Colors of fall

Mr Matthew and I traveled up the canyon for some branches for my latest project. I couldn't help but share some of the beautiful colors we saw.

The day was cool but still warm enough to not need a jacket.

I loved how all the colors came together. Fall is so beautiful. Reds. Greens. Yellows. Oranges. All against a clear blue sky. *sigh*

And the beautiful scene was topped off with the grin of a very helpful little man. I cherise these little day adventures. All too soon my little man is gonna be going off to school then with friends and leaving mom behind. A little 1 on 1 time soothes the soul!

And here is a little peck at our project.......

The final pictures coming soon!

Dryer Vent Pumpkins

I love getting together with friends to craft. This last week we made these pumpkins.

My mom had made some of these years ago but my puppy destroyed them.

It's just a dryer duct painted orange.

The harvest picks were on sale this last week at JoAnn's.

I love how they turned out. And I love how they look on my table.

So fun!

Our Harvest "Mantel"

We don't really have a mantel but I use our bookshelf to decorate for each season. I love how a little change can go a long way.

I want to change the sign on the wall. I have a project in mind and hopefully will be able to get to it this week. Halloween is dear hubby's favorite holiday but I DON"T do scarey! I tend to beat spiders in my sleep and he wakes up with a couple of bruises. Really! I know it's crazy but I do. I used to sleep walk really bad too. My mom tells me I tried to walk out into a blizzard to find my dad. :-/

Needless to say around my house are the fun parts of fall and Halloween more than the spooky. 

I also have a couple of projects from last year that I need to finish. 

Keeping my fingers crossed I will get to some of them this week.
My list is growing longer. There are so many great ideas and just not enough time!

Spiced Pear Dumplings and Fall cooking!

Here are just some of the reasons I love fall....

Spiced Pear Dumplings..

 3 Tbs packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp grnd cardamom
1/4 tsp grnd cinnamon
1 Tbs butter or margarine softened
Dumpling pastry (see below)
2 large pears peeled and cut in half, cored
1 egg white
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup caramel sauce or topping.

Pastry
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 Tbs water
Mix shortening and flour together until crumbly. Add salt, then add water 1 Tbs at a time until pastry almost cleans sides of bowl. Gather into a ball and roll out.

Mix br sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and butter together. Tuck a bit of mixture into center of pear. Wrap pear in pastry and seal edges slightly with cool water. Place seam side down in 9x13 greased pan.
Bake at 375 x 40-45 minutes.
Top with caramel sauce.
I didn't have caramel sauce so I mixed brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter together on low heat then poured over the dumplings. It was a hit at our house!

I had some small pears that needed to be used up. I offered several recipes and dear hubby choose this one. I haven't made it in a while. It calls for cardamon (kinda like cinnamon). I had boughten this spices way back when I first made this. I have not used it since so I had to chuckle when I came across the recipe to use some more of this spice.....

I haven't made bread for a while. I found the cost of heating my house and thus using my AC more was just not worth the savings. We are out of bread and I was so glad to have the cooler temps so I could make some more bread.

And chili with cornbread. Fall soups and chilis! Yum! It's a great way to use up all those vegis in the fridge from the garden. Just add whatever is left.

For my chili I usually add hamburger, tomatoes, corn and several cans of various beans. I add a bit of ketchup and brown sugar like when I make baked beans. You can also add a can of jalepenos but my boys don't like the heat so I have started leaving that out.

I have to make a double batch of cornbread and today still ended up making more.
 They devoured it! 

I enjoy the BBQ but I LOVE fall cooking!

The best part was how my house smelled of yummy spices when I was done. 

Home Sweet Home!