Imparting Grace: Fall

Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts

Monday, November 4

Time for a change

When I was in college, I used to LOVE the weekend when we changed from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. Back then, it seemed to me that I was gaining an extra hour of sleep. What could be the downside of that?

Ha. Ha. Ha.

That picture flew out of my head as soon as I adopted a puppy. Try telling a little doggie that he doesn't need to get up because it's actually only 5:00 A.M., not 6:00.

And it got worse when I had children, of course. Kids' internal clocks are very trustworthy, and they don't adjust to time changes very well.

I will admit that I was grateful this morning that I didn't have to get out of bed in the dark. But I'm going to be a little grumpy when the sun sets tonight at 5:17 P.M.

But I'm grateful that the weather here has finally turned fallish, so when we're gathered around this evening at least we can burn a fire in the fireplace. I'm trying to think of these autumnal evenings as cozy.

How do you feel about the time change? Are you glad to "fall back"? Have any tricks for adapting to the time change? I'd love to hear!

Tuesday, October 10

My most-requested recipe: Best Pumpkin Bread Ever

We all have at least one prize-winning recipe, don't we? One that we make over and over, always to rave reviews. One that people always ask us for.

No doubt about it: my most-requested recipe is for pumpkin bread.

I know there are lots of recipes for pumpkin bread. You may already have one (or several) in your recipe files. And of course a quick internet search will yield many more. But I'm telling you, this one is special.

When I got married in 1985, one of my favorite gifts was a wooden recipe box from my Aunt Laura. Inside the box were several recipes she had painstakingly copied by hand, and this pumpkin bread was one of those. Unbeknownst to her, by the time she gave me my own copy of this recipe, I'd already baked it several times in my mother's kitchen!

It's easy to be impressed by recipes from famous chefs or magazines, and I do admire most of those recipes. But I'd be happy to have this bread judged against any of those. It hasn't necessarily been verified by a professional test kitchen, but I've made it hundreds of times over the years and I've never had it fail. And over the years I've eaten pumpkin bread made by lots of different home cooks as well as many different professional bakeries. Cross my heart: this is the best pumpkin bread I've ever tasted.

**Click here for a printable copy of this recipe.**

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

3 cups sugar

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 Tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons)* salt

1 Tablespoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil)

4 large eggs

2 cups pumpkin purée (I use Libby's solid pack pumpkin, 15 oz. can)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Optional: 2-3 cups chopped nuts (I use walnuts or pecans)

**Note: If you like to bake, do yourself a huge favor and spend a few dollars to order these measuring spoons. The set includes 6 spoons: 1/8 teaspoon, 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 Tablespoon, and 1 Tablespoon. Having all six of these makes measuring so much easier! These wash beautifully in the dishwasher and last for years.**

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you're including nuts, spread them on a baking sheet and roast for about five minutes. This will make them a much tastier addition to your bread. Coarsely chop toasted nuts.

Stir all dry ingredients together in mixer bowl. Add all liquid ingredients. Mix well. Stir in chopped nuts if desired.

Note: I often make two medium-sized loaves with nuts and two without nuts. To do that, simply mix up all ingredients except nuts. Fill two prepared pans with nut-free batter. Then stir chopped nuts into remaining batter and fill two additional pans.

Batter will be very thick, and to be honest it's not very pretty. Don't worry.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. I use four inexpensive oblong pans, each about 3 1/2 inches x 7 1/2 inches. This recipe is perfect for four loaves of this size, six "mini" loaves, two or three large loaves, or lots of muffins. (Please note: you don't need fancy heavy-duty pans for this recipe. I've made it a number of times in cheap disposable pans.) Grease and flour the pans if you like. I just spray mine with nonstick cooking spray.

Here's a trick: If you have a kitchen food scale, weigh each pan as you're distributing your batter. Your loaves will play nicely together in the oven if they're all about the same size. Don't stress over this; just make each pan weigh about the same as the others.

Depending on the size of your loaves, bake 40-60 minutes at 350 degrees. Bread is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. This is the most important thing: DO NOT OVERBAKE. For these medium-sized loaves, I usually time this bread for 45 minutes and start testing at that point. Even if you have to sacrifice many toothpicks and test your bread every couple of minutes, that's better than overbaking. If it's not done, the toothpick will be goopy. If it's done, the toothpick will be completely clean or perhaps have a couple of crumbs on it, but no goopiness. Remove the bread from the oven just as soon as a toothpick comes out clean.

Q: Why is testing the bread so important?

A: Because of residual heat, the bread actually continues to bake just a little after you remove it from the oven. So if you leave baked goods in the oven too long, they'll OVERbake after you remove them from the oven. Believe me: it's worth the effort to watch the bread and remove it from the oven as soon as a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Here's how your loaves will look fresh from the oven:

Cool in pans for five to ten minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

See how neatly the loaves come out of the pan when you just spray the pans with nonstick cooking spray? No sticking and no flour residue. I bake a lot, but I never grease and flour pans any more.

When completely cool, wrap individual loaves in foil. If you don't need all loaves right away, they freeze beautifully. I like to keep a couple of these in the freezer. A loaf makes a great gift for a neighbor, a teacher, a new mom--just about anyone. One of my favorite hostess gifts for autumn is to pair a loaf with a package of pretty beverage napkins.

One more thing about this amazing bread. If you like, you can make this bread do double-duty as a yummy dessert simply by adding a simple cream cheese frosting. Here's a simple recipe:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 stick butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 oz. cream cheese

Mix all ingredients together. Add roasted and chopped nuts if you like. Spread on bread or cake (or just eat with a spoon--it's that good!). Store in refrigerator.

Or you can make a simple cream cheese glaze which is also really tasty: click here to read about that.

If you've got a pumpkin spice craving, this recipe will hit the spot. I promise!

What's your most-requested recipe?

Joining these parties:

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Sundays at Home at Celebrating Everyday Life

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Wednesday, October 26

Favorite baked goods for Fall

It's finally Autumn in North Carolina! Can I get a "hallelujah"? I know that some of y'all have been enjoying Fall for awhile now, but our summer just hung on and on this year. And then of course Hurricane Matthew hit and made things interesting, but not fallish.

Well. Now. We're finally enjoying cooler temperatures, which have me in the mood to do some baking! Look what I made this weekend:

Aren't those the most beautiful muffins you've ever seen? One of my birthday gifts was a bag full of pumpkin goodies, and the Nordic Ware pan was my favorite thing. Click here for the recipe I used to make the pumpkin muffins--absolutely delicious!

In case you're in the mood for some Autumn baking, I want to share my favorite recipes for this time of year.

First is my pumpkin bread. I promise it's the very best I've ever tasted--and in 53 years, I've tasted a lot.

For a little sweeter treat, try this pumpkin cake. With its decadent cream cheese frosting, it's always a hit.

Apples are plentiful and delicious this time of year. There are lots of great apple pie recipes, but here's one for apple cake. It's amazing!

And if you want a scrumptious accompaniment to any of these baked goods but don't want to make frosting, try this cream cheese glaze. It's a breeze to whip up in the food processor--quick and simple and so tasty.

These recipes have stood the test of time and lots of taste-testing in our family. I hope you love them as much as we do!

Do you have a favorite Fall baked good? Please share!

Joining Thoughts of Home on Thursday

Monday, October 3

Autumn on the front porch

Summer has lingered around here. But the calendar has turned the page, and it's October. . . and I'm ready to decorate my house in accordance with the calendar instead of the weather. Cooler days are coming, I know!

Here's how you'd be greeted if came to my home today.

There was a time when I wanted more, more, more fall decorations at the front door, but these days I'm happy with just a few. I filled my lanterns with gourds, hung a wreath on the door, then added a couple of pumpkins and a couple of baskets. One mum adds some fall color and I hope the doorway says "Welcome friends" as well as "Welcome Fall"!

One of my favorite finds this year is a tobacco basket. While I'm not a user of tobacco products myself, I live in Durham, North Carolina, and tobacco is a big part of our local history.

To the right of the front door is my favorite spot in our house--our outdoor living room.

This area of the porch is surrounded by house on three sides, open only to the North on the front of the house. It's such a protected nook that we use it in most seasons, but Fall is our favorite.

Here you can see how the sitting area is related to the front door:

I had new covers made for the outdoor furniture this year (click here for a helpful post on choosing outdoor fabric). I'm enjoying the fact that the furniture is now so neutral that I can do whatever I want with throw pillows. I've had this pillow fabric for years, and it seemed just right for Fall, so I used this simple sewing technique and stitched up new pillow covers in no time. Other than changing the pillows, I simply added a couple of little pumpkins and a Fall message on the chalkboard.

Here's a look at the whole seating area:

These simple changes took just a little bit of time, but I think they make the porch look welcoming for the season. Now if you could just come sit here with me and have a cup of mulled cider! Wouldn't that be a good way to celebrate the coming of Autumn?

I'm joining these fun parties:

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Thoughts of Home on Thursday

Monday, October 19

A welcoming Fall foyer

My porch has been decorated for Fall for a couple of weeks now, and I'm finally getting the rest of the house decorated as well.

During this season of change in my life, I've been rather slow to decorate. I've discovered that my desire to decorate for Halloween has dwindled as my children have grown up (although my desire to eat Halloween candy hasn't dwindled a bit!). Still, I want change things up a bit for this glorious season.

I sometimes find my foyer hard to decorate. It's a nice-sized entry, but I like to keep it free from too much stuff. I do have one antique dresser in the foyer, and it's always held a much-loved elephant lamp. To add just a bit of Fall to the dresser, I created a simple vignette.

I was born and reared in West Tennessee. My grandfather (not many generations back, but my dad's father!) was a sharecropper. By the time I came along, he'd managed to buy a small piece of land for growing cotton. My childhood memories include many images and smells of that cotton field. When I think of crops being harvested, I think of cotton. I was tickled to find these faux cotton stems from the Perfectly Imperfect shop that look so realistic!

To create this Fall vignette, I simply placed my cotton stems in a blown glass vase. They "arrange themselves" beautifully, I think. I found the free "Happy Fall" printable at Jones Design Company (thank you, Emily!). I printed it at 80% of its original size so it would fit in my 5" x 7" frame. I added a ceramic acorn and voila! My foyer is ready to welcome Autumn guests.

Decorating doesn't get much simpler than this! What have you done to welcome Fall at your house?

Friday, October 2

Autumn on the front porch

It's finally Autumn in the South! Of all the seasons, Autumn is my favorite, especially for sitting on the front porch. Come have a look at my porch!

I know it's very much in vogue to decorate with all neutrals, but I love the colors of Autumn. The area around my front door is bright with mums and gourds and pumpkins. I added a demijohn and a pottery jug, both from Pottery Barn.

I purchased these large lanterns at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago, and I change them up to suit the seasons. Right now they're wearing a coat of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint and they're filled with ornamental gourds.

The wreath on my front door was handmade by a friend who brought it to me as a hostess gift. She embellished a grapevine wreath with beautiful ribbon and faux botanicals.

To the right of the front door is one of my favorite parts of our house: the front porch sitting area.

This little area is pretty well protected from the elements, so I've created an outdoor living room.

I updated the porch this spring, and to "fallify" things I simply made a few changes. I made quick covers for the throw pillows out of an old Pottery Barn tablecloth. I've always liked the Jacobean print, and the colors are autumnal. I also brought out my DIY Autumn Leaf pillows.

The lamp table is actually an antique desk to which I regularly apply Howard's Feed 'n' Wax. The pull-out writing surface is perfect for holding a coaster. I found the large green pumpkin at HomeGoods, and the little clock is part of the Better Homes & Gardens line at Wal-Mart. The "relax" letters are part of the Letterpress line from DaySpring.

I added a fun Fall message to the chalkboard:

Wish you could all come sit a spell with me!

Tuesday, September 29

Favorite Recipe for Fall: Fresh Apple Cake

It's now officially Fall, and I'm so glad! I'm happy be joining a group of lovely bloggers for the "Fall in Love with Your Home" tour.

After a long, hot Southern summer, Autumn puts me in the mood to bake. And boy, do I have a wonderful recipe to share with you today.

I've long been a fan of Fall baked goods that feature pumpkin, like my favorite pumpkin bread. This year I wanted to broaden my repertoire, so I searched for the very best apple cake I could find. Hands down, the winner is my friend Sheana's Apple Cake with Maple Glaze.

The recipe is not difficult or complicated. This is simple, basic baking--with glorious results. Give it a try--you won't be disappointed!

To start, preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Yes, you read that right--this cake bakes low and slow. Grease and flour a tube pan.

Next, peel and chop several apples, any variety you like. I used Fuji, and I chopped them in my food processor to save time and to avoid big chunks, which I dislike in baked goods, but you chop your apples however you like them. I used three and half apples to end up with three cups of chopped apple.

Then mix together 1 cup oil (I use canola), 2 cups sugar, 2 eggs, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Combine in mixer until well blended (1-2 minutes).

Blend 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon into batter.

Add 3 cups chopped apples and 3 cups flour. Mix until well blended. Batter will be very thick, almost like a dough.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 60 minutes, then check for doneness. Now, this part is important and requires a bit of attention and patience. You want the cake to be done but not overbaked. Add 3-5 minutes of cooking time and continue to check for doneness each time. My oven required about one hour and 10 minutes of baking time, but all ovens are different. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not, do not, do not overbake.

Remove from oven and cool in pan on a cooling rack. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Use a knife to loosen the edges of the cake before turning out onto a plate. When completely cool, drizzle with maple glaze.

To make glaze, sift 1 to 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar into a microwave-safe dish. Add maple syrup plus one teaspoon maple extract to make a paste. Heat for 30 seconds or so in microwave to make a thin, pourable glaze. Drizzle or pour immediately on cake to desired thickness. Glaze will harden as it cools.

As you can see, I like more than just a drizzle of glaze. The maple flavor complements the apple beautifully.