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!

Fall Glory

I had another life once upon a time. It was an abundant life, although in very different ways than my current life is abundant. I guess that's why they say there are seasons in life... a time for everything.

When I was nearing graduation from BYU with a degree in horticulture, I knew I would be hard pressed to find a good job in my field in ol' Provo. Only now can I appreciate how lucky I was to stumble upon a job posting for this diamond in the rough. Morinda Gardens, more commonly known as Noni Gardens, became my second home at the base of Mt. Timanogos. Even now as I look at these pictures I feel like I am visiting an old friend. After two years of working in those gardens--sun, rain, and snow--that place became a part of me, and I like to think I became a part of it too.

I am a sentimental fool by nature, but working in nature brought it out in me even more. I love the four seasons and all of the nuances of change that correlate in the plant habitat. I thought I would share with you some snapshots of my gardens (if I may call them that) at this time in September of 2005.

The roses bloom abundantly in the very late days of summer, before fall frosts nip them in the bud.

Notice the view of the trees turning red on the mountain benches. I had a front row seat.

Grasses are one of my favorite sights in the fall landscape. This one is an annual (meaning it only lives one season), called Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’: Purple Fountain Grass.

Miscanthus sinensis 'Silberfeder': Silver Feather Grass... This beauty is a perennial (meaning it will grow back year after year).

Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster: Feather Reed Grass is one of my very favorites. I love how it is so tall and linear with gorgeous wheat colored plumes at the top.

Lobelia cardinalis: Cardinal Flower also produces a flush of color in the late summer warmth.

Acer palmatum ‘Red Filagree Lace’: Laceleaf Japanese Maple is already red, but adds to the fall landscape with its pretty hue.

Doesn't this make you want to visit my secret gardens? Maybe they aren't so secret anymore... but I like to think of them that way.

Roasted Tomatoes

Tomatoes top my list of favorite things. Fresh garden tomatoes, that is. Imagine my delight when we moved into this house to find about 10 sweet little tomato plants already growing! Little did I know six of them are vigorous, take-over-the-world, cherry tomato plants! They keep growing, growing, and growing...

I discovered quickly that these are going to be hard to keep up with. As much as I love them, there are only so many cherry tomatoes you can eat before you get a little (teensy weensy bit) tired of them! I began researching how to serve and use them in creative ways, and here are a few findings.

Once you have tried slow-roasting tomatoes you will be completely hooked. The slow heat brings out the sweet flavors and caramelizes them to perfection. It's easy too! First, half the tomatoes crosswise (or lengthwise for Romas) and spread them out face up on a parchment or foil lined baking tray. Then drizzle olive oil over them and sprinkle with seasonings. I used a little bit of basil and oregano, but you could use thyme, rosemary... whatever you like. Lastly, add some garlic! I only had minced garlic, but a couple of whole cloves on the tray would be good too. Roast them in a 200 degree oven for about three hours, or until they are shrively and a little dehydrated.

Once they are cool, try one of the delicious morsels. I bet you won't want to stop! They can be used in salads, pastas, omelets, over meat... the possibilities are endless.

I added them to a veggie spaghetti recipe I love that usually calls for fresh tomatoes. It bumped the recipe up from four to five stars in my book!

Another great way to use fresh cherry tomatoes is on focaccia. Again, this is so easy! I just used my quick pizza crust recipe, spread it out with some oil on the pan, pressed halved tomatoes into the dough, sprinkled some olives, onions, garlic, oregano, and pizza cheese, and drizzled with olive oil. About 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven and you've got a tasty treat!

Love grows on

Let me tell you the story of a strawberry plant.

This little transplant is the sole inhabitant of my west garden bed. It was introduced about two weeks ago, after a visit to Mike's Grandma Johnson. She is the most upbeat, adorable, sweet ninety-five year-old I know (don't mind that I don't know very many). Unfortunately she is sick from liver failure, but during our visit her concern was only for us. She knows how much Maddie loves to eat the strawberries in her back yard, so she insisted we bring some plants home with us.

This is Maddie a year ago, with strawberry juice dripping between her fingers in Grandma's back yard. Grandpa Andrews had a hard time keeping up with her demand for the juicy morsels.

{Grandma Johnson with her newest great-grand-daughter Ella}

It's amazing how love can live on through plants. Just as we will always think of Grandma Johnson when we eat strawberries, I will always think of my Grandma Jensen when I see the ivy on my parents house.

{My Grandma Jensen, holding me (blue) and my twin sister Dana}

When I was 12 years old, my mom helped me transplant some ivy slips from my Grandma to our house for a summer 4-H project. What began as tiny little plants now cover the entire east side of the house and try to sneak in through the roof and garage (in fact, my dad is getting tired of it invading and threatens to get rid of it!). It was my first official gardening experience, although my love for all things green began much earlier. My mom always named the wildflowers on hikes, picked bouquets of tulips and peonies from her beds in the spring, and grew gorgeous roses all summer long. Let's just say she planted a seed... and on it grows.