Cookies Galore! (And some REAL food too, of course!)

It so good to be back in the kitchen!

After getting more groceries, I whipped up these orange molasses cookies that I found in Eating Well. They turned out well, especially for cookies that only use oats and whole wheat flour!

Wait until the next day if you didn't really like them- they get sweeter and more molasses-y overnight!

Today, I woke up and made some pumpkin and orange muffins from Recipe Book, a blog that I just started following via Swap-Bot. I'm so excited I started following her because the recipes are all amazing! The muffins are super delicious and have a great orange flavor.  I ran out of brown sugar yesterday, so I substituted sugar with a little molasses, via this tip.

And for lunch, I made some roasted pumpkin-apple soup from Eating Well. Don't even try it- it went down the sink drain.

There were a few problems: I halved the recipe that says it is originally for 12 and it looks like it would barely serve 2 people! So I added 1 more cup of chicken broth to lengthen the soup.

It had pretty much no flavor except from the little chunks of apple that my food processor refused to make smaller. It was not sweet but not savory- just bland. Then, my mom tried to add some spices to make it better, but there was no saving that dish. I guess not every dish can be a winner!

At least I baked some more gingerbread cookies! My family ate up the batch I made 2 days ago! We LOVE gingerbread and this time I made mittens and socks! So cute!

Check back later for what I made for dinner! One hint: it involved beer!

Apples, Apples, Everywhere!

I have a ton of apples from Labor Day, so I made applesauce yesterday! It was so delicious :) I used this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. It turned out great.

But its not very pretty, because its all mushy and I've almost eaten all of it. I halved the recipe because I think my slow cooker is only 2-quart and the recipe uses a 4-quart. It made 2 servings and it was perfect- not too sugary and very apple-y. Yum! Please go try this recipe! You won't regret it!

Apple Pickin' and NC Apple Festival

In celebration of Labor Day and the end of summer, I did something very fall :) We didn't have class today, so my friend Melanie and I went up to Hendersonville, NC, pick some apples! We decided on Sky Top Orchards because they had some amazing views posted on their website and got up there around 10 am yesterday.

We picked our fair share of apples- 1/2 bushel was perfect. I'm planning on making some applesauce in my slow cooker and maybe some apple butter. And maybe even some apple pie or tart!

Mutsu Apples (early Fujis)

Jonagold Apples

Jonathan Apples (Just like my boyfriend! haha)

Melanie with her prize, little Gala apple. They were mostly picked over or rotten so she only got 2!

Me pickin' apples!

Eating an apple donut. Heaven in donut form- it tasted like apple pie!

Drinking an apple cider slushie-I had to get my fill of apple products!

How tall am I? The sign exaggerates by 2 inches, but I don't mind!

I picked up some mini preserve jars from Sky Top as well- Fig, Blueberry and Apple Cinnamon Jelly.

After picking apples and eating our share of awesome apple foods, we drove into Hendersonville, NC, for their annual NC Apple Festival

Hendersonville is so cute!

We ate at the Black Bear Coffee Co. and I got a ham and cheese croissant and iced tea. A great reward for picking some apples! And energy for our adventure after Hendersonville.... heading to Pisgah National Forest! More on that tomorrow... there are too many pictures for one post!