Looking like a garden at last

 My grandson came in this morning and said, "It's November 1st. It's not Halloween anymore." I have to admit I am kind of glad the spooky season is over and we can begin the season of thanks. I can understand why kids really like Halloween. It is so much fun to see them dressed up in costumes and who doesn't like candy? I answered the door last night to a father all decked out in costume with green hair and painted face -- kind of like a giant Oompa Loompa. He smiled at me and said, "Dad's like to have fun, too!

Today, I am all candied out and ready for ... vegetables.

Our garden is beginning to produce some nutritious fall greens and since last week's rain and cooler weather, our greens are really taking off. Above, see our turnip and mustard greens and our large broccoli plants.

I think we will be ready for turnip greens at any time. I can almost taste them now. The collards we will save for awhile. They could be eaten but I am thinking I should wait and pick them when they are really huge. We traditionally have them on New Year's Day but maybe this year we will have them for Thanksgiving. It is time to fertilize them and it would be nice to have more rain.

They look good, don't they?

Gluten-free Halloween treats

What do you make for today's elementary school kids since so many of them have allergies and sensitivities to foods?

Our class decided to have a gluten-free, milk-free, nut-free party where we focus heavily on toy treats and more lightly on candy treats. Above we filled treat bags with Halloween favors including a pencil, pad, pencil sharpener, erasers, plastic spiders, squishy eyeballs, eyeball rings, Halloween stickers and puzzles.

We did make some cute cupcakes with a Halloween/fall theme covered in candy corn. The cake for these cupcakes was from a Bob's Red Mill chocolate cake mix. They are light and fluffy, rich cocoa cakes baked in muffin pans with cupcake liners. The icing, made from the recipe below, but using margarine with no trans-fats and soy milk is very good and hard to tell from the original recipe.

Creamy Cocoa Frosting
(Dairy-free recipe)

1 cup softened margarine with no trans fats (Smart Balance or Earth Balance)
2 lbs. confectioners' sugar
1 cup cocoa (packed)
1/2 to 2/3 cups soy milk or almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Beat margarine in medium bowl. Stir in vanilla flavoring. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk a little at a time until frosting is easy to spread. Pipe onto cupcakes using a large piping tool.

We are transporting the cupcakes in a large flat plastic carrier that holds tons of cupcakes. This is my tip of the day because if you have ever had to transport cupcakes, you know that this makes carrying them easier. It is similar to an "under-the-bed" tub and is about the size of a regular plastic tub but this is perfect because it keeps them fresh until it's time to go. When buying a tub for this purpose, make sure the bottom is flat with no ridges around the sides.

We also made marshmallow ghosts by melting vegan chips and piping on a face. It goes well with the all-chocolate cupcakes.

One mother is bringing a "cauldron" that the kids will fill with gluten-free pretzels, mini marshmallows, vegan chocolate chips and other gluten-free items. The kids will take turns pouring in the items and stirring the pot.

The kids will also make a "ghost" by using a Dum-Dum sucker, a coffee filter, a white ribbon and self-adhesive wiggle eyes.

Will the kids enjoy the cupcakes? I will add to this post tomorrow to let you know!

A day on the farm

It was all excitement as I went with the children of my grandson's kindergarten and first grade class to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch. It is really a working farm, but during the fall they host children, and some adults for an educational tour of their rural farm. They give the children a taste of what life on a farm is like from late September until the middle of November.

I think most kids in our county go to Uncle Bob's at one time or another. Some of the mothers who were chaperoning had been there a number of times. I was a bit surprised and it was also a surprise that so many kids were there. It was a very busy place. 

It was a new experience for both my grandson and I and it all began with a hayride around the farm. At one point we stopped and the tractor driver encouraged all of the kids to throw hay for some of the nearby horses to eat. Our enthusiastic group wasted no time in dumping out hay.

The horses backed away from us and stood about 30 feet away while the kids threw hay. I am wondering if some of the children who had thrown hay before were a little too enthusiastic. After we pull away to resume our hayride the horses decided to come back and check out the fresh hay. Luckily we still had hay left in our wagon.

We were able to pet some of the animals and there were quite a few -- sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits, a pig, peacocks, turkeys, ducks and probably a few I didn't see.

Then all the kids got to see baby chickens under the lights that were keeping them warm as they grew.

Uncle Bob's wife and our hostess demonstrated how to spin hair into thread. The hair was from sheep, goats and rabbits. She also told us how she dyes her wool using ammonia and copper.

We walked through the corn maze.

 And we heard a Halloween story.

 We saw an observation bee hive and heard how they extract the honey the bees make.

And saw a video about bats.

Before we left, we saw a how a potter uses clay to make pottery ...

and bricks.

The last thing we did was pick out a little pumpkin (I think it was actually a gourd) to take home. We had a great time and I know most of the kids in the kindergartens and elementary schools in our area really enjoy this fall event every year. If you haven't been I think it is really worth it. They have special events on weekends, too.

Halloween Treats

Trick or Treating is less that a week away and I usually buy a ton of candy for the kids that come knocking on my door expecting treats. While I will still buy some candy, I think this year I will add toy treats to my pile of sweets. I am troubled that there are so many children with allergies who can't have candy and it's really not good for them anyway. I think these little toy treats are the perfect alternatives to candy.

The best places I have found for these kind of treats are Party City and Michael's. They have cute AND cheap treats that are kids love -- some of them are even useful. Things like these little pads above. These came from Michael's and right now, you can get coupons from their website. There are also coupons in the paper each week. Michael's treats are a little more expensive but they can be charming.

 Halloween pencils are perfect. These from Party City are twelve for $1.99.

Cute pumpkin bookmarks are useful, too.

 I've seen plenty of spider rings and kids love them. I'll bet they would really love bat rings, too.

And my favorite, eye ball ping pong ball. Who wouldn't like those?

Both stores have some great partyware, too. I bought these Friendly Spooks party plates, napkins and cups from Party City. It is on sale right now for 50 percent off and perfect for a child's Halloween party. You can also find coupons for $10 off the first $50, $20 off $75 and $30 off $100.

They also have games, pumpkin carving supplies, costumes, pumpkin pinatas and my favorite, balloons. Party City has the best helium balloons. Best of all everything Halloween is 50 perfect off. These stores make celebrating affordable if you can take advantage of the sales.

Pumpkins, pumpkins

 It's time to cut out -- or paint -- or at least decorate  our pumpkins. Tomorrow we will go to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin patch and after we pick out at least one pumpkin there, it will be time to start carving.

I do like the idea of painting faces on the pumpkin rather than cutting them. The pumpkins above from bhg.com might be less messy -- I guess. Paint is messy, too but it does look good. The only negative is that you can't light your pumpkin if you don't carve it.

 I also love the idea of dressing up pumpkins. Hats, bow ties, funny glasses and noses, fake mustaches are all great ways to give your pumpkin a personality of its own. The pirate pumpkin and the mummy pumpkin are adorable. I don't know if everyone has an extra hat or wig laying around, but you can buy "disguises" at craft stores and they would look very good on your pumpkin.

Masks are great ideas. You can make a mask from cardboard and paint it black like these at goodhousekeeping.com.

The pumpkins above are made from resin with stick-on eggs and rickrack mouths. Find the how-tos at hgtv.com.

These whimsical pumpkins, above, are both carved and decorated with adorable eyes and even pointy teeth. These strange creatures are so cute.

Here's a great pumpkin design from southernliving.com. Looks like they use small electric lights to illuminate their pumpkins rather than candles. Good idea, especially for little ones.

 

These pumpkins with false teeth are still my favorite. The people at marthastewart.com came up with this great idea.

 Todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com found these pumpkins simply made from blocks of wood and decorated with ribbon. It looks like they glued a stick to the top.

Aw-w-w-ah. These are so cute! See how to make them at squido.com.

 Tissue paper and pipe cleaners make adorable pumpkns! I love this idea.

 Another great idea--a perfect container and centerpiece from littleshamrock.com.

Popcorn, candy corn and rice puffs with green string candy for the stem. A great idea from allrecipes.com.

Fresh Apple Cake--Two Ways

My search to find the perfect recipe for fresh apple cake is underway -- again.

Every year about this time, I try new fresh apple cake recipes to see it I can replicate a memory. I bought a couple of fresh apple cakes from a lady baker in Fayetteville, Georgia, more years ago than I can remember and it was the best cake ever! I have made some good apple cakes but never made a cake that beats the cake from my memory.

Two cakes from this past week, one containing wheat and an easy gluten-free cake from a mix were quite good but not quite like the cake I hold up as "the holy grail of Fresh Apple Cakes! These are better than any I have made to date. They are good enough to share, even if they are not as good as the cake I remember. These are easier tube-pan versions. The cake I remember was a layer cake.

Fresh Apple Nut Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups peeled and finely chopped apples, about 4 medium apples (tart varieties always yield more flavor)
1 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla
Optional: 1 cup of chopped pecans (I rarely add nuts to my cake batter because I have those who don't like nuts in my family. I do add them to the glaze on top.

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs, sugar and oil until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Add apples, vanilla and optional nuts. Pour batter into a greased tube pan and bake at 350° for 1 hour or until cake is firm and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Immediately pour the  brown sugar/nut glaze over the top of the cake and allow to cool for ten minutes. (See recipe below)

Brown Sugar Nut Glaze
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk (I used soy milk and it was great!)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup chopped pecans (You don't have to add the nuts for this to be good!)

Combine all ingredients in a medium to large saucepan. Bring to a full boil for several minutes. Pour over cake right out of the oven. Allow to cool for ten minutes. Turn the cake out onto a plate lined with wax or parchment paper. Invert immediately onto a serving plate. The nuts will be on the top of the cake and the glaze will drizzle down the sides.

This was yummy, but ...

Here is the easy, easy, gluten-free from a mix version:

Gluten-free Fresh Apple Cake
(This will make a smaller cake than the one above because the gluten-free cake mix I used only makes one large layer. Isn't that a bummer? With the addition of the apples, this cake should be almost the size of the non-gluten-free recipe. This could be made with a non-gluten free cake mix.)

3 cups peeled and chopped tart apples
1 cake mix, mixed to package directions (I used the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow cake mix)
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Optional: 1/2 cups of chopped pecans

Brown Sugar Nut Glaze (See above.)

Peel and chop apples and set aside. Mix cake mix according to package directions. Add cinnamon, vanilla and (optional) nuts.

Pour into a tube pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until cake is firm to the touch. Don't overcook.

Pour the glaze over the top an allow to cool for ten minutes. Turn the cake out onto a plate lined with wax or parchment paper and immediately invert onto a serving plate.

My search continues. If you have a great recipe, please send it to crokitt@numail.org because I would love to find the perfect fresh apple cake!

Red berries on an antique wall

I work in a historic downtown area, so it is not surprising that I would see some surprising things on my way to work. In an area like this, the buildings may crumble but some of the plants remain.

What I see as an old ivy plant has the prettiest profusion of red berries I have ever seen on a plant. I have ivy in my front yard and never have I seen berries on my ivy. That is why I was so surprised when I saw this plant creeping over an antique wall and had to get closer for a photo. All I had with me was my camera phone but I need to go back very soon with my camera to see if I can get some better shots. Pretty things like this don't always last very long.

I have purchased fake ivy at the craft store and it had red berries but this ivy just blew me away it was so lovely and untouched. Click on it yourself to see all the lovely berries. Incidentally, the berries around the edge are dark blue and black.

It made me think of our upcoming issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine and the feature on "Red Berries," just not the kind I have pictured here. I guess it is a reminder of cool weather and the end of harvest, but I think of it as one of those lovely surprises we can find when we just look for them, and one you should see when you pass by it every day.

If you have any more information on ivy  -- since I apparently don't know much about it, I would love to read your comment.