Apron Adventures: Acorns and Pumpkins

Ahhhhh, there is a crispness in the air which can only mean one thing; Fall is here!  The leaves are changing colors, our family nights are spent snuggling around the bonfire making s’mores and counting stars, and pumpkins are decorating just about every porch step in town.  Truly, this is my favorite time of year.

To celebrate the arrival of autumn, the boys and I wanted to share with you these easy peasy snacks that you can do with the little ones you love.

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ACORNS

What you’ll need:

  • Donut Holes (if at all possible, you should really swing by Mr. Ronnie’s in Houma  <– Kid approved)
  • Pretzel Sticks
  • Chocolate Candy Coating (Melted at intervals at 50% power level in the microwave until smooth)
  • Chocolate Sprinkles
  • Chopped Nuts
  • Waxed Paper

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Have your little chefs dip their donut holes into the melted chocolate candy coating until just about the top 1/2 to 1/3 is covered.

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Carefully shake off excess chocolate.

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Set to dry on a piece of waxed paper.

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While the candy coating is still shiny, add your acorn toppings.

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Break off a small piece of pretzel stick and insert into the top of the donut hole to give your acorn a stem.

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Let set up until chocolate coating has dried (the chocolate will lose its shininess).  Here is my biggest guy right before he samples his first “acorn”.

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My guys with their final project or what’s left of it after they went through round one of snacking.

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These are so easy and just adorable for an Autumn after school snack.

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PUMPKINS

What you’ll need:

  • Tangerines
  • Celery

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These guys were ridiculously simple. Carefully unpeel the tangerines so that the orange maintains its shape.  Snip off a small piece of celery to use as a stalk and insert into top of your “pumpkin”.  Done.

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And there you have it!  Two easy snacks to share with the nutty little pumpkins in your life.

Rachel Skvaril - Sugar artist at Fondant Flinger

Rachel Skvaril – Sugar artist at Fondant Flinger

October Reflections – Fall Beauty!

Growing up, my sisters and I were always singing songs about something. One of our favorites was what we called, “The Johnny Appleseed Song”, and part of it went like this:

                     Oh, the Lord is good to me
                       And so I thank the Lord,
                       For giving me, the things I need:
                       The sun and rain and the apple seed,
                       The Lord is good to me.

But, back to that song we used to sing. I’m filled with nostalgia as I reflect on giving thanks for such things as “the sun and rain and the apple seed.” Look around you and gaze at what this month has blessed us with: the brilliance of autumn leaves in an array of colors we can hardly begin to appreciate, the sound of biting into a perfectly ripe, crisp apple, seeing fields of oddly shaped orange pumpkins just waiting for our imaginative carvings, admiring lovely golden-rods shimmering in the afternoon sun,  laughing at decorative scarecrows blinking at us with crooked smiles and floppy hats, pausing for just a moment in the coolness of a foggy, quiet morning.  To enjoy any of these gifts of nature costs no  more than your time. Slowing down from the hectic pace of our lives long enough to look – really look – and see the beauty of what autumn brings is well worth it. Take a moonlight walk, go sit out on that lawn chair, hold hands with your child and collect some colorful fall leaves. Time won’t stand still.

If I close my eyes I can still see my grandmother, standing beside her artwork the evening she entered several of her oil paintings in a gallery show. I was only in first or second grade, but I’ll never forget the look of pride on her face. This was over 60 years ago; she was the only woman showing work.  She took my hand, walked me around the gallery, and told me how good the Lord was and that I could find beauty everywhere I looked.  But it was her painting, her golden-rod, that was my favorite. It now hangs prominently in our home and is a reminder to find beauty in the simple things that may be so easily overlooked.

“Golden-rod” oil painting by my grandmother,
Maude Rhodes ByrneThe golden-rod is yellow;


The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
By all these lovely tokens
September (and October) days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

Helen Hunt Jackson

Our book reviews are of such a delightful variety of fall topics!  What could be better than delicious apples and colorful leaves and fascinating scarecrows?

Mary Byrne Kline