On Fall Decorating, Food, Recipes and Inspiration!

Happy Friday, dear friends!  Can you believe there are only 12 more sleeps left until Halloween?  It feels like the month of October is fleeing as quickly as the leaves are flying off the trees!  The days are getting shorter, there is a nip in the air, and I've been keeping fall-busy. 

I've been decorating indoors.  These are the leaves my girls and I gathered on our little foliage tour a couple of weeks ago.  I put them in the pages of a heavy book to flatten and dry.  The acorns were  found by Annabel in her school yard.  Every time she finds a "perfect" one, she brings it home for me.  The Autumn banner was hand-made by my dear friend, Janie.  Since she gave it to me, it always has a special place in my fall decorating!

 

 

 

 

I put our pumpkins out on the porch steps along with Mr. Scarecrow and our little welcome flag.

The light colored pumpkin is a "pink pumpkin".  For every pumpkin sold, a percentage is donated to breast cancer research.  You can visit the website http://pinkpumpkinpatch.org/ if you'd like to learn more.

 

 

 Our smiling pumpkin lights decorating our front porch

 

 

The season of autumn, including this month of October, brings about in me a craving for what I call "cozy cooking".  The recent chilly and blustery weather has me thinking of things like hearty bowls of soup, warm breakfast cereals, and cheesy, grilled sandwiches.  Although I have substantially lowered my daily carb consumption, I do allow myself occasional treats! 

 

My dear friend, Morwenna, posted about her yummy breakfast in one of her recent blog posts.  If you haven't already, you simply must visit her lovely blog - www.morwennahill.com.  She is an English cutie and a fabulous baker who always provides me with inspiration! 

 

Morwenna's recipe for her organic porridge looked and sounded so good, that I too, had to run out (the very same day) and buy ingredients to make my own.

 

 

I emptied one packet of regular whole grain oatmeal into my bowl, added 2/3 cup of hot milk and stirred in one tablespoon of maple syrup.  A few banana slices, chopped walnuts, raisins and a sprinkling of ground cinnamon made an otherwise regular, boring oatmeal an over-the-top bowl of morning cozy!  Thank you, Morwenna, for your inspiration! 

 

 

Another source of food inspiration came to me just a few days ago.  I was flipping through the pages of "Our Homes" (a free, local magazine) while in the waiting room at my orthodontist's office when I came across an article about grilled cheese.  There was a lovely recipe and a photo of the most delicious looking grilled cheese sandwich. 

 

For lunch yesterday,  I recreated a similar grilled cheese sandwich, inspired by the magazine recipe.

 

 

If you want to recreate this sandwich yourself, you will need:

2 slices of hearty whole grain bread

1 small onion, thinly sliced, caramelized in a bit of butter

3-4 slices of cooked bacon

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

butter for spreading

  

First, I caramelized the onion and fried the bacon.  I set those aside and added approximately half of a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to one slice of bread, covered it with the caramelized onions and topped it with the bacon slices.  I placed the other slice of bread on top and then buttered the top and bottom slices. 

Next, I heated a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.  When the pan was nice and hot,  I put the grilled cheese sandwich in it, pressing it down every so often with a spatula until the under side of the bread was golden brown and the cheese began to melt.  Then, I flipped over the sandwich and did the same thing to the other side. And ta-da...

 

 

It was so good!  The flavours really complemented eachother!  I will definitely be making this again!  I think next time, I'll try omitting the bacon and making it with caramelized onion and cheese only, maybe even cheddar cheese. 

 

 

I hope you are all enjoying the month of October and the days leading up to Halloween.  It's such a fun time of year!  I can't wait to see children and adults dressed in their costumes on Halloween.  I already bought one BIG box of treats, but I have to buy more. Last year, we had so many children coming to our door.  Halloween night is so much more festive when there are lots of children

trick-or-treating! 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I always love hearing from you and appreciate your comments!  Have a wonderful fall weekend!