Autumn Tips
All tips tagged autumn ✕
Pick all tomatoes before the first frost. If still green, place on a window sill to ripen.
In the fall, cut perennial foliage down to one inch and mulch as necessary to prepare plants for next spring.
Schedule time to declutter your home every spring and fall. Sort through clothes, toys, and other items.
Dry some fruit by cutting it thin and baking it in the oven. You can make fruit leather or crisps that will keep longer than fresh fruit and can make for a great snack or a healthy addition to any meal.
Make a pumpkin pie smoothie by combining pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla ice cream, and ice cubes in a blender. Add a little brown sugar or maple syrup if you like it sweeter.
Stay warm in the fall with some hot apple toddy. All you’ll need is 3 cups of apple cider, an orange cut in fourths with a few cloves stuck into the peel and 2 cinnamon sticks. Bring everything to a simmer in a saucepan. Serve with brandy to taste, or on its own.
Dry your pumpkin seeds between pieces of paper towel to save them for planting next year. Alternatively, make a sweet or savory snack by roasting them.
Much of the fresh produce that is best in the fall, comes in what we think of as traditional fall colors. Look for produce that is orange, yellow, purple and faded green.
Looking for a fall alternative to pumpkin spice? Give chai a try! For something a little sweeter, look for coconut chai tea. My recommendation is to serve it nice and hot, sweetened with a little bit of honey, and finished off with a splash of milk or cream.
Make your own pumpkin pie spice. Just mix 3 Tbsp. ground cinnamon, 2 Tbsp. ground ginger, 2 tsp. nutmeg, 1 ½ tsp. allspice and 1 ½ tsp. ground cloves.
Hosting a party during the fall season? Find a pumpkin that will fit a serving bowl, then carve open the top so the bowl can be nestled inside, flush with the top. Fill the bowl with something tasty and serve!
Make some pumpkin spice ice cream with the family using pumpkin spice milk. Pour the milk into a small zipper bag and seal, then put it into a larger zipper bag filled with ice. Seal the outer bag and shake until the milk has frozen.
In the fall, produce that’s most likely to be fresh in the grocery store includes apples, pears, grapes, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, berries, swiss chard, and turnips. For even fresher produce, check local farm markets or small, non-chain markets.
Make homemade apple cinnamon rolls using prepared crescent roll dough. Before rolling up the crescents, spread on some butter, place a few small apple slices on the dough, and sprinkle with cinnamon, walnuts, and brown sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Make a sweet side dish for fall gatherings using roasted squash, cranberries, diced apples, cinnamon and walnuts. Season with a bit of brown sugar, butter, and salt. Want to make it a meal? Toss it onto a bed of fresh spinach.
You can pickle more than just cucumbers in the fall. Some vegetables to try include cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, and peppers, for winter treats high in vitamins that will keep for months.
Fall is the season for canning – take some fresh grapes or berries and turn them into preserves and jam. Nothing beats having homemade jam in the middle of the cold winter.
When harvest season rolls around, check out local farm markets and grab some fresh veggies to cook with. They’ll have more vitamins and a cleaner taste than out of season produce.
When a new school year is drawing near, search through your home for errant pencils, pens, notebooks and other supplies. Don’t buy new school supplies unless you have to.
