Tuesday Four: Autumn Days

 

Autumn Days



Welcome! This is Tuesday 4 in honor and memory of our friend Toni Taddeo.

This week's questions are from ideas given by Susan who owns Susan's Sayings.

Remember to visit Susan.

I will start this post off with a couple of pictures way back from the past. You can read more about them HERE, but this was one of our favorite fall traditions when our kids were little...we had a church "Hobo Party", where people dressed up like hobos and we played fun games and had a great time with the kiddos.  Here we are all taking our turn bobbing for apples. Have you ever done that? You should try it sometime! LOL.

L to R: our son Benton and son Scott, and then our son Matthew and Scott, trying their skills at apple bobbing for the first time. This was probably in 1978.

And of course, we wouldn't ask our kids or our friends to do anything we wouldn't be willing to do as well. Here we are left to right: Yours truly with Scotty and then my hubby. We were in our Hobo outfits and having a lot of fun.

1.  Are you decorating your home for fall? Thanksgiving? Show us some photos if you don't mind!

These pictures are actually from last year's Thanksgiving display. I have already shared my current fall displays before HERE and HERE, and they will be updated for Thanksgiving as we get a little closer to the date, but it will probably look a lot like this:

This one is current now...I just turned the little candle lights on for this "Scarecrow Crossing" display.

2.  Are trees changing in your area yet? Do you mind showing a fall photo from your area?

Since we live in Florida, we do not have the big showy autumn leaf displays that you have up north. But if you look closely enough here and there you will see some lovely colors on display, especially the maple trees along the rivers and ponds that are starting to change colors a bit. 

This is how it looked on Still Waters Pond this morning: 

Those are the Maple trees across the pond.  They are getting prettier every day.

These are the holly trees full of berries along the edge of the pond. The birds are loving them!

And this is how it looks walking through the woods on a carpet of brown pine needles:

This is pretty typical for autumn in north central Florida where I live.

 

3.  Do you like to use scents in your home? What kind do you use and what scents do you enjoy in your home.

I tend to be very "scentsitive" to scents, so I don't use a lot of scented candles or other artificial fragrances.  However, my favorite scents would be the delightful aroma of apple pie baking in the oven, or a pumpkin pie with all of its wonderful spices.  Then, not only does the house smell nice and cozy and yummy, but you get to eat the delicious foods of which you were savoring the smells.

4.  Fall's weather usually turns a bit chilly. Sometimes we change how we eat by seasons. Can you share a nice recipe for a good fall meal with us? 

I've shared my recipe for Hobo Stew before, but it is always a fall/winter favorite here at our house. Served with some fresh hot cornbread, it is sure to warm your tummy on a chilly day.  

Yummy hot cornbread, cooked in an iron skillet in the oven:

Here's the recipe:

Hobo Stew

Cook a couple of slices of bacon, chopped into smaller pieces, in the bottom of a large soup kettle or dutch oven.

Brown 2 lbs. ground chuck in the pot, and drain off fat.

Add 1 medium chopped onion to the meat and cover and cook until onion is tender

Add 1 can diced stewed tomatoes (I used the ones with green pepper & onion added)

Add approximately 3 cups of water to the pot, cover and let simmer while you chop up the next ingredients:

Add four medium, peeled and cut potatoes

Add four or five peeled and sliced carrots

Add two cups of chopped cabbage.

Add salt and pepper and garlic powder to season.

If needed, add more water, cover and let cook until all vegetables are tender.

(All ingredients can be added according to how much you want to make! This will make a nice dutch oven pot full of stew)

Serve with fresh, hot cornbread. We like to crumble our corn bread onto the stew.

We used to make this in Girl Scouts, and would put all ingredients in a large metal coffee can, cover tightly with foil, and bury under the coals of our campfire and let it cook all day. It would be delicious for supper!

Another favorite fall treat is some fresh hot homemade applesauce, served over hot biscuits for breakfast!  Click HERE for another post about this family tradition.

Core, quarter and peel about 6-8 of your favorite cooking apples (these are McIntosh) and put into a microwaveable  dish.

Add a about a 1/4 cup of water, sprinkle with cinnamon and cook covered in microwave until tender, about 5-6 minutes.

Then mash apples with a potato masher until smooth, add about a 1/4 cup of sugar (or less, depending on number of apples), and stir into the sauce.  

Serve over fresh hot biscuits:

Usual serving is two open biscuits per person covered with applesauce. 

 

I hope you enjoyed these Autumn days traditions, decorations and recipes. Please share some of your special fun times with us.  Now go to http://tuesdaysplace.blogspot.com/2020/10/autumn-days.html to see what others are posting.