, in the past, I've just sliced and frozen apples and I've not liked the way they turn out when thawed. They tend to be discolored and the slices are somewhat dry. By making a filling instead of just freezing the apple slices, the apples are bathed in lemon juice to prevent discoloration, and then slightly cooked with the sugars and spices, so they should remain moist and tender.

We weren't quite sure how much filling the recipe would yield; it indicated enough for 5 pies, but I opted to make it into just four. I decided that I'd rather have four nicely filled pies, rather than five pies that could use more filling. The recipe that I used was new (to me), and both Kevin and I thought it was definitely a winner. Here's the end product: Mmmm. Yummy! Pie anyone?

Festivus for the Rest of Us

This past May, I happened to mention to a couple of friends at work that it would be fun to have a grilled cheese festival. The both agreed. We poked around some ideas, but that's as far as it got. Partly because it was rapidly approaching the end of the school year, and partly because, by that time, it was getting pretty warm and, let's face it, grilled cheese is more of a cooler weather thing.

Flash forward to the start of this school year. I was making the Friday Treats Sign-up Sheet and went ahead and signed the office up for two dates. That's our norm - we bring staff treats twice a year - once in the late fall/early winter, and once in the spring. Typically, one time it's for lunch and the other time will be just break-time goodies. Our first treat date was this past Friday - and it was our lunch round.

I again mentioned the grilled cheese festival idea, and everyone thought it sounded fine. You know, it's funny how you can mention something to several different people and each person's idea of the same thing is different. For instance, Jeff's vision of a grilled cheese festival was white bread and American cheese. Okay, so that's normal. But ... it's also boring! I'm not sure what everyone else thought as they really didn't weigh in on the subject. My vision, however, was ... well ... unique. I guess. When I dreamed this up initially, my thought was to have various kinds of breads, a selection of delicious cheeses, and all kinds of 'add-ins' to make the sandwiches both special and delicious.

I began tossing around ideas for different combinations of things. While I thought they sounded wonderful, both Jeff and Linda looked at me as if I'd lost my mind or had landed from a different planet. I teased them about not knowing what was good, and in return, each suggestion I made was met with either incredulity or, worse, feigned barfing noises (thanks, Jeff).

As we grew closer to the date, I'd made out lists of items and signs for ideas for different sandwiches. I even created a dessert menu of 'dessert melts' that I thought would be fun. My office mates kept telling me that I was 'over the top', but told me to go ahead and run with the idea. Most said they were running short on time and would be glad to pitch in money if I didn't mind picking up all of the 'goodies'. No worries, I thought, that's fine with me.

Running around from place to place picking up this item or that item, I began to wonder if maybe I was indeed crazy, and had gone way off the deep end with this idea. I worried that maybe the rest of the staff wouldn't be as into this 'festival' as I was ... Well, it was a risk I'd just have to run.

Starting Tuesday in our staff bulletin, I began hyping Friday's Grilled Cheese Festival at lunchtime. On Wednesday, I included an amazing website that listed tons of amazing options for grilled cheese sandwiches. By Thursday, I was encouraging everyone to 'come hungry and be creative!'. So .. . Friday arrives and I was in the lounge at break-time just starting to set up for our lunch. The first step was to post signs with bread, cheese and add-in offerings, as well as the dessert melts options and offerings. Next, I posted signs saying 'How About ...' and listing different sandwich creations.
As I was posting them, our staff began reading them ... out loud. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was so pleased with what I heard! A few people told me they'd woken up that morning saying 'TODAY is the grilled cheese festival!!' Several others told me they'd been thinking about it all week long! I was amazed - and thrilled - to hear that they were as excited about it as I was!

As I continued setting up for the lunch, I grew even more excited! I wondered what everyone's favorites would be. (Not to mention a bit of worry about blowing the power with four large grills running all at the same time ...) Finally, everything was set up and ready to go -- with about 15 minutes to spare before the lunch bell rang.


WHEW!! Let me tell you, shopping, preparing, and setting everything up was one HECK of a lot of work. Was it worth it? OH MY GOSH - YES! I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had! Everyone was amazed at the choices - breads, cheeses, and 'fixin's'. I think everyone came up with a different combination and we had a blast asking 'What do you have?', 'What's on your sandwich?' And the 'mmmmm's and 'ahhhhhh's. It was a HOOT!

All afternoon, I kept receiving emails from everyone: "That was the BEST luncheon we've ever had!", and "Oh my gosh, that was SO MUCH FUN! What a great idea!", "WOW, what a spread!". Clearly, everyone loved it! And I had a great time putting it all together. Was it a lot of work? Yes. Was I totally exhausted? You bet. Would I do it again? In a heart beat!

Okay, so maybe I was a bit over the top. But, as you can see from the photo, the staff agreed: Life is too short for boring cheese. Sorry, Jeff!

Cute 'lil Halloween Banner

BOO!

Don't be scared, it's just me ;o)

I've been wanting to make one of these for a while and finally got around to it this year. I kinda had an idea in mind, but didn't quite know how to go about tackling it. So, as with most things, not knowing that I couldn't do it, I just jumped right in and did it! I think it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. What do you think??

It's easy peasy. First I cut out circles from black paper. Then I added orange crepe paper to the back of the black circle using double stick tape. I gathered the crepe paper as I went along to give it a somewhat ruffled effect. Next, I cut smaller circles from sheet music that I had crumpled. I attached the sheet music circle to the black circle using double stick dimensional tape. Finally, I cut out letters that I'd printed in orange (the font is called 'Circus Ornate' -- don't you just love it!?), and used a glue stick to attach the letters to the sheet music. When each of the individual letters was complete, I hot glued each one to a length of cute black and orange polka dotted ribbon. A little time consuming (mostly the crepe paper step), but worth it I think. It's the perfect size for the mantle of our little fireplace =)

Cool Weather = Time to Start Cooking!

One of the reasons I love fall and winter is that the cooler weather means it's time to turn on the oven and get cookin' again! With the the advent of our rainy, gray days this week, I've done just that. Not only that, they were both NEW recipes! And, they BOTH turned out great!! (Love it when that happens...)

Here's the first one:

Maple Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs and/or drumsticks (I'm sure it would be fine with chicken breasts, too ... but not skinless since they dry out so easily)
poultry seasoning to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups carrots, cut into 1" pieces
3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 red onion, cut into 1" pieces
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons thyme

Arrange the chicken in an 8 x 13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Place the carrots, sweet potatoes and onions in a large bowl. Drizzle with maple syrup and olive oil. Sprinkle with thyme and toss to coat. Pour veggie mixture over chicken. Cover with foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, stir and cook uncovered for another 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is golden brown and a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees. Remove from oven, cover with foil and let stand 5 minutes before serving. YUM!!!

The seond one is a great mac'n'cheese recipe:

Pepper Jack Mac
2 cups elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
1 can 2% evaporated milk

Topping:
1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small (individual serving sized) bag crumbled Baked Lays potato chips

Cook macaroni according to package instructions; drain. Return macaroni to the pan and mix in milk and cheeses. Stir until cheese is almost melted. Pour into baking dish and sprinkle topping all over. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until just slightly brown.

They're both absolutely delicious! If you happen to try one, drop me a line and let me know what you think. Happy cooking!

Temecula Quilt Show

This past Saturday, Deb and I headed out for a girls day event: a really cool quilt show in Temecula!

Every year the town has a 'quilt walk'. Merchhants throughout the town display handmade quilts - inside their stores, from rafters, bannisters, balconies - you name it! Everywhere you look there are gorgeous hand crafted quilts. Amazing!

We had a fun time walking around - eventhough it was pretty warm out there. Our last stop of the day, of course, was Quilters Coop. I had promised Deb that I would introduce her to the most amazing quilting shop. And I made good on that promise! We walked in the door and Deb said "WOW!". My sentiments exactly. Here are a few photos (though neither of us took them) of the quilts on display:

Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

Not me!! Well, at least not any more =)

About two weeks ago, Kevin and I went to Stonefire Grill for dinner. We love this place! Everything there is delish. It's sort of along the lines of a Wood Ranch, but it's less pricey. Annnnyway ... while we were there, I noticed that they had a fishbowl in which to drop your business card. I never, ever do this. Not for any bad reasons, but just because I never remember to do it. Well ... I'm so glad I remembered this time!

Tuesday afternoon, I received a phone call at work. It was Stone Fire Grill! They'd pulled my card and I was this week's winner! I had no idea what I was even playing for - I figured maybe a free meal or something. Indeed, it was a free meal. Or, more precisely, TEN free meals. Here's the skinny: I won lunch for myself and 9 of my co-workers. All I had to do was pick a day (we decided on October 15th) and a time (11:30 a.m.) and they will be catering the following meal:

BBQ Sliced Chicken Breast
BBQ Sliced Tri-tip
Nutty Coleslaw
Greek Salad
Breadsticks

How cool is that?! I was thrilled! ...and my co-workers were pretty darn happy about it, too! Photos to follow after the feast.

Wild, Wacky, Wonderful Weather

I don't get it. Just last Monday it was 113 degrees. Yep, you read that correctly 113 degrees.

This past Monday, yesterday and today, it's rainy ... and cold! So cold, in fact, that we actually turned the heat on last night. I can't remember an October that was this rainy and cold this early in the month. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it, but how crazy is that?

Stay tuned - they say it's supposed to be in the 90's by the weekend. No wonder everyone at school is getting sick!

Whose bright idea was this anyway??

Oh.Ma.Ga.

We are exhausted! Why? Because this past week, yours truly had the 'grand' idea to follow the Organized Christmas Grand Plan. It's great!

... but we're pooped. Since we actually started a little late (hard to believe, right?, since we're still how far away from the holidays?), we had a bit of catching up to do. Instead of tackling just one area this weekend, we actually tackled THREE - the front porch/yard, the living room and the entry way. Honestly, it sounded like a good idea when Kevin and I first talked about it. However, this afternoon at 2:30, having just finished the last item on the list, we're kind of re-thinking the 'good idea' bit.

The upside is we're finished with the first three weeks of the plan, and I must admit, things are looking gorgeous! The front porch and front yard look clean, well-groomed and inviting. The entry way sparkles with shimmering family photos on the hutch, a fresh, clean, beautiful beaded runner and new scented candles. The living room shines from top to bottom with sparkling clean floors, windows, well-vacuumed and Febreezed sofa and loveseat cushions, new candles and cinnamon apple scented potpourri.

Is it worth it?! YOU BET!

... but maybe just tackle one area at a time ;o)

It's Pumpkin Time!!

Okay, so technically it's not quite fall yet - not until later this week - but I'm definitely in a fall frame of mind. With that in mind, I just had to try this pumpkin scone mix: Last fall, I tried to buy this scone mix for weeks, and Cost Plus was always out. A couple of weeks ago, Kevin and I stopped in for something and they had it (!), so Kevin put two in our basket =)

It's a super easy mix that takes no more than three minutes to mix and 12-15 minutes to bake. The only ingredient required, besides the mix of course, is 3/4 cup water. I wanted to bump up the flavor a bit, so I used apple cider instead of water and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top of the scones. MAN! Does our kitchen smell delicious! They've just come out of the oven.

I'm finding it difficult to wait to sink my teeth into one of these treasures! ... but I suppose I really should let it cool first!

Regarding yesterday's crockpot recipe ...

Eh.

Don't sit under the apple tree...

it's loaded, and you're likely to get plunked in the head!! This year mom and dad's apple tree appears to have a bumper crop. Dad is trying a new squirrel repellant and it seems to be working. Check out these photos!

Feeding the Freezer

Yep, another 'Feed the Freezer' weekend. Kevin had a few games so I did a little stocking the freezer.

I made chicken enchiladas - YUM!. I normally make these a few times per year and always make enough to stock the freezer. They are so delicious and super easy on a night I don't feel like cooking. In fact, I froze them in aluminum pans that can go directly from freezer to oven. It doesn't get any easier than that.

I also made Italian meatballs. Again, YUM! We love meatball sandwiches and having these on hand makes it easy to make them for Friday night dinners - or any other night during the week, but we often reserve Friday nights for soup and/or sandwiches.

TOTAL = 5 containers of chicken enchiladas (5 dinners), and 5 containers of Italian meatballs (5 dinners).

Ahhhh, I feel sooo relaxed knowing that dinner is waiting in the freezer ;o)

Actually, tonight dinner is waiting in the crockpot. I'm trying out a new (to me) crockpot recipe: orange chicken. It's super simple - I hope it's delicious as well. I'm always scouting out easy crockpot recipes that are also delicious - they don't always qualify for both categories and, if they don't, I'm really not interested!. I'm crossing my fingers that this one qualifies. If so, I'll share it in a future post.

Winchell's Can Have It!

(or "How Labor Day 2010 Earned It's Name")

I'll admit it, I'm a magazine junkie. I just love them! I love finding and trying out new recipes, giving seasonal crafts a go of it, and discovering new and interesting places in this amazing country of ours. You name it, I love what magazines have to offer. So when the current issue of All You magazine had a recipe for Apple Cider Donuts, don't you just know I had to try it out! I showed Kevin the photo in the magazine and he agreed that the donuts looked delicious and it sounded like a fun project! We decided that, since today is the Labor Day holiday, and we woke up to a nice thick marine layer which cooled the temperatures down considerably, it would be the perfect morning to try our hand at making these fall confections.

...or so we thought. Let me just say this about that: should you ever find yourself considering making homemade donuts, don't. Run, don't walk, to your nearest Winchell's. They do it for a living - YOU don't. How exactly did I come to this conclusion? I'm glad you asked.

We both re-read the recipe last night so that we knew (or at least thought we knew) what we were in for this morning. I mentioned that it might take us a while to get through the process, but Kevin pointed out that the magazine indicated 35 minutes, so we should be fine. Huh. Okay, sounds good to me. Yeah. Riiiiiight.

We began our "35 minute" task about 10 minutes after 7:00 this morning. Gosh, no worries. We should be ready to eat about 8:00 - right? Not exactly. Things went along pretty well at first. Put sugar and cinnamon in a brown paper bag to shake the donuts in when they've cooled. CHECK. Cook cider until it's thickened a bit. CHECK. ( Hmmm...now that we have to let the cider cool to room temperature, we're really beginning to cut into this 35 minute process.) Mix the dry ingredients. CHECK. Prepare the wet ingredients. DOUBLE CHECK. Refrigerate dough for 10 minutes (wow, that 35 minute process is already well past 35 minutes!) ... it will be 'a little sticky'. A little sticky? Kevin said it was so sticky it looked like we forgot to add the flour. No worries. We have to turn the dough onto a well floured surface, so that should take care of it.Well, it should have. Let's add a bit more flour. There, that looks better. Cut out donut shapes and put them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sounds easy, right? Well not so much. A little misshapen, but not too bad. Place donuts in small batches into hot oil that has been heated to 375 degrees. Really? WOW, that's HOT! Okay, here we go ... YIKES! Are they supposed to turn black almost instantly? No? Well, maybe the oil is too hot. Um yeah, definitely too hot. That POP just hit Kevin under the chin! OUCH!! After running cold water over the area, you can still see that, very shortly, there will be a good sized blister where the oil landed. Let's turn that down just a smidge, what say? There, that's better.How many more donuts and donut holes do we have to go? LORD, are we ever going to finish? Sheeeesh, at this rate we'll be lucky if we're eating BRUNCH this morning!

Finally! We're finished!! A mere 2 hours, one bad burn, and a horrifically messy kitchen later, we have 8 donuts that at least look decent (the first batch got tossed before we took a picture) and a decent quantity of donut holes. Wow. What a huge amount of effort for very little in return. Our final conclusion is that it was fun to try ... ONCE ... but if you really want donuts, go to Winchell's!

You can thank us later.

Petey Turns 100,000

...well almost. He's a gas tank away from 100,000 miles. He looks great, don't you think?

How to Beat the Heat in Just Under Eighty Miles....

Ventura. Ahhhh, that fun and funky seaside town that's just under eighty miles from home.

We've had a mini heat wave going for about a week or so (just in time to coincide with the start of school, wouldn't you know it?!), and Saturday was supposed to be both the hottest day of it, and the last day of it. Beginning Sunday, the weather forecasters said we were going to begin cooling down. So, to the celebrate the last day of the heat wave, we thought we'd escape from it!

Bev, Ken, Kevin and I headed up the coast for a day-long road trip. We had so much fun! We promised Bev and Ken the best BBQ they'd ever eaten, and the best ice cream they'd ever eaten, and they felt - as we do - that we were right on the money with our promise.

Heading up the coast, we did run in to some traffic which slowed us down a bit, but really, for a holiday weekend, it wasn't too bad at all. It would normally take us about an hour and 20 minutes to get there and it took us about an hour and 45 minutes. Eh, what can you do. We knew that what was waiting for us would be worth it.

We got up there just in time for lunch. Whaaaat a coinky-dink, huh? ;o) If you're looking for a nice sit-down BBQ restaurant, you'd better keep driving. If you're looking for the best darn BBQ in - at the very least - southern California, stop at the corner on Main where you see something that looks like a former der Weinerschnitzel. Better yet, roll down your window to make sure. If you smell the mouth watering scent of smoky BBQ, you're in the right spot. Mouth watering you say? You tell me:
Can't you almost t-a-s-t-e it? Mmmm. Trust me, it's as good as it looks. Ken made it through about two bites before he said "I was skeptical at first, but I have to admit ... this is the best BBQ I've ever had!"

After lunch (and buying enough to fill several coolers to take home to the freezer), we headed downtown to walk off lunch ... before hitting McConnell's ice cream shop on the way out of town. We meandered from shop to shop, not looking for anything in particular, but just enjoying the hunt. Kevin found a perfect birthday or Christmas gift for a friend, and I found some vintage juice glasses - something that mom had been looking for to go with her new 'retro' dishes. Other than that, we didn't buy anything - just enjoyed the shops ... and people watching, of course! If there was ever a spot that was perfect for people watching, Ventura would definitely be it.

After a few hours, we made it back to the car to head to our next destination, McConnell's ice cream shop: Yes, it's a bit pricey, but it's worth every single penny. Besides, their scoops aren't exactly on the small side. Man! Is this stuff good! Kevin had mint chocolate chip, Bev chose Brazilian coffee, it was pistachio for me, while Ken had half chocolate chip and half rocky road. Mmmm. Sooo good! Again, Ken said we delivered on our promise of the best ice cream. (If you live in southern California, check out your local Ralph's grocery store. Many of them have a small selection of McConnell's ice creams. You won't be disappointed!)

Heading home, we decided to go another route. We headed south on the 126, which goes through Heritage Valley (Fillmore, Piru, etc.) and the view is of all the wonderful agriculture in this area. Lots and lots of citrus and avocado groves as well as nuts, and regional honey. We stopped at a road side stand that had, in addition to fruits, veggies, honey and other regional goodies, an aviary, a koi pond, a bee hive and a shop that had all sorts of things. Bev found a rustic iron wine rack for their new outdoor kitchen, and some iron geckos for decoration. We enjoyed watching the bees and the guys fed the fish. All in all, a nice little distraction for the road home. We got back in the car and popped in an old-time radio comedy: Fibber McGee and Molly, and the Great Gildersleeve.

We made it back to the area about 6:30 and enjoyed a glass of wine on Bev & Ken's patio. The wine rack found a new home and it looks like it was made just for that spot.

What a wonderful way to beat the heat.

Batter Up!

This past Sunday, a large group of us from work attended a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes baseball game. The Quakes are part of the Angels farm system. It was the 40th birthday of the husband of one of my friends at work and she set up the event. We all had such a great time! We cheered, and laughed and giggled, and ate (birthday cake, too!), and oh yeah ... watched the game. It's so much fun to have a crazy bunch of friends at work. You just never know what's going to happen when we all get together. Thanks, Catherine, for setting this up for us!