It's that time of year when I do a little baking.

First up, miniature pumpkin shaped cakes.

I saw these on a magazine cover and thought they would be cute to give away

so that is what we did.

Who wouldn't want a mini cake?

 

 

 

In a nutshell - crafty acorns

The weather has a crispness to it in the mornings. You know what that means - Autumn is near.

Trae and I took a walk to a church in our neighborhood so he could play on their playground. I heard the crunch underneath our feet as we walked along. The acorns are beginning to fall - one of my favorite times of the year. We picked up a few little specimens. They were still green and some were too small but soon there will be more to look for. There is one house that we like to walk by because they have a huge tree that drops the larger acorns.

Every year we gather them, put them in the freezer to kill any worms (which still elicits the question from whomever opens the freezer, "Why is there a bag of acorns in the freezer??") Do they not know me at all??

I always end up putting them in a glass vase for a little decoration. I also get a branch and hot glue the leaves and acorns back on it and put it in the vase full of acorns that act as a filler.
It's exactly what my mom would do except she'd send us out to gather filberts and walnuts that fell from the trees lining our driveway.

Maybe this year I should switch it up and make some felted wool acorns?

These are little sachets of lavender. So cute.

Or how about these cool fabric ones?

Some are just so cute you could eat them.

How about painting them?

Or maybe I should send acorns to heads of state like John and Yoko to plant as a symbol of peace?

Whatever their use, they sure are cute little suckers.

Which acorn project would you try?

(The heads of state thing might not work but the others are promising!)

When life gives you lemons, make a souffle

A while back as I was decorating a scrumptious chocolate cake, one of my kids remarked that they couldn't wait until we cut into it. I told them that it was for another family but I would make them one sometime. Later I questioned myself on why I reserve making the good desserts for others and just rely on the old standards for my family, if at all?
The answer is possibly that if I do make a big dessert, Jon and I will likely eat a lot of it which is not so good for our waistlines. So I opt for quick, easy and not so sweet.

My dad would commission my sister and me to make treats for him due to his big sweet tooth. We'd pull out the mixer, the cookie press and whatever else we needed and went to town. My sister was really the expert and I just followed along but I enjoyed making up creations.

Every time I mention the things we used to bake, Jon remarks that seeing is believing. So with that, I decided I should try a little harder in the area of making something fun just once a week. I wouldn't want them to get their hopes up for divine desserts or anything.

Since I purchased a bunch of lemons for just a buck at the Farmer's market and we love most anything lemon, I decided to make Little Lemon Souffles baked right in the lemon itself.

It was fun and they turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.
So now we'll have to see what I come up with next week. Time to go pull out the cookbooks...

Have a good weekend!

(By the way, did you watch the Royal Wedding??)