Guest Post Marianne (my older sister)

I love, love, LOVE autumn! (when it isn't too cold, anyway. This California girl can't handle the freezing temperatures!) I love making huge piles of leaves with my parent's maple tree and jumping in them with my daughters. I love going to Wheeler Farm and taking a wagon ride with my girls, or going to Gardner Village to look at the witches. I love driving through the canyons to see the changing colors of the leaves, and I have recently learned to love canning peaches (get me more fruit to bottle!!) I love making a batch of hot chocolate, air-popping a big bowl of popcorn, then cuddling under a big blanket with my family and watching a movie while a fire burns in the fireplace. I love walking through a pumpkin patch to find that just-right pumpkin to carve and feeling the crisp air on my cheeks. I love reminiscing with Phillip about when we first started dating, since our first date was in the fall. Or better yet, reminiscing about our first months together as a newly married couple since we got married in the fall!

So, to celebrate this beautiful time of year, I thought I'd share a few recipes that are perfect to enjoy during these autumn months:

Caramel Dip/Caramel Apples

Caramel Ingredients:

1 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Light Corn Syrup
1/8 t. Salt
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 c. Butter
1 t. Vanilla

In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to very, very soft ball stage (for dip). Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve with sliced apples.

Caramel Apples will also require:

10 Medium Apples (Washed and dried, of course.)
10 Popsicle Sticks
Waxed Paper
Sugar

Begin by inserting Popsicle sticks into center of apples and set aside. Place a length of waxed paper on a cookie sheet, butter it and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to soft ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Working quickly, cover apples with caramel and place on buttered/sugared waxed paper

Harvest Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Curry Pepitas

(This comes from Thanksgiving Point's Harvest Restaurant. Yum!) 

1 butternut squash, peeled, medium diced
1/4 c.olive oil
Pinch salt and pepper
1 medium yellow onion diced
1 T. butter
3 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch cloves
1 t. curry
1/4 c. pure maple syrup
In a French bowl toss butternut squash with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place squash on sheet tray and roast in the oven at 350 F. for 10-15 minutes or until browned. While squash is roasting, place onion in a sauce pot with butter and sweat until translucent. Add chicken stock to sauce pot and roasted squash. Boil until squash is tender. Place in a blender and puree until smooth. Return to sauce pot, season and finish with cream. Top with roasted pepitas.


Hot Punch

2 qt. water
2 c. sugar
1 can frozen orange juice
3/4 c. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. almond extract
1/8 tsp. cloves

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan to simmer. Enjoy!



Pumpkin Dessert

1 can pumpkin (and necessary ingredients to make pumpkin pie filling)
1 white cake mix
1-2 cubes butter

Mix pumpkin according to can directions. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and cover with sifted cake mix. Slice butter lengthwise and place over cake mix, laying them close together. Bake at 350 for about one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top with whipped cream. Can be served warm or cold.

PS Suz, eat a li-hing-mui flavored Matsumoto for me!!!