Harvest Apple Salad (recipe)

 "The grass isn't greener on the other side. It's greener where you water it." (Author Unknown)

Hello, my lovely friends!

The Autumn season is really in full gear here and I wanted to make something for the season, but healthy for you. My mom wanted a salad and that’s when I knew I wanted to add apples, nuts and cranberries to it. I didn’t take any pictures (my bad), but I still wanted to share the recipe with you all. 

Harvest Apple Salad
What I used:
Bag of salad (any kind, I used an Italian one) I always re-wash my salads that are in a bag
Choice of veggies (bell peppers, grape tomatoes, radishes, & carrots)
Apples, 2 cubed
Parsley, handful cut up
Boiled eggs, 2
Salad Toppings (croutons, cranberries & pecans)
Chicken breast, 2
Bacon, 4 slices

Maple Bacon Mustard Dressing
2 TBSP. Bacon Grease 
1/3 cup Maple syrup (I used the sugar-free syrup)
2 TBSP. Red Wine Vinegar
3 TBSP. Honey Dijohn Mustard
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ tsp. Kosher Salt
1/8 tsp. Pepper

Directions
1. First thing I started was my eggs. I place the eggs in a pan add cold water over them and put them on the stove. When they start boiling and really a rolling boil I turn them off, cover them with a lid and let them cook for about 8 minutes. I peel them and place them in the fridge (my mom likes them cold)

2. Next I cooked the four slices of bacon. I let it cool down before I cut it up into pieces to top the salad. I always keep my bacon grease, but this time I put it in a small jar to make the dressing. 

3. In the same frying pan I cooked the bacon I all cooked the chicken. I went simple with just some salt and pepper on it. After the chicken cooled down I cut both pieces into bite-sized pieces.

4. Toss all the veggies, apples and herbs with the salad. We added our own chicken bacon and toppings to it. My mom likes cutting up her egg into her salad and I eat them cut in half with salt and pepper.

5. Salad recipe add everything together into a jar, put a lid on it and shake it up. 

There you have it a perfect salad for the autumn season. You could also add pears instead of the apples and that would be yummy!

 

 So glad you stopped by! Wishing you the coziest morning/afternoon/evening ahead. Can't wait for our paths to cross again!

Spread Your Magic

 

 

Halloween 2019

 “Hark! Hark to the wind! ’T is the night, they say,
When all souls come back from the far away—
The dead, forgotten this many a day!”
(Virna Sheard)

Hello, my lovely friends! 

 

   Throwing it back to 2019 Halloween! Peep the decorations we had scattered around the house—I forgot how much fun that was! The biggest shock, though? Our yard trees. They've gone from cute little guys to absolute giants! I officially miss the seasonal decorating craze. Next year, I'm promising myself a glorious, over-the-top Halloween comeback!

 

 

 

 

Throw-back Thursday Halloween Q&A

 "When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween." (Author unknown)

Hello, my lovely friends! 

 

Let’s have a Halloween Q&A today. You can also answer the questions in the comment section. Have fun!

1. What is your favorite Halloween candy? 
I'm a huge fan of anything Wonka. My favorite has to be the Laffy Taffy, I tend to take them all out of the bowl on Halloween. Poor kids, no Laffy Taffy for them. 


2. How long did your Halloween candy usually last? 
When we were kids my parents would put our candy in a paper bag and on top of the fridge. We would be allowed a little bit every day. I think it lasted close to Thanksgiving, at least mine did. My dad knew he could take all my chocolate candy and I liked the tart things. 


3. What was your best costume? 
For the most part I was always a witch. I still dress up as a witch. Some years I had warts, green faced, or frizzy hair. It was always a witch thought. 


4. What was your worst costume? 
When I was little my parents bought me a princess costume with those plastic masks and I hated it. I didn't like the mask on my face and they never got me a store bought costume ever again. I think by the end of the night the mask was crack and falling apart. 


5. Did you buy or make your own costume? 
Piggybacking from the store bought princess costume all my costumes were homemade. I normally would come up with an idea and my Mom would find a way to make it work. Most times we took a trip to a thrift store to put it together. 


6. What is your favorite Halloween tradition? 
I love doing the whole decorating, but I love Halloween night giving out the candy to the kids coming. I dress up and its just a fun night. The kids are amazing, and everyone has fun. 


7. What is your all-time scariest Halloween movie? 
I love horror movies, but they don't scare me. If I had to pick one it would be the original "The Haunting". I love that you never see the evil in the house, but you know its there. Although my first horror movie was “Halloween” and my mom had to sleep with me that night. 


8. Do you prefer gore or thrillers? 
To me gore movies is all about how much blood and guts can we throw at you and there's not much of a story. Movies like that bore me. I want suspense and a story. 


9. How old were you when you saw your first horror movie? 
I believe I was 9 or 10 when I saw "Halloween". It was daytime and my parents, sister and some neighbors were at our house watching it. It did scare me the first time, but now it's one of my favorites.


10.  Favorite horror or Halloween-themed song? 
I love the creepiness of the Halloween theme song, but whenever I see Halloween decorations in the store I start singing the song from "Nightmare Before Christmas", "This is Halloween, Halloween..." and that is all I sing and it goes over and over in my head.

 

So glad you stopped by! Wishing you the coziest morning/afternoon/evening ahead. Can't wait for our paths to cross again!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Friends

 

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes (recipe)

"Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it." (Anonymous)

 

Hello, my lovely friends!  

 

     My sister worked at a cookie shop that also sold these incredible pumpkin spiced pancake mixes, and she kept my pantry stocked. It was a golden era of effortless fall mornings. But alas, last year, the final bag was scraped clean. My precious supply was gone.

 

    Ever since, I've been on a frustrating, seemingly endless quest to find a replacement. I swear, it's like a culinary game of hide-and-seek—I check every grocery store, every specialty market, only to come up empty-handed. They've just vanished!

 

    Finally, I threw up my hands, powered up my laptop, and started scrolling for answers. After a bit of digital digging, I struck gold: a simple, highly-rated homemade recipe. Looks like this year, I'll be making my own pumpkin magic!

 

     Those grocery store mixes can be so heavy-handed on the seasoning—they practically come with a warning label! This recipe, however, is a flavor sweet spot. In fact, my mom polished them off so fast I was back in the kitchen making a second batch the following week.

 

Pumpkin Spiced Pancakes

 https://www.runninginaskirt.com/simple-pumpkin-pancakes/

Ingredients

• 2 cups complete pancake mix
• ⅔ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• ½ tablespoon vanilla
• 1 ½ cups water

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the complete pancake, water, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Stir until well combined but don't overmix. Let batter sit for a few minutes.
• Heat a non-stick pan or griddle to medium-low heat. Spray with cooking spray or coat with butter.
• Pour the pumpkin pancake batter into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the center is bubbly and the edges are just starting to cook. Flip and cook on the other side.
  
  
• Serve immediately with your favorite pancake toppings.  Notes 

  - Store any leftover pumpkin pancakes in an airtight container in the fridge.  Reheat them in the microwave or for better results the toaster oven.   - They will keep for up to three days.  - You can individually freeze these for later use.  Just freeze each pancake by itself.  They will keep for up to three months. - I roasted some pecans to add to them, o good.    

  

    So glad you stopped by! Wishing you the coziest morning/afternoon/evening ahead. Can't wait for our paths to cross again!

    

Halloween Past

 "You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it's all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive." (Maya Angelou)

Hello, my lovely friends!

 

     We are going back all the way to 2012 for Halloween, I don’t even have a copy of the old blogs for that year. My mom would come over during the day to help me out with the decorations in the front yard and I have a picture of Bella hanging out on the porch. It was nice going through old photos and seeing Miss Bella.