A wiff of fall...

It was in the hundreds last week, but I could still smell fall in the air, rustling through the leaves. Now as the weather has cooled it's become even more apparent that we are in the onset of autumn. My favorite time of year! The pumpkin patches are starting up and we'll be making plans to take Cash to one and maybe go through the corn maze. Which also means that his first birthday is just around the corner. I've been researching first birthday cake recipes and found a couple that I think we're going to go with; one for Friday night at Ellington Hall where he'll do his first birthday jam and then one for a family party later on.

BANANA CAKE

2/3 c. banana, mashed
1/2 c. butter, softened
3 lg. eggs
3/4 c. water
2 c. unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
Optional: 1 c. chopped walnuts OR 1/2 c. chopped walnuts & 1/2 c. raisins

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan. Beat together mashed banana and soft butter until creamy. Beat in water. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until very foamy. Beat into mixture. Blend in flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until smooth. Stir in walnuts or walnuts and raisins, if desired. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool. Serves 8-10.

B A N A N A G L A Z E
1 / 2 m e d . b a n a n a
1 t s p . l e m o n j u i c e
1 / 2 c . c h o p p e d n u t s o p t i o n a l
2 o r m o r e c . p o w d e r e d s u g a r

M a s h b a n a n a w e l l a d d l e m o n j u i c e a n d n u t s . G r a d u a l l y a d d p o w d e r e d s u g a r u n t i l y o u o b t a i n r i g h t s p r e a d i n g c o n s i s t e n c y . I c e c a k e a f t e r c o m p l e t e l y c o o l .

Pumpkin Apple Harvest Cake
By Cait Johnson, author of Witch in the Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup organic sugar
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Whipped cream or confectioners’ sugar for topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare an 8-inch round cake pan by greasing and flouring it.
2. Combine pumpkin, eggs, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, and salt, stirring to combine. Add apples and nuts, stirring again. Pour mixture into prepared pan.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Cool the cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack, remove pan, and cool cake completely.
5. When ready to serve, turn cake on to a pretty plate and top with whipped cream or confectioners’ sugar, if desired, or serve plain.

ps. If you make the cake, smooth it out when you put it in the pan as pumkin makes it bake in whatever shape it goes in there with. Guests loved the cake, BabyG did...I frosted it by whipping heavy cream with a little sugar and cream cheese.


I am constantly awestruck by all that Cash can do. I'm no different, I imagine, than other parents mooning over their little one, but I find him quite exceptional. And we notice something new about him every day. He started walking more (ten or more steps at a time) just the other day and he does all the movements to the "Wheels on the Bus" song.

Ignore my poor singing.

Saturday was spent primarily knocking for proposition 8.
As a side note, for those of you who live in California, I would urge you to read up about prop 8 at www.protectmarriage.com and see the video from the link under our favorite links. It is a much larger issue than most people think and affects such things as freedom of religion, increasing judicial power over voter decisions, tieing up our courts, further changing of laws regarding divorce and adoption, and ultimately the reclassification of marriage as simply "I love you" so that any combination of people could "marry." For those of you who live outside of California, we urge you to help in any way you see possible as a similar situation will likely face all the states should California not pass prop 8. We are the 900 pound gorrilla.
Back to what we've been up to... We had a very nice Sunday afternoon yesterday. We went and flew a kite at a local park. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera but Clay took some marvelous pictures of Cash flying the kite by himself. Now we just have to figure out how to get them off of his phone. After that we picked some fresh veggies from Pops and Noni's garden (didn't want anything to go to waste while they're away) and then Cash toodled around in the walker at the Janowski's. I wore him out thoroughly and he was out on our way home to Sunday dinner with Cami.
This week will be horridly busy as we prepare for a wedding followed hard by the Wedding Expo. Wish us luck and loves to you all.