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more fall baking

The weather is nice. The bread is gone and so are the apple bars. So, back in to the kitchen I went.Baking is a fun activity for me . I could spend all day baking.

We are having beef burgundy for dinner, so I wanted a roll to go with them. I found a recipe for the best dinner rolls so I gave them a try. Very good. We will definitely have these again.




I also made spiced apple cake . It came from the Williams- Sonoma New Healthy Kitchen :Desserts cookbook. It is pretty good, very moist. I drizzled caramel on Jays and he liked it that way.

All Fall

My friend Kara invite me to join up with some other military bloggers with a weekly topic. I thought it might be fun.

This week is all about fall.

Favorite things about fall:

Living in the south the biggest thing would be the cooler temperatures. It is so hot here most of the year, that fall it finally starts to cool off a little.

Fall is my favorite season. I love all things apples and all things pumpkin. Sweaters and boots. Hot chocolate and pumpkin spice lattes. Little kids asking for candy in cute costumes. College football. And the start of hockey.

I can open the windows and let some fresh air in. Lighting pumpkin and harvest scented candles.

Of course, fall baking. Apple pies and cakes. Pumpkin pies, breads, and muffins. It is cool enough to turn up my oven and not be overly hot in my kitchen.

Fall Decor:

I do not have a lot out yet, I would like to do more, but havent bought much yet.





Halloween Costumes:

We do not dress up unless we are going to party, so no pics of that.

beautiful fall baking day

Today was a great day for baking. It was cool. I could open up the windows and enjoy fall. Turning on the oven was actually nice.

A friend of mine posted this on facebook last week. They sounded so good. So I made them today. Glazed Apple Bars.

Note - I do not have a jelly roll pan. So I made it in a 9 by 13 pan. I baked for 50 min. They turned out great.




I also wanted some fall bread. So I found a bread recipe for oatmeal bread. It was so good.

Honey Oatmeal Bread.

We cut it tonight and I sampled it. Pretty good. A little dense, but for snacking bread that is OK.




I used about 6 c flour. And i baked it at 375 for 30 min.

recipe #5

For me I found this spicy . It was not to bad , but I do not like spice, at all. My husband said it was not spicy at all.

This came from Williams-Sonoma Slow Cooker cookbook

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

2 T olive oil
4 skinless boneless chicken thighs
3/4 lb andouille sausage
1/2 lb okra
1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1 yellow onion chopped
2 T flour
2 c chicken broth
1 can diced roma tomatoes
salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper
steamed rixe

In a large frying an over med-high heat, warm 1 T of the oil. Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned on all sides, about 8 min. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker, then add the sausages. Scatter the okra, bell pepper, celery and onion on top.l

Return the frying pan to med-high heat and add the remaining 1 T oil Sprinkle the flour in the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 4 min. Stir in the broth and the tomatoes with their juices and raise the heat to med0high. When the mixture comes to a boil, removes the pan from the heat. Season with 1/2 t salt and the cayenne and then pour over the vegetables, chicken and sausages.

Cover and cook on the high heat setting for 4 hrs or the low heat setting for 8 hrs. Season to taste with salt and cayenne. Ladle the gumbo over steamed rice and serve.


I will definitely make this again, if only for Jay.

Recipe #4

Well, Recipe #4 was a keeper. I kept it simple and roasted a chicken. Which was perfect because yesterday was a very cool fall day in the south.

I used a recipe from my Today's Kitchen Cookbook (if you are new here, cookbook links are in cookbook name and if I link a recipe or a blog it will be in the name)

Perfect Roast Chicken

1 6lb roasting chicken
1 lemon
1 large onion *peeled
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 c white wine (I just used cooking wine)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Clean and rinse chicken, drain well, and pat dry.

Cut the lemon in half, crosswise, and squeeze the juice directly onto the chicken skin, rubbing it in as you squeeze. Cover all the skin with lemon juice. Place the onion and rosemary into the cavity of the chicken.

Place the chicken on a rack in a heavy roasting pan. Pour the wine into the roasting pan and place in preheated over. ROast for 30 min. Lower the heat to 375 and continue to roast for another hour or until the chicken skin is golden-brown and crisp, thigh meat is soft to the touch, and an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 155 degrees F.

Remove the chicken from the oven and let stand 5 min. Carve and serve.



We loved this. I seasoned my bird with pepper and garlic salt. The rosemary added a nice flavor to the bird. It was an easy recipe and very quick and easy.

Recipe #3

Not every recipe can be a keeper right? And it is OK to have an epic fail in the kitchen right? I keep telling myself this. Dinner last night was horrible, to say the least. I could not even eat it. Jay finished his, said it was edible. I read the recipe wrong and used three times the amount of lemon I was suppose to . It was so lemony that is tasted acidic. Not a good dinner. Oh well. Dessert was awesome.

I was in the mood for something fallish . And I had apples. So I went to www.foodnetwork.com. I just searched apple. And this is what I decided on.

Apple Strudel

It was so good. Oh so good. I didnt use caramel with mine, but Jay did. Also, I luckily read the comments first and made 2 full strudels and one small one. It was so much topping and the sheets were small. The last little I made for a friend and picked out the raisins in hers. I liked what the raisins added though.

It makes A LOT of glaze, so I recommend cutting that in half. Also, I drained my raisins after sitting as the comments said to do.

I will be making this again soon. It was so easy and good.