Give me a stinkin' apple.

Ok. I'm about to anger some people. Get ready.

It's officially the beginning of fall, even if it doesn't quite feel like it yet. And the beginning of fall always means one thing: Pumpkin Spice everything. 

Here's where I start shocking people.  Are you sitting down?

I don't like pumpkin spice. 

I'm just not a fan. 

Don't get me wrong, I'll eat a piece of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, and even enjoy it. But pumpkin yogurt? Pumpkin hot chocolate? Pumpkin M&Ms?

Who decreed that pumpkin had to be the official flavor of autumn anyway? What about apple?! Or cinnamon?! Or chocolate, for pete's sake?! Who said that we need to inject pumpkin into every food known to mankind for 2 months? 

I know, I know. You're mad at me. 

Go drink a pumpkin spice latte and eat a pumpkin spice donut and settle down.

Pumpkin Pasties

Happy October 1st! Let autumn commence!

To me, it doesn't feel like fall until October.  So in celebration of the beginning of fall, I whipped up some Harry Potter- inspired Pumpkin Pasties today!

"Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in he corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, 'Anything off the cart, dears?'

...He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry -- but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

...'Go on, have a pasty,' said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies."

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 6

I've always imagines that Pumpkin Pasties were basically miniature pumpkin pies, and when I searched Pinterest for a recipe, I was right! I found a ton of recipes, but they all seemed to be pretty similar. In the end I chose this one.  Go check it out for pretty much every Harry Potter recipe you can imagine!

To make Pumpkin Pasties, you need all the ingredients you would need for pumpkin pie. Make some basic pumpkin pie filling. You know- pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, all that jazz!

Next, cut some small circles out of a pie crust. I used a store-bought crust that you can roll out, because I'm lazy like that. If you want to make a homemade crust, go for it!

 Spoon a small amount of your pumpkin mixture into each crust circle.

Fold each circle in half, and seal it all together using a fork. Voila! Pasties!

 Brush each Pasty with melted butter and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top, then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 11-12 minutes.

I drizzled some condensed milk over the top of mine, because yum, but you can used whipped cream, or just eat them by themselves! 

Margot approves!

My only complaint was that I felt like they should be sweeter, so I think I'll add a bit more sugar to the filling next time. Or maybe some bits of toffee, or even chocolate chips!

Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. Calm down, sugar brains.

I thing I'll try Pumpkin Juice next.

FHE

Tonight was Family Home Evening night for us here in the Rawlinson house, and what a night it was!

If you don't know what Family Home Evening is, here's a link: http://www.lds.org/topics/family-home-evening?lang=eng

Since Halloween is fast approaching, we had a Jack-O-Lantern themed FHE! I got the idea from a blog I came across, and adapted it to fit our family. The idea was to use a jack-o-lantern as an object lesson to teach Matt 5:16 (let your light so shine).

I told Portia that we were going to learn about our spirits and letting our lights shine to others, and then we sang a song and said a prayer. I then asked Portia if she remembered what we were going to learn about. She thought for a moment and said "ummm, Harry Potter?" Yes, I probably could teach a lesson about Harry Potter. Heck, I could teach a whole college course about Harry, but that's not the point.

We got back on track, and I turned all the lights in the house off and pulled the curtains shut. It was pretty dark. I then lit a small candle.
We talked about how it's kinda scary when it's dark, but when we turn a light on, even a small one, it makes a big difference.
I started to tell Portia that we have a spirit inside of us. I said "Portia, you have a spirit inside of you." She looked at me kinda weirdly and pointed to her bum and said "In here?"

We got back on track again.

I told Portia that we all have a spirit inside of us that makes us love and learn, and that spirit can be a light to others, when we are good. We then talked about ways we can each be good. Portia decided she can be good by being reverent at church and by sharing her toys with Margot. Margot tried to grab the candle's flame and when I pulled it away, she yelled at me. She's working on it.

Then we moved our little party outside and carved a pumpkin!

He's pretty cute.



And we ate roasted pumpkin seeds.

Yum!

Fall!

Today Brandon and I took Portia to the park for a walk, in an attempt to induce labor (so far, nothing). It was pretty chilly, and it reminded me how much I really like autumn! I love hot chocolate and pie and soup, I have some really cute fall clothes that I'm excited to wear, and autumn has the best holidays.

Seriously, Halloween: dress up as whatever you want and eat pounds of candy. Portia and Margot are going to be really cute this year. Get ready!

Thanksgiving: spend the day with your family, stuffing yourself silly with turkey and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and pie and relish trays!! (I have a serious love for relish trays, it's almost creepy.)

For your enjoyment:

Death Star, pumpkin style

aaaaand E.T.

YUM!!!

Curried Pumpkin Apple Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 large apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 2 teaspoons mild curry powder
• 3 cups chicken broth

• 1 1/2 cups solidly packed pumpkin mash or canned pumpkin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1 whole bay leaf
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 to 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
• Sour cream and chives, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a medium-size soup pot. Stir in the onion, celery, and apple. Partially cover the pot and sauté the ingredients over medium-high heat until the onion is clear, about 8 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and sauté the mixture for another minute. Stir in 1 cup of chicken broth and cook it for 1 minute more.

2. Pour the contents of the pan into a blender or food processor, add the pumpkin, and puree the soup until it's smooth.

3. Pour it all back into the pot, then stir in the remaining chicken broth, the salt, and the bay leaf. Set the soup over medium-high heat and bring it to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

4. After 5 minutes, stir in the heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of honey. Taste the soup, adding more salt or honey if necessary to get the desired balance of sweet and savory. Simmer it for 2 minutes more, remove the soup from the heat, and serve it hot. For a pretty -- and tasty -- touch, garnish each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped chives. Makes 6 servings.