Thursday, October 31, 2013

Autumn Recipe Collection 2013: MAPLE CRISPS, AUTUMN VEGGIE SOUP, APPLE DUMPLINGS and more!


Falling for fall is easy.   Every.little.thing. about fall is heartwarming.  Some of the best things about fall is the food!  Hot soup and lots of pumpkin everything!


Baking a loaf of traditional pumpkin bread for the season



Hot soup on EVERY cold day works for this girl!


 My blogging tradition is to share new autumn recipes each season.  I have archives full of favorites!  For 2013, I am sharing these seasonal flavors:

-maple

- cinnamon 

- butternut squash

and...

- apples


The first recipe is vanilla cinnamon sugar donuts.  Donuts taste best on the cooler, warm-toned days of autumn!  This is a variation of the same recipe I used for Cameron's 13th birthday.



The next recipe is for a snack food that is a unique twist between a cookie and a chip:

Maple Crisps!

Maple Crisps are thin(ish) bites of sweet maple, tasting almost like a pancake but crunching like a chip.



Hurry boys!  Run outside and collect some fun leaves so I can take PICTURES!


This Maple Crisp recipe is from King Arthur's Flour.  It is a unique taste with a unique way to prepare! After mixing up the batter, you spread it thinly in a maple leaf cookie cutter on parchment paper. 





Bake! Then immediately and gently place leaves over the edge of a rolling pin to shape the leaves into curls, imitating a real leaf.


These are fun fall snacks, light and tasty!



A savory recipe I'm sharing this year is this delicious Autumn Veggie Soup!  It's a bowl FULL of fall flavors and every spoonful is comfort.  



This recipe has butternut squash for the heartiest veggie.  I also love to make butternut squash soup in October too.  







Autumn Veggie Soup
adapted from finecooking.com


  • 2 Tbs. olive oil
  • 3 medium carrots, cut into medium dice
  • 1 large yellow onion, cut into medium dice
  • 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups 1/2-inch-cubed peeled butternut squash (about half a 2-lb. squash)
  • pinch cinnamon
  • pinch ground cloves
  • pinch nutmeg
  • pinch cayenne pepper; more to taste
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 quart lower-salt chicken broth
  • 1 14.5-oz. can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 cups lightly packed, coarsely chopped kale
  • 1 cup lower-salt canned chickpeas
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the squash, allspice, cayenne, and 1 tsp. salt and stir to combine. Add the broth, tomatoes with their juice, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the kale and the chickpeas and cook uncovered until the squash is tender and the kale has wilted, about 10 minutes more. Discard the thyme springs before serving. Season to taste with more salt and cayenne.

This perfectly fallish soup, filled with squash, kale, and chickpeas, is spiced just right with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.




The FINAL fall recipe I want to share in 2013's post was our VERY FAVORITE!!

Mmmmm

Mmmmm
Mmmmm.

Best Ever Apple Dumplings
served a la mode
of course!



This doesn't technically count as cooking or baking because the ingredients called for are a lot of already prepared foods.  I call it "quick cooking" and it's IDEAL to turn into Kid's Cooking!

See the recipe here.  And be sure to make these this fall.  You will love them. 



So, I gathered the boys into the kitchen and we got to work. 


These are so easy and yummy!


Lots of busy little hands...




Best Ever Apple Dumplings

  • 2 large granny smith apples, peeled and cored
2 10 oz cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 12oz bottle Mountain Dew


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew™ over the dumplings.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.


Crescent Roll wrapped apple slices, covered in a buttery cinnamon sugar glaze, finished off with citrus soda! 

Get
in
my
belly!



Happy
Fall
Ya'll.

Had to say it...