The Anticipation of Fall - Making Caramel Apples, Pumpkin Bread + Cabbage & Kielbasa Soup Recipes + Fun Video

Late last week it was a tad bit cold. In the mountains they even got an inch of snow. This put Ellie and I into a Fall kind of mood. She and Kohlton decided they would welcome the new season with a bit of caramel apple creations.

Ellie tried out and liked these new little balls of caramel. I was skeptical, but I am now won over. I thought the caramel would be weird since it can be thinned with water. I like the fact that we no longer the tedious job of unwrapping small square caramels.

Ellie also assembled some fun toppings.

Kohlton had never made caramel apples, so Ellie taught him and he picked it up quickly.

Pumpkin Quick Bread

1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Puree
3/4 cup Applesauce
1 3/4 cups Sugar
3 eggs
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
3/4 tsp Ground Allspice
3/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x5 loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, applesuace, sugar, and eggs until well-incorporated. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Gradually pour into the pumpkin batter a little bit at a time, stirring after each addition until the mixture is well-blended. Be careful to not over
mix the batter.

Divide batter evenly between the loaf pans and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

Allow to cool completely in pans before removing the bread. Run a knife around the edges of the bread in the pan to loosen. Store any remaining bread in plastic wrap.

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Last night we hung out with the Cure family and had a casual meal to go along with our visiting. They thought the Cabbage and Kielbasa soup was humble, I thought it was delicious:

Cabbage & Kielbasa Soup
Via: The Cure Family

1 large Yellow Onion, chopped
3 TBL. Olive Oil
1 ring (about 1 1/2 pound) Kielbasa Sausage ring, cut into pieces or diced
2 large Potatoes, or 6 New Red Potatoes, cubed
6 cups Chicken Stock
1 head Cabbage, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute the onion and the kielbasa in hot oil in a soup pot until the onion is softened. Add the potatoes and stock. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about 30 min. Bring the soup to a boil and add the cabbage. Stir. Turn the heat to medium. Cook for about 5 minutes or more. The longer you simmer the soup, the more the cabbage will incorporate. If you make this in a crock pot, some of the cabbage will sort of dissolve or melt and begin to thicken the soup a bit. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a nice bread, such as thick slices of French bread.

I will add:
carrots
chopped apple
garlic
caraway
paprika
nutmeg
beer (maybe)

And finally, a little English Teacher fun: