Witches Brew

I figured I'd enlighten everyone with a few of my fall Pinterest finds that we've tried out over the past two weeks.  Considering my "Happy Fall" board on Pinterest has 142 pins, it was difficult to narrow it down to a few.

But, I started with Witches Brew.  I remember my mom used to make "potpourri" on the stove growing up for the different seasons.  She had this brass pot that sat on the stove and it was always such a wonderful smell that lingered in the house for days after.  So, when I saw this pin, I knew I had to try it!

Witches Brew
1 apple
1 orange
1 lemon
2 T whole allspice
2 T whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
Slice fruit into rings. Don't worry about peels, seed, cores, etc. Place all ingrdients into a crock-pot. Fill with water. Simmer on low. Refill with water as needed.  Be careful not let the water get too low.

This should also read...leave the lid off.  Oops!  I wondered why it didn't smell at all after 4 hours on low...

After I solved that minor problem, the house quickly transformed into smells of apple pie, citrus, and cloves.  Yum!  We'll be making this again next time we have company over.

Another great find was this 5 Minute Cinnamon Cake!  I mentioned in my last post that my best friend, Trisha, had a new baby boy.  I figured I'd bring them a meal they could throw in the oven for a quick dinner along with a huge bin of boy clothes for her to go shopping through.  I needed a dessert that wasn't super time consuming for me with minimal ingredients and I hit the jackpot on this one.  

It wasn't quite 5 minutes like the title, but it turned out wonderful!  I recommend eating it warm with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Ingredients

• 1 + ⅔ cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup milk

• 2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

• 2½ teaspoons baking powder

• pinch salt

• large egg

• TOPPING

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• ¼ cup melted butter

• chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat Oven at 350
2. Grease a 13×9 pan.
3. In a bowl mix all cake ingredients and place in pan.
4. Sprinkle brown sugar,cinnamon; walnuts on top of cake
5. Drizzle melted butter over top.
6. Bake for 30 minutes
7. Enjoy!

Lastly, with a cool rainy day today and nothing planned, I needed a fun art project to keep the boys entertained after their nap.  I had my eye on this cute bonfire/roasting marshmallow idea I pinned a while ago and figured I'd give it a go.  Evan loved smearing the paint with his hands, while Sean seemed to prefer using a paint brush with my assistance.  They're even polar opposites when it comes to art projects.  Either way, they both turned out cute!  I didn't have brown paper, yellow paint, or a longer wooden stick, but we made do.

There's our first round of fall Pinterest ideas with many more to come I'm sure!  Enjoy!  I know we did!