Fall Has Come to Our Farmhouse Kitchen

 

While the children were at school yesterday, I dug out the fall decorations---new and old---and began embracing the upcoming season.  The near 90 degrees outside reminded me that it is still officially summer, but in my kitchen, it looks and smells like autumn.

 

Keep in mind that this 130 year-old farmhouse is a work in progress.

 

Our free time is limited, but I do what I can to spiffy things up here.  These wooden-wick candles really do crackle when they burn, making the kitchen smell like fall spices and sound like you've got a campfire going. 

 

With a household of seven and only one closet in the house, much of our stuff is on display.

 

Like this little stand that holds our phone books, schedules, and numerous papers that come home daily that I have to sort through.  For lack of a better place, all of the lunch bags tend to get stashed here too.

 

My dinner menu chalkboard hangs here, but it's also holding fall leaves for the time being.

 

I'm not sure how many days we'll get through before someone spills chocolate goat's milk all over the new table runner.  There's a good reason why my decorations come from Kohl's, Michael's, and even Dollar General.  My sanity remains somewhat intact if a $6 item gets ruined, as opposed to something much nicer that requires dry cleaning.

 

I still haven't done anything with this kitchen corner.  Instead of a secretary's desk, I think I need a corner hutch more, but I feel like we really must refinish the floor in here first.

 

My kiddos tend to eat more fruit when they're out on display like this.

 

A few years ago, I was ready to get rid of our electric stove/oven and replace it with a wood-fired one like the Amish have.

 

What was I thinking?

 

We do have this wood/coal burning stove that not only keeps the house warm in the winter, but it also serves as a backup for cooking if we lose power---which happens quite a bit.  It gets hot enough to simmer soup, boil water, and fry some eggs.

But it seriously needs cleaned and polished several times a year.

 

I don't know about you, but this is making me feel like warming up some spiced apple cider and baking some apple crisp or pumpkin cobbler.  

Thanks for meeting me today in our not-so-preppy farmhouse kitchen.

Another Pinterest Pallet Board Project

 

I find myself drawn toward rustic wood and pallet board wall hangings these days.  After being inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I decided to try making one myself.  The project cost less than $13, and it only took a couple of hours to construct.  All materials were purchased at Michael's, but my husband told me if I want pallet boards, he has a mess of them left over from a deconstructed goat shelter.  Hmmm, I wonder how much scrubbing and disinfecting it would require for me to hang any of those in or on our house?

 

I didn't have my own pattern, just a pin on my tablet, so I drew my own pumpkin on scrap paper, and then traced around it onto the wood.  Once that was done, I used a sponge brush and some white acrylic paint and gave the pumpkin one coat out back on our picnic table.  Then I took Tippy for a walk while I waited for the paint to dry.  Afterwards, I brought it inside and used my ancient glue gun to glue twine-looking ribbon (the same kind I used to hang ornaments at Christmas) around the pumpkin and to fill inside.  This I did while watching a couple of episodes of Gilmore Girls with my teenagers.  When I was finished, I thought it looked too plain.  I was contemplating adding some silk fall leaves around it, but my kids thought that would junk it up, so I lightly shaded the pumpkin with my daughter's orange colored pencil to give it just a hint of orange.  My boys couldn't understand why it wasn't orange in the first place.  For some reason, I like all the white pumpkins this year.  I wish we had planted some.

This is the first autumn decoration I have hung, and it has finally replaced the old wreath on the front porch.  It didn't turn out as nice as the one on Pinterest, but really nothing I make ever does.  For $13, a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, and watching the characters in Stars Hollow put on a danceathon while I crafted, I am satisfied.

What fall Pinterest pins are you trying this month?

 

Fall Decor for Under $100

I'm making this a shorter post since we are having tech issues at our house this week...during the first week of cyber schooling for our tenth grader.  So not fun.

Since school has started, and tomorrow is the first day of September, I am eager to start decorating for fall.  I know many of you can relate.  However, I'm making myself wait until after Labor Day to put anything out.  That hasn't stopped me from making purchases, however, and there are also plans to create a fall craft this weekend as well.

I found all of the items in the picture at Kohl's, Michael's, and Dollar General for under $100.  These will be supplemented with items from our farmhouse attic and all kinds of stuff found in nature (lots of pinecones, acorns, and apples here.)

So from the top left and moving clockwise, this is what I found: 

1. Plaid fabric tablerunner from Dollar General, $6.

2. Wooden wick candle (it's supposed to crackle when lit) from Kohl's, $23.

3. Metal basket (to be filled with nature's bounty) from Kohl's, $15.

4. Brown candlesticks from Michael's, $4.19 for 2.

5. Metal leaf design candle wrap (not sure what exactly these are called) from Kohl's, $6.

6. Kitchen towels (2) from Kohl's, $5.59.

7. Wooden Fall in Love sign from Michael's, $7.

8. Bathroom hand towel from Kohl's, $6.

9. Baking cups (for my traditional pumpkin choc chip muffins) from Michael's, $2.

And in the center are the materials for my craft project, totalling $13 from Michael's.  It's Pinterest-inspired, but I'm branching out on my own a bit with it, so we'll see how it turns out.  I'll share it with you either way.

It Looks Like Our Summer Has Come to an End

 

All of our children will be returning to school this week, so our summer has officially come to an end.  Some of us are excited, some are nervous, some are dreading it.  I'm a bit of all three.  I pulled out the old chalkboard and drew a new picture to honor this return to formal education.

 

I decided to grill out for dinner and finish off the summer with traditional summer foods one more time.  My husband had the same idea, and we both returned from the store and a local Amish farm with tons of sweet corn.  I'm afraid we'll be having it nearly every day this week.

 

We grilled a variety of chicken sausages, had the corn-on-the-cob, fresh local cantaloupe, and my creamy potato salad made with both red and purple potatoes.  My potato salad recipe can be found in my blog archives  here.

 

My children picked a few black eyed susan, stems from the butterfly bush, and one small hydrangea bloom for inside the kitchen.

 

And they cut a few droopy sunflowers and jerusalem artichoke flowers for the picnic table out back.  It turned out to be too hot and buggy to sit outside anyway.

 

I let our 7 year-old take the pictures on the patio, and she's obviously been watching me this past year take pics for this blog because I'm pretty sure she was standing on the picnic table to get some of these.  And she took a lot.

 

For dessert I went retro and made these jello parfaits in my childhood parfait glasses.

 

I layered cool whip, peach jello, more cool whip, and blueberry pomegranate jello in these cups.  They never had flavors like that back in the seventies when I was a girl.

 

We shared dinner with the proud parents of our now 5 week-old grandson, and I couldn't resist giving his new mama this sign we found at Kohl's today.   I love it.

Wishing all my readers a fantastic new school year.

Take a Walk on the Sweet Side: My First Cakewalk

 

Until this week, my only knowledge of a cakewalk came from one of the Junie B. Jones books that I used to read over and over again to our youngest daughter.  In the story, Junie B. skipped around with other children until the music stopped and a number was called.  The numbered square she was standing on just happened to be the winner, and Junie B. proceeded to choose a cake from the table.  There was one rectangular cake wrapped in shiny aluminum foil, and that was the one she insisted on taking home.  It turned out to be a fruit cake.  A very dense, heavy fruit cake that her parents tried to dissuade her from picking, but she insisted.  It turns out that she didn't like fruit cake after all, but it was so sturdy that she used it as a booster seat at her kitchen table, so all ended well.  

 

Our children's elementary/middle school had a Back-to-School Picnic last evening and one of the activities was a cakewalk.  Another dynamic mom and I co-chaired it because it sounded like so much fun.  She had cakewalk experience, unlike me, so she knew what to expect.  She and I both did a little bit of baking (the cupcakes, mini-cherry cheesecakes, and brownies above were mine,) but she was bold enough to ask for donations from a couple of the local supermarkets.

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures until we were almost finished, but I think we started out with 21 different containers of cakes/cupcakes/cookies/brownies and some boxes of Skittles for those with nut allergies.  There were no fruit cakes though.  I don't think most of the children there had ever done a cakewalk before, so we initially had to practically beg kids to start playing.

 

But once children saw that they could walk away from our table with free cakes, they started lining up to play.  We duck taped numbers on 12 circular stones, and placed a child on each one.  Once the music started, they hopped, skipped, ran, and jumped in a circle from one stone to the next.  One toddler marched to her own beat and repeatedly wandered off the path, but she always ended up on a number once the music stopped.

 

My friend's husband drafted children to help him call out the winning numbers, and each winner came to the table to eye up the loot.  The younger ones were reluctant to choose anything without a parent's input, but the pre-teens jumped right in there with no hesitation.  Interestingly enough, they chose all the store-baked products first...and the Skittles.  Go figure.  After about 70 minutes, we ran out of cakes, so we called it a night and finally got to go mingle with the other 350 school family members who were there.  I would call it a success, and it was definitely a lot of fun.

 

I have to admit though, that I had my eye on this cookie dough cheesecake that our grown son baked from scratch and donated.  It was very tempting to keep it at home in my refrigerator, but I didn't think that would be very charitable.  So instead, I persuaded my youngest two to play the cakewalk over and over again.  

 And I kept the cheesecake under the table in a cooler with ice. 

Because it was almost 90 degrees out, and I didn't want it to go bad, you know.

And my 10-year old son actually landed on the winning number during the first half hour of the cake walk.

So he really did win fair and square.  Honest.

...and he just so happened to choose that cookie dough cheesecake over the Skittles and the numerous store-bought cakes on the table.

So guess what I'm having after breakfast this morning?

 

A Weekend of Firsts

 

We're wrapping up summer and getting ready to start new fall routines, but this weekend was full of many first-time events for us.  

 

A new Mexican restaurant opened up not too far from us, so my husband and I decided to give it a try Thursday evening.  I had a delicious chicken fajita salad, and my husband had an enormous burrito topped with a mango salsa.

 

But what we really enjoyed was the extensive margarita list they had.  We tried some varieties we've never had before; Pama Margarita for me, and Caliente Margarita for Hubby.  They were perfect for a late summer dinner, and we're looking forward to returning and trying some of the others.

 

The next day after cross-country practice, I took our new high school freshman to finally get her first professional manicure.  She chose her new school colors to show her school spirit.  

 

On Saturday, my son and I visited the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg, PA.  I have been here before...

 

...but it's been years...

 

...and I really went to walk these beautiful walking paths around the grounds for a change of scenery from our mountain trails.  I couldn't help myself and had to stop frequently to take pictures.  What a beautiful place.

 

Afterwards, my son ran in a race to benefit a local food pantry.  The first mile he ran in a little over six minutes and came in second place.  The second mile he ran while carrying a full gallon jug of water along with all the other participants.  The water jugs were then donated to the food pantry.  This was his first one-mile race and definitely the first time he's ever run while carrying an additional 8 pounds in his arms.  Since I've done my share of running while carrying extra pounds each time I was pregnant, I sat out this part of the race and talked to another mom.

 

Saturday night my husband and I tried a new distillery and tapas restaurant.  We had already eaten dinner earlier at home, so we decided to sample a dessert after drinks.

 

We had never seen or heard of semifreddo before.  I sat at the table and googled it to determine whether or not it was something I wanted to try.  This was a saffron semifreddo topped with cherry cardamom syrup, salted chocolate hazelnuts, and whipped cream.  It was delicious, and I scraped every last little bit out of that bowl.

Our weekend culminated with a visit from our new grandson who will be one month old tomorrow.  What was so great about this visit was that he actually had his eyes open for awhile, which is the first time that has happened when we've been together.

I find this time of year so exciting and full of hope and new beginnings.  I can't wait to see what life brings our way next.

Using Up Your Zucchini in a Chocolate Cake

 

We finally used up all but one of our zucchini squash today.  My mother-in-law sent me a recipe over a month ago for chocolate zucchini cake, and my daughter and I took some time this morning to try it out.

 

All you need are a boxed chocolate cake mix, an instant chocolate pudding mix, and 3 cups of shredded raw zucchini.

 

Once you get that mixed up, you just pour it in your floured/greased cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes.

 

Once the cake has cooled sufficiently, and you are ready to frost it, simply whisk together a can of chocolate frosting and a container of cool whip.

 

The end result is this slightly-flatter-than-normal moist chocolate cake with a chocolate whipped frosting.  I had to add a few green and pink confetti candies to mine since I'm feeling especially preppy these days.  Can't wait to taste it after dinner tonight.

For the full recipe and a prettier picture, go to: http://www.kraftrecipes.com.