Sweet Treats for Fall

This week I thought I'd share a few recipes we have been munching on... it's hard to keep my baking bug in check during these delicious fall months!

Pumpkin Scones

2 cups flour

½ cup brown sugar

¼ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp allspice

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup cold unsalted butter

1/3 cup buttermilk (1 cup buttermilk can be made by adding 1 tsp lemon juice to 1 cup milk—adjust amount as needed)

½ cup pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup white chocolate chips

Mix together flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into pieces and cut into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together (don’t over mix). Add white chocolate chips.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 3-4 times, then shape/pat into a circle about 1 ½ inches thick. Slice in half, and then cut each half into 4 equal pie shaped wedges (8 scones).

Bake on a cookie sheet at 375 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick some out clean. Pour ginger glaze over the scones while they are cooling.

Ginger Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

¼ tsp ginger

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk ingredients until smooth.

A few others we have loved (thanks to Mike's new epicurious "app"! ;)

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Fuji Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It's Autumn Time

I have had this Primary song going through my head all week:

It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time. The leaves are falling down.
It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time. It's all around the town.

It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time.There's yellow, red, and brown.
It's autumn-time. It's autumn-time. Bright colors can be found.

Maddie has been loving fall as much as I have. On our jog this morning she pointed out all the yellow and orange leaves and how they were falling to the ground. Later, she noticed the red leaves on our little maple were almost all gone. She happily announced that they would come back green. I was amazed at how well she grasped the abstract idea of the changing seasons.

Along with explaining things and pointing out signs in nature, I love teaching Maddie by reading books. My sister gave me this adorable set a few years ago (we will have to see if the seeds are still viable next spring!). Eric Carle is a masterful storyteller and artist--we love all of his books.

The Tiny Seed begins in the autumn and shows how a seed blows on the wind, weathers the winter, and bursts forth into a plant in the spring. I love how is teaches not only about seasons, but also plant life cycles and growing requirements. It's a great read for a budding gardener.


I was thrilled to come across this book at the library this week.

The author's first two books, Bear Snores On and Bear Wants More, are also well-beloved at our house! This new one follows Mortimer the Mouse through a season of discovery as he plants one of his precious sunflower seeds to see what will happen...

Your little ones will enjoy finding out!

Fall Planting Time!

The kids and I took a fun field trip to Linden Nursery today (click here for an interesting story about it's name). For me it's almost as good as walking down a candy aisle!


I chose this beautiful Sunrise Mix for my "cover crop". I love the variation.

Frigid mornings and warm days remind me of planting time at the Noni Gardens. Allow me to show you a day-in-the-life fall planting tutorial!

This was our holding area for the pansies. Is that not an impressive sight?

To prepare the soil, first turn it with a shovel, add your amendments (we used a granular nitrogen fertilizer, bone meal, and mulch, pictured above), and then till it in.

Rake smooth...

Top dress with the beautiful dark mulch and you are ready to lay out the plant material.

Bulbs (tulips and daffodils) are thrown out first. We generally put taller, spotlighted varieties in clumps of threes and fives and filled in with smaller varieties. We often scattered hyacinths along the front edge because they are shorter and they smell so good they have to be within reach of your nose!

Pansies are thrown out over the top of the bulbs. I have always laughed about the name "pansy" and the connotation of being wimpy. They are actually the toughest flowers around! They add splashes of color all season long, and believe it or not, they survive through the snowy winter to flourish in the spring!

Here is a bed all ready to be planted. I feel sorry for whoever had to perch in the center of that one... oh wait, it was probably me!

Just as a general rule, bulbs need to be planted at a depth about double their height. The point, or growing tip, should always be up. I have seen a few tough tulips send their shoots down and then find their way to the surface, but it's a lot more work for the poor plant!

Stay tuned and maybe I will find some pictures of these beds in the spring to show you what those little brown, wrinkly bulbs produce in all their glory!

Seasonal food tastes better!

My love of growing things and yummy food are intertwined. Seasonal, fresh food is in-arguably the best food there is. Take tomatoes as an easy example--who in their right mind wouldn't choose a fresh garden tomato over a grocery store pretender that has been shipped on a big truck from a few states away?

This summer I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (a master storyteller). It's about a year in the life of her family wherein they ate only food they had grown themselves or purchased from local farmers. It's an understatement to say they made big sacrifices and worked hard, but it goes to show that eating well takes effort. The benefits, however, are immeasurable: tastier, more nutritious food, leading to better health... support of local business and economies... working toward less dependence on fossil fuels (to transport food) and preserving the environment. In her celebration of fresh, locally grown food Kingsolver inspired me to think much deeper about what I am putting on the table to feed my family.

I look forward to someday having land with a large garden, fruit trees, and flower beds. For now I have been doing all I can to cook with seasonal produce, buy from local farmers, and preserve fresh produce myself for the fall and winter months ahead.

I also think I read this book at a very applicable time because of our job layoff and relocation. It encouraged me to be provident and self-reliant. Making my own bread, canning some fruit, and using food storage basics doesn't seem too bad compared to what Kingsolver did!