Apple Pie Crescent Rolls

Note from The Cook: It's fall in Virginia! I had a craving for apples on Sunday morning and decided to make these for breakfast. I served them with scrambled eggs and bacon on the side and a nice big cup of coffee. What a way to start a Sunday! YUM! 

What You Will Need: 

2 Medium to Large Apple of your Choice (peeled and sliced)

2 Tbsp Melted Butter

2 Cans of Crescent Rolls

1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

2 Tsp. Apple Pie Spice

Cinnamon to taste

Directions: 

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees

In Bowl 1: Toss Apple Slices in the butter, reserving a small amount that you will brush the crescents with right before you put in the oven.

In Bowl 2: Mix together Brown Sugar and Spice

Unroll crescent rolls and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with Non-Stick Cooking Spray. Gently sprinkle the crescent rolls with the Brown Sugar/Spice. 

Place one Apple slice on each Crescent wedge and wrap them up, brush  the top of each roll lightly with butter. Sprinkle tops lightly with cinnamon.

Place in oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving. 

This "Pinspiration" comes from Pillsbury 

Dannon Light and Fit Pumpkin Pie Yogurt

Hey everyone! While I realize this is a departure from our normal find and test a recipe post, I felt like I had something yummy to share that does not involve cooking. A few years ago I discovered Dannon Light and Fit Pumpkin Pie yogurt. It is 80 calories, only 7 grams of sugar and has 12 grams of protein, so it is pretty good for you. Well, it tastes EXACTLY like Pumpkin Pie, I mean it is amazing stuff. (This is not a sponsored post by the way!)

While this yogurt is seasonal, and can be difficult to find, I get it at Walmart or Food Lion, it is worth the hunt. When I see it, (insert red face) I am embarrassed to say, I buy out the store's entire stock (usually around 8). While everyone else is eating yummy Fall and holiday treats, I will take my yogurt and a scoop of lite Cool Whip and have myself an 80 calorie pumpkin pie!

This stuff is also great in smoothies with some cinnamon and milk and part of a graham cracker blended in.

Anyways, just a quick tip for some healthy holiday snacking. Enjoy your day!

Our Fall Home Tour 2016

Welcome to the Fall Home Tour 2016! Today is the first day of fall, although, you wouldn't know it by the temperature outside (it's 80 degrees here in Virginia!). There is a hint of fall in the air and we always look forward to this time of year. It reminds us of our childhood. The anticipation of fun fall activities like apple picking, wearing sweaters, eating pumpkin flavored foods, cozy blankets, bonfires, planting mums, picking out your pumpkin, carving pumpkins, drinking apple cider, leaves changing - and these are in no particular order. 

Our favorite thing is decorating for fall. I have not put out Halloween decor yet, just Fall for now. We'd like to share the nooks and crannies of our home with you! Won't you join us for a tour?

We did an "Autumn Home Tour 1) and "Autumn Home Tour 2 "post last fall (2015) and we loved doing that, so we thought we'd do it again this year! 

The new sign that says "Happy Pumpkin Spice Season" was given to me by my best friend and co-author here. She knows me all too well! I hang it with pride and LOVE my newest fall decor. 

Amanda's Fall Home Tour

The wreath on my front door... I bought the burlap wreath pre-made and I just put a wooden letter "S" on it and change out the bow and decor on it every season. 

 This simple pumpkin "Happy Fall Y'all" sign belonged to my Mother and used to hang on her front door every fall. When I was younger, I used to hate it and think it was stupid. I now I proudly hang it in my house - it reminds me of her and my roots - I am a southern girl, after all! 

My antique hallway table belonged to my grandmother (it's over 50 years old) and the table alone is dear to me! I change up the table decor seasonally for fun. 

Here is a fall wreath that I made myself - I have it hanging in the kitchen, I like it, its very festive!

My mantle... I love it, what can I say? I bought the mirror about 5 years ago and its one of my favorite things in my house. I don't know why, it just is!

 This bowl is just a concoction of pumpkins that I bought a Michael's, surrounded by more pumpkins and wooden acorns. 

Lastly, here is my living room table with white pumpkin candy jar. It's simple, but I love it. I've had this candy jar for years! 

Nichole's Fall Home Tour

Amanda's fall decor is so festive and pretty, and the best part about it is that many of the pieces have meaning to her and great sentimental value. Love that! I am going to jump right in with a few pics from what I have done so far, I am not finished with my outdoor decor, so I will give a little sneak peek for now at the gorgeous mums on my porch (before I likely kill them). Come on in everyone......

This is a new creation this year, I started with the wooden box and just thought, Cinderella pumpkins would be perfect! I keep this on my coffee table so everyone can see over it, but it still provides a nice centerpiece. 

Welcome to the coffee station. There are pods in the white pumpkin and a pumpkin mug ready to go. We use this spot more than any other in the kitchen and I like the whites with a little fall twist. 

The dining room table always gets a centerpiece that screams Fall, so this year I purchased some lanterns from Pier 1 and embellished. You can't see it here but there are tiny lights strung throughout the leaves. 

My stone fireplace is so pretty I like to do it up big without over doing it. I think it turned out pretty good this year and I love my monogrammed pumpkin from a sweet friend for my birthday. 

The couch needs to be pretty and comfortable, so I opted for plaids, browns and oranges this year and I love it! It is very cozy and with our plaid fuzzy blanket it just screams Fall. 

As I mentioned before my porch is not yet totally transformed, but here is a peek at the mums, which are just incredible and a leftover Summer plant that was too pretty to throw away. My tiny scarecrow is barely noticeable in all that greenery! 

Just a small acorn gives the powder room a little Fall feel. 

This big guy resides in the kitchen and is great to store those Fall baked goods that start showing up in the house around this time of year. 

We hope you enjoyed the Fall Home Tour 2016! We are so happy you were here to share the beginning of our favorite season!

Welcome Fall

                     

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Note from The Cook: It's Rice Krispie Treats with Pumpkin Spice flavor - what could be better when these 2 worlds collide?  This recipe could not be any simpler! Just use the original Rice Krispie recipe and add Pumpkin Spice - its really that easy. I give full credit to Kellogg's ....ENJOY!

What You Will Need: 

• 6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) JET-PUFFED Marshmallows
• OR
• 4 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
• 1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Directions: 

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal and Pumpkin Pie Spice. Stir until well coated.

Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9  pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. 

This Pinspiration  comes from Kellogg's and Who Needs a Cape

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

Find it On Pinterest

Cook's Note: I saw these adorable cookies on Southern Living's Facebook page and thought to myself "Wow, my child would LOVE to make this with me!" It looked too easy to pass up. We enjoyed making these and will serve them at Thanksgiving for a kid's dessert. You can't get any easier and cuter than this!

What You Will Need: 

1 package of Fudge Stripe Cookies

1 package of Miniature Reese's Cups (unwrapped) 

1 small package of Reese's Pieces 

Icing

Directions: 

Lay each Fudge Stripe Cookie face down, place a dollop of icing on top and place the Reese's Cup on top and push to spread the icing. Place a small dot of icing on a Reese Pieces and push the candy on the side of the Reese's cup.

There you have it! A simple and fun dessert that the children at your Thanksgiving feast will LOVE! 

This "Pinspirations" comes from Southern Living

Halloween Treats

Cooks Note: Halloween is a love it or hate it holiday, if you can call it a holiday. For me, the next day marks the beginning of the holiday season, for some it is just annoying and for others it is an excuse to party. Whatever your feelings are about Halloween, kids love it. Everyone loves candy, everyone loves being someone they are not for one night and personally, I like the décor and cute little snacks and goodies that come along with it. My kids wanted to take treats to school for their "Fall Festival" so I needed something quick and easy that I could make 50 of in one night, and this is what we came up with. I made 32 ghosts and 25 monster teeth in about 1.5 hours, not too shabby! Give these a try for your kids, for your Halloween party, or just because they are delicious! Happy Halloween everyone, stay safe!

Monster Teeth:

1 package chewy Chips Ahoy cookies
1 package of mini marshmallows
1 container white frosting
Red food coloring

1. Mix red food coloring into icing until you have reached your desired shade of red. I was going for blood or gum color so I used a little extra coloring
2. Cut all of the cookies in half
3. Spread a little bit of icing on the inside of each cookie half (don't let it drip over, just enough so it holds the marshmallows and looks like gums)
4. Place 3-4 marshmallows across one half of the cookie on the rounded edge
5. Top with the frosted side of the second half touching the marshmallows


Ghost Pretzels:

1 bag of pretzel rods (the long ones, not the little skinny sticks)
1 bag of White Candy Quick
Black cake decorating pen or small black icing tube

1. Melt candy melts, according to package directions.
2. Once melted, place half of each rod in the candy, rolling to cover the pretzel,
3. When lifting out of the candy, rotate the pretzel around in circles to let the excess drain off
4. Allow candy melts to dry on a sheet of wax paper
6. Once dry, decorate the face with 2 eyes and a mouth.

Autumn Home Tour (Part 1)

As I sip my Pumpkin Spice flavored coffee this morning, I look around my house and smile and take it all in. I absolutely love this time of year. Particularly, the week of Halloween is one of my favorites. This is the week that the leaves really all start to turn gorgeous colors, a chilly breeze is blowing and all seems right in this little corner of the world. It reminds me of school days gone by and the childhood excitement of upcoming Halloween preparations and pumpkin carving!

I thought I would give our readers a little fall home tour - sharing some of my favorite fall decor with you all. My Mother absolutely loved fall so much and she passed this love on to me. She passed away almost two years ago and I inherited many of her decorations, which I proudly display throughout my home. I guess I love my decorations so much, because they remind me of her.

I hope you will enjoy!

This is my view from my kitchen window this morning. I just love the trees turning outside and my little fall window display. It makes me happy!

 Maybe a bit cheesy, but here is my kitchen table - as you can see, we love pumpkins! Everything here was from my mother - I love it!

Here is my little candy bowl that my little candy grabbing munchkin always tries to get her hands on. I bought this bowl at Harry & David back in 2001, this is virtually an antique by now (haha) :)

Here is a quick peek at my mantle. The wooden pumpkins were used in my wedding as table decorations, they are special to me, so I tried to incorporate them here!

My hallway table display, I just love it! The white candle holder that looks like a sweater is my newest addition and I'm head over heels for it. 

Here's a secret - I'm burning a "Leaves" candle from Bath & Body Works inside and the smell is divine!! Yum!!

Here is my Fall prized possession- my huge ceramic Jack-o-lantern. Trust me, it's HUGE and HEAVY! I inherited this from my Mom. She bought this at the Eddie Bauer Home Store back in like 2000 or 2001 (that store no longer exists). I remember the day she bought it, I was in love! I'm proud to call it my own now. I look forward to pulling it out every Halloween. It's sitting in my hallway.

This witch hangs on a hallway door. LOVE HER! She's a staple here, I've had her for years. I think I got her at Home Goods! 

Here is my little stool by the front door, displaying my pumpkins and cute little Halloween skeleton Boyd's Bear. He's adorable and my little one loves looking at it. 

My cute little bathroom display - yes, you need fall decor in every room! 

Here's a little bowl full of craft store pumpkins- I think it's cute and the placemat underneath was my mother's, so it's a special decoration to me.

Just a cute sign that hangs on my pantry door - I'm from Virginia and we say "Y'all". This was my mother's and I cherish it!

My little scarecrow outside! My toddler loves it and named her "Sunny". She's sure to wave goodbye to Sunny every morning on the way to preschool.

My fall wreath on my door. I'm pretty proud of it - I made it and I love it. Again, we say "Y'all" in Virginia! 

My final picture is from a tree in my backyard. These are the same trees seen in the picture from my kitchen window - this one is more up close. Isn't it beautiful? Nature at its finest!

Thanks for taking a tour of my home, I hope it brought joy and peace to you, like it does to us!