I don't know why, but I always feel like adding oatmeal and nuts to my cookies makes them feel more like autumn. These chewy oatmeal cookies are the perfect sweet treat on a fall afternoon.
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups brown sugar1 cup butter, softened1 tsp vanilla1 egg
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon lavender salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon lavender salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 tsp ground flax
Directions: Mix together ingredients in order listed. Bake for 10 minutes until slightly golden.
Then go out into the nice fall weather and jump around in a pile of leaves just for the heck of it. Happy Fall!
Here is what the trees in our apple orchard are looking like. These will make for perfect caramel apples on halloween. The rest will be used for bobbing for apples, or will be pressed into the most delicious apple cider. The ones that fall onto the ground before we get to them? We feed them to the neighborhood horses.
Speaking of horses, anyone willing to watch our lane tonight and keep their eyes open for the headless horseman? Happy Halloween!
This lentil soup has been a go to fall and winter recipe for us for years. It's easy enough to make on a weeknight, makes plenty of leftovers, and is satisfying without being bad for you or unhealthy. Plus it's affordable and perfect for fall! It's a real winner winner not chicken dinner.
4 strips of bacon
3 medium carrots
1 yellow onion
1 1/2 cup dry lentils
2 tsp dried Tyme
Salt/pepper
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 cup water
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp red wine vinegar
Chop your bacon into lentil sized peices. In a heavy soup pan crisp your bacon on medium heat. (Non crisp peices will be gross in the soup later, so be patient). Then chop your onion and carrots into lentil sized peices and add them into the pot. Cook until onions are clear. Add salt and pepper. Then add minced garlic and tomato paste and cook for another minute. Then add your lentils, cans of stock, Tyme, and salt and pepper again.
Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 45 minutes. If you cook out all the stock you can add 1/2 cup of water later on. Add your vinegar at the end. Salt and pepper again as needed. You can top with Parmesan shavings if you want, but it really doesn't need it. Enjoy!
Hope this soup makes all your cozy autumn dreams come true. Enjoy!
We took a break from harvesting apples in our orchard today and got creative. We decided to make a little gnome fairy cottage for our halloween pumpkin this year. It couldn't have turned out any cuter!
Directions:
Hollow out your pumpkin as normal. Carve out windows and door. We even carved out little window in our pumpkin door. Attach door hinge using a skewer. Use the cut out windows to cut little peices into window boxes. Attach with tooth picks. Forage in your yard for berries, flowers, and grasses. Put berries across the top of the pumpkins, place the flowers in the window boxes. We used grass and tied them with a string to look like fall decor. Then We covered the bottom with moss and berries and added little gnomes for fun.
This is the perfect non-spooky and fun jack-o-lantern and even little hands can help. The foraging as a family for the decor was the best part. Enjoy!
For the next few weeks we thought we would just feature a quick simple photo of the farm on Fridays. Just a peak into what we are doing, seeing, or working on. We hope you enjoy it.
This view. This is the view from the front porch of the Lavender Apple homestead. The lavender is sleeping as autumn begins. There is a nice meandering lane that heads towards a road that leads into town. There are plans to develop the fields west of this property and fingers crossed this view never changes. Its beautiful and renewing to the soul.
This caramel apple recipe is so deliciously decadent. The sweet caramel with the tart apples is the perfect combo. All the fun topping options makes this the perfect party activity that everyone will enjoy. Hope you have a spook-tacular time making these! (And no, this recipe does not involve unwrapping store bought caramels.)
- 16 ounces brown sugar
- 2 sticks butter, room temp
- 14-ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2/3 cup corn syrup
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lavender salt
- 12 tart apples
- Topping ideas: sprinkles, chopped nuts, dried fruit, toffee bits, M&M's, candy corn, melted chocolate
- Directions: Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Stir over medium low heat until sugar disolves. To make sure no crystals form, brush the edge of the pan where the caramel meets the pan with melted butter every few minutes. Bring to boil, stiring constantly. Once your temperature reaches 240 degrees. Remove from heat. Place sticks in your room temperature apples. Roll them in the caramel and top with toppings immediatley.