Junie Moon: September 2016

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Celebrating Autumn: Hobbits and Muffins

In addition to today being Autumn Equinox, it is also the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins! To celebrate, I participated in the Hobbit Day 5K. September is also World Alzheimer’s Month. As I honor hobbits, part of my race fee goes to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund where 100% of donations goes directly to research towards a cure for Alzheimer’s.

Next up was King Arthur Flour’s Monthly Bake-along Challenge. The recipe this month is Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins.

There’s ingredient (boiled cider) that needed to be made ahead of time as it takes a few hours, so I did this step last weekend in preparation for today’s baking effort. Here is a recipe card I made using "The Washington Post’s" recipe.

I could have skipped the boiled cider ingredient, but if I’m going to the trouble to participate in a challenge of any sort, then I try to do so as authentically as possible.

The finished results were photographed by looking down the top of the Mason jar where I let it cool before storing in the fridge. The picture reminds me of the mosquito in the amber depicted in the Jurassic Park movie.

The rest of the recipe was pretty simple and did not take long at all to make and assemble. Here is how it looked coming out of the oven.

These yummy muffins are perfect for saying hello, autumn!

I wish you happy autumnal days full of hobbits and yummy muffins.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Goodbye, Summer!

Today is the last day of summer. It's hard to really see a transition to fall from summer in Florida, but we gave it a go today. I made Key Lime Pies in Mason Jars—here is the recipe link.

After tucking the treats in the fridge for later, my husband and I wandered over to the beach to say goodbye to summer. Living on the Gulf coast in the Florida panhandle, the water has brilliant days we call Emerald Days. Today’s water was gorgeous.

While we won't really see any cold weather until around Halloween, we still try to celebrate the seasons in our own beachy-kind of way. Goodbye, Summer!

Saturday, September 17, 2016

National Apple Dumplings Day

The National DayCalendar says today is a bunch of celebratory days, but I’m honoring National Constitution and Citizenship Day as well as National Apple Dumpling Day.

I made apple dumplings using King Arthur Flour’s recipe. Here they are fresh out of the oven.

The napkin is one of a set I made years ago to go with a quilt throw for picnics. My homemade vanilla bean ice cream goes perfectly with the dumplings. Here’s to standing up and honoring our citizenship and our Constitution!