quintessential Midwest fall experience

One of the classic activities in the Midwest during the fall is going to an apple orchard. I went to Apple Holler way at the beginning of this fall where I actually did pick apples (remember my apple pie?). More recently I went to Aamodt's Apple Farm and St. Croix Vineyards during my trip to Minneapolis where I did not pick more apples but enjoyed delicious wine samples and took in the beautiful grounds on a lovely fall day with some of my favorite people. I'm sharing a few of my pictures from that excursion. Enjoy.

Has anyone else been apple picking or just enjoying time at an apple orchard this fall?

another little peek at fall in the Midwest

Earlier this month Jake and I took a little trip to Minneapolis. We stayed overnight in the Wisconsin Dells on the way up, which gave us a chance to visit Devil's Lake State Park and the Wisconsin Dells Riverwalk. I'm a huge fan of visiting this area during the summer, but it's hard to beat the colors this time of year. I'll be sharing lots more pictures from this trip over the coming months, including our time in Minneapolis of course. Today I'm sharing just a few of my favorites from Devil's Lake and the Dells during the first 24 hours of the trip. Enjoy.

 

If you've been posting fall pictures lately, feel free to leave a link in the comments!

a little peek at fall in the Midwest

Fall 2013 was my first fall with an SLR. As some of you may remember, in addition to a huge seasonal team writing project, holiday shows, and church commitments, I had this and this happening. I certainly didn't slack off in taking photos, but to say that I slacked off in taking outdoor pictures in the fall is an understatement. I literally have no photos that show off the colors that I'm sharing in this post today. This time of year is still insanely busy, but I've been taking advantage of every spare moment to get out and capture those colors this year. Enjoy.

 What does fall look like in your area right now?

the start of fall baking

I haven't shared any pictures of food that I've been making in quite a while because I just haven't been documenting food making lately. When it's 70 and sunny, I don't always feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen with the camera. Of course as we get further into fall, the natural indoor lighting gets trickier, but I do what I can. Anyway, I got motivated to document some of my first fall baking this month.

Believe it or not, this is the first time that I've ever made zucchini bread. My in-laws grow it and gave us one of several baseball bat sized zucchinis that they had left at the end of the season. I only used a third of it in this bread. I shredded and froze the rest for future loaves this fall.

I saw this recipe on Instagram within days of picking a wealth of apples at Apple Holler, immediately clicked over to the blog post, couldn't believe that it was such an easy recipe (six ingredients and you don't mess up a bowl!), and made it within a week.

 As we have this wealth of apples, I also made apple pie. I refuse to use store bought pie crust and always forget that pie crust from scratch is so much work but so good. I'm hoping that I stay motivated to make a few more pies this fall.

I used the zucchini bread and apple pie recipes in How to Cook Everything. The apple tart recipe is from Jenny at Picky Palate and available online right here.

What have you been baking lately? Has anyone else been slacking on the food pictures in recent months?

photo share: Racine, WI

I'm finally finishing out my fall photo editing, which included this set of photos from an October excursion to Racine, WI. This is one of the final warm weather photo excursions that I took in 2013. Enjoy.

 

  

What have you been photographing / editing lately?