Why I Secretly Love Fall

Shhh….don’t tell anyone, but I secretly LOVE fall! I mean summer will always be my first love, but there’s just something about fall. I don’t know if it’s the coolish/warmish days where you need a sweatshirt, but can still get by wearing shorts (for the record…I hate long pants!), the beautiful foliage, or perhaps the fall bounty. Eh…who am I kidding?!? It’s definitely the fall bounty! I love the foods and beverages that come with the cooling temperatures of autumn.

I mean, come on…who doesn’t love a pumpkin spice latte on a cool fall morning (or afternoon…or evening)? Only problem is that I’m too cheap frugal to pay coffee shop prices and honestly, it’s kinda hard to find a Starbucks sometimes when you’re sitting at anchor. So…Google to the rescue and ta da! The Prairie Cottage has a recipe for homemade Just Like Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte! This is seriously delicious and pretty darn easy to make at home or on the boat!

So, now that you’ve opened a can of pumpkin and only used two tablespoons to make your latte…what to do with the rest? Well, Baking A Moment’s Pumpkin Creme Brulee of course! This one’s a little more work, and if you’re on a boat you’ll probably be better off making it when you’re at a dock or in a calm anchorage, but oh, so worth it! Oh…and it satisfies my pyromaniac tendencies a little too. 🙂

Of course there’s also the apples. Oh my, the apples! Anyone from Michigan knows that fall=apples! I love eating them plain (Honeycrisps are my fave!) or with peanut butter or dipped in caramel (or both!), but every now and then I crave apple crisp, which happens to be a pretty easy boat dessert. The recipe I like is a fairly simple one that I found some time ago on AllRecipes.com. I must confess though…I love the crunchy topping, so I always make at least 1.5 times the called for amount of topping…and sometimes even more! Go ahead. Do it. I dare you! I promise you won’t be sorry.

Speaking of Honeycrisp apples…if you like sangria, you have GOT to try this recipe for Honeycrisp Apple Sangria from Sally’s Baking Addiction! Do not, I repeat, do not, skip the cinnamon sugar rim. This stuff is to die for delicious! I have not yet made this on the boat, but you can bet your bottom dollar the ingredients I’m missing are all on my shopping list!

Oh, and I almost forgot! In case you were wondering, that is Radio Waves (and our dinghy on the floating dock) in the gorgeous fall picture above. This photo was taken by our new friend Chris Moe from his house in Lusby, MD looking down on his dock where he let us keep our boat while we went on a little vacation to Jamaica. Thanks Chris!

If you have a favorite fall recipe, please comment and let me know!