fall-inspired baking

I'm looking for something fall-y to make for this weekend's church bake sale and here a few recipes that are in the running.....

Apple Pound Cake w/ Cinnamon Glaze

Pumpkin Fudge

 

Trisha Yearwood's Pecan Pie

 

 

 

Or there are two of my old fall stand-bys........

Apple Crisp w/ vanilla ice cream

 

Oatmeal Cake w/ Pecan Topping

5 on friday: hooray for fall!

Linking up for 5 on Friday and this week it's all about:
                               FALL!

{one} Some of my favorite snacks show up at the grocery store this time of year, like.....caramel apples!!

my absolute favorite!!!

I actually like them cut in slices

 ......perfect snack with a Diet Coke! :O)

{two} A close second to caramel apples, is candy corn!

OOOPS! Gone already??? :O)



{three} FOOTBALL!!!!!!
The Bears are looking good so far......3-0 going into week #4 against the Lions.
We love having Sunday Ticket and being able to watch all the games!

From now until February, you will see Nathan in nothing but Bears gear! :O)
We ended up nixing going to the game next month. The seats that were left for the $$ were not that great. Nathan was okay with not going, so we are okay. Which brings me to #4....

{four} Another thing I just love about Fall.....
end of work for me=mini-vacation!!!
I have no clue where we'll end up going this fall. I do have a few ideas in mind, I just need to see if Peter is on board!! More on this later......but with 10 days of work left....we soon need to be making some plans!!! :O)

{five} This weather......
is absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!!! :O) :O)
These are just 5 reasons why I love Fall!

more movie madness....

I watched two more movies over the past few days, and have a few more already in my dvr queue. I love movies and this is a fun way to find some good ones I've overlooked!
For the letter F, I watched The Five-Year Engagement (2012).
"One year after meeting, Tom proposes to his girlfriend, Violet, but unexpected events keep tripping them up as they look to walk down the aisle together."


For the letter G, I chose G.I. Jane (1997). I know I've probably seen bits & pieces of this movie, but never actually watched the entire movie.
"Navy Intelligence officer Lt Jordan O'Neil becomes a test case when she is recruited to become the first woman allowed to train for the covert operations unit known as the Navy SEALS. She is not expected to succeed and many high ranking military and government officials, including Senator Lillian DeHaven, are counting on her to fail. O'Neil persists, and when the recruit's final training exercise is diverted to aid and rescue American troops in the Middle East, the Master Chief is wounded and O'Neil must summon all her leadership abilities to save him and the mission." 
A- Anna Karenina

B- The Bone Collector

C- Cold Mountain

D- Duplex

E- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

F- The Five-Year Engagement

G- G.I. Jane

next up.......{H}

Crock Pot Recipe: Swedish Meatballs

I pulled out a recipe today that I haven't made in ages: Swedish Meatballs. I always make these at Christmastime, as part of my Christmas spread, and my family always requests extras to have as a meal {served over rice} a day or so after Christmas when they are sick of party food. I don't think I have made them since then, so the guys were happy today when they showed up on dinner table! Here's my recipe:
Swedish Meatballs
2 cups ketchup
1-15 oz. can tomato sauce
4 T. finely chopped onion
8 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. pepper
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. vinegar
5 T. water
1/4 cup relish
Put all of the above ingredients in crockpot, and stir. Simmer on med-high.


Meatballs
{this meatball recipe can be doubled-plenty of sauce}
1 lb. ground beef
2 tsp. ketchup
1 slice bread-broken in pieces
1/3 cup dry milk
salt & pepper to taste
1 egg
1/4 cup finely diced onion

Mix together well and shape into small balls. I use my small scooper and got 21 meatballs out of this mixture.
Brown in oven on tray @400 degrees for 15 minutes. Add to sauce and simmer. Serve over rice.

O's Game

We made the mistake of switching out our clothes in the truck before going in the stadium. We all wanted to wear our O's gear, but who knew it would be 100 degrees that night. It was sooooooo hot!!! Whatever possessed me to put on a black tee, and was I crazy thinking I'd need a jacket? LOL And forget going back to the truck, we had to park all the way over at the Ravens stadium.

Once we got inside and found our seats, we settled in and enjoyed the game.





We had great seats!

The first baseman kept throwing balls into the stand. The guy next to Peter caught one of the balls. Peter was hoping to catch one for Nathan {who sadly had to miss the game!}. I took lots of pictures for him though.







I was surprised that this was Logan's very first MLB game. He's been everywhere and done everything, but this was new to him & he loved it!! He kept saying that he was definitely going to make this a tradition each summer. Hopefully, he and Nathan will get to do a game together sometime. That had been the point of coming to this game, Logan had bought tickets as part of Nathan's grad gift. Nathan was a good sport about it though, and even called us as we were coming into the stadium. Wish he could have been there with the family. As of now, the boys are on completely different shifts at work. I worry about them ever getting together again, but hopefully, after a few months, things will line up. I know, at least, that we'll all be together for the wedding in May.




Did I mention how hot it was?????? Oh, and I found out something rather interesting while at this ballgame. Beer is the big seller there......not Diet Coke....NOPE. I was so thirsty and kept stretching my neck looking for a vendor with some ice, cold Coke, but I was outa luck! At least a dozen guys came by with all the beer you could care to drink, but not a soda in sight. Finally, Logan offered to go inside and get me one. :O)

I was one HAPPY GIRL!!! :O)



Funny story: When Logan picked up the tickets at will call, we had seats 5,6,7,8,9. He immediately claimed seat #5. Me, being the organizer that I am, suggested sitting like this: me, Peter, Logan, Lindsey, Cathy. That way Lindsey would have her Mom & Logan to talk with, and Logan would have Lindsey and Peter. But noooo, Logan wanted seat #5, the rest of our gang could sit wherever. So, we all get to our seats and Logan sits in his prized seat #5 and is happy that nobody is in seat #4! :O) The game starts and he's loving his seat, while the four of us are sqished in like sardines & sweating pretty good by now {I know, the game has just started!}. Ruh-Roh.......here comes this big guy {like take up his seat and part of yours too} and stops at our row and finds his seat.....seat #4!!!!! :O) I had to smile.....and to make matters worse, he had food, lots of food, lots of hot & messy food! LOLLOL Sorry Logan......but of course, this will be a funny memory from his first ever ballgame! Lucky seat #5!! :O)

Even with the ridiculous heat, and the O's losing, we had a great time. We couldn't wait to get to the truck and get cooled off. Once over the bay bridge, we stopped for snacks. We still had a long ride home. We finally got in around 2:30, but we could sleep in the next morning! :O) It had been such a great day!! :O)

make you laugh-make you cry

I'm still working on my latest challenge-movie abc's. For the letter D,  Peter and I watched Duplex. If you need a good laugh- this is the movie to see! :O) It's hilarious!

Ben Stiller & Drew Barrymore (2003)
"In director Danny DeVito's darkly funny tale, Ben Stiller and wife Drew Barrymore move out of their cramped Manhattan apartment after buying the "perfect" duplex in Brooklyn. The fly in the ointment is elderly tenant Eileen Essel, who lives in the rent-controlled upstairs apartment and disrupts the couple's lives, blaring her TV late at night, sending them on errands, and driving them to plot her demise."
While this movie probably didn't win any awards, it is worth watching and will be sure to make you laugh!

For the letter E, I chose Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, & Thomas Horn

(2011)

I absolutely LOVED this movie!! It's a MUST SEE!!!!

"Oskar Schell is an inventive eleven-year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father's belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls "The Worst Day," he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock - encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way - he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him."

A- Anna Karenina

B- The Bone Collector

C- Cold Mountain

D- Duplex

E- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

next up.....the letter F

Baltimore Aquarium & Inner Harbor

We had an awesome day in Baltimore last week, starting the day off at Inner Harbor and some time at the aquarium. We had originally planned to just do the game later that night, but Lindsey suggested going to the aquarium too. You can't go to Baltimore and not check out Inner Harbor! What a fun day!

Peter, Logan, & I had ever been to the aquarium. We really enjoyed it! The dolphins were a favorite!

L & L

Next up, LUNCH! And most importantly, where to eat lunch?? I think we made a great choice....

my lunch! YUM!

Neither of us were disappointed! I got the chicken fajita {{{best I've ever had!!}}}
I had wanted to try The Cheesecake Factory, but I was happy with our choice. Now it was time to find the truck and head to Camden Yards!!! {but not before getting a few more pics....what a gorgeous day!!}

Peter, Logan, Lindsey, & Cathy {Lindsey's Mom}

as close as we got to this restaurant....sorry Logan, maybe next time....LOL!

feelin' fall-y

Now that the weather is cooler, I finally went in the attic and pulled out the fall décor. I also finally put the mums on the front steps and made a wreath for the door.

love the new lantern

 

fall mantel

added a sunflower to my twine monogram for a more fall-y look

The wreath I made was super simple. I made the wreath form out of an old swimming noodle and some duct tape.

 

I wrapped it in burlap and added a few sunflowers. Simple, but pretty!

 

Other than picking up a big pumpkin, I am pretty much finished with the fall decorating. I didn't put out my Halloween stuff, just the fall stuff. I have lots of Thanksgiving decorations that I'll bring out in November. I absolutely love FALL!!!