I love my Le Creuset pot that is just right for making Chili.  It’s so easy to make Vegetable Chili and with a cooler day finally here, I decided to make some Vegetable Chili.  I found the recipe on the box of some organic, no salt Vegetable broth.  I just sauteed a chopped onion, a red pepper and a green pepper with some minced garlic for about 10 minutes.  Then I added a cup of the Vegetable broth, 2 cans of diced tomatoes,  2 tablespoons of tomato paste, a can of kidney beans and a can of white northern beans drained, some chili powder, cumin and oregano and let it simmer for 15 minutes at medium-low heat.  It’s just right for today.

I love my little Rachel Ray containers for putting the condiments for my Chili in.  I love that color and when Rachel Ray was on QVC years ago, a huge set of all size containers was a “todays special” and on easy pay and I took advantage of it and so glad that I did.  I really like her  stuff.   I chopped up a scallion, grated some cheddar cheese and used some sour cream and those containers came in handy.   I recieved with the set,  two big containers.  One was big enough for lasagna.  And one was just the right size for a large salad.  The set also included the same style and color container for little individual caseroles as well as the condiment containers.  They all are really handy to have.

So fun for lunch with my Pioneer Woman bowl and matching placemats.

Because I get tired of oatmeal every day, I made some poached eggs on artisan bread toast for breakfast.   I love my Pioneer Woman coffee mug and plate that matches.  I watch the cook shows and use the tips on how to make a perfect poached egg.  One tip I use is to put a little vinegar in the water and swirl the boiling water with a spoon just before carefully sliding the egg in.  This holds the egg together and I like my eggs just cooked to perfection.  To my taste, I like the yolk to just barely be cooked and a little runny.

I love fried rice and to use cauliflower that is chopped up like rice is just healthy and I love to buy that frozen cauliflower rice in the freezer section at the grocery store.  There is one that has peas and carrots in it that I like.  Then to add sautéed mushrooms and onions, yum.  No biggie on the recipe.  Just a little soy sauce, rice vinegar and maybe a little hosen sauce mixed in to taste.

I love dishes and I think the above little soup pot is just plain cute to have for tomato soup.  It’s on the Pfalzgraff website and it was on sale a few days ago.  Their sales never last long but they keep having new sales all the time.

Pfalzgraff Harvest pattern is so cute to have for Fall.  If I won powerball, I would buy it all and have a beautiful feast for Thanksgiving for my family.

I love the Pioneer Woman’s Willow pattern that she has out for October at the Walmart.  She was giving away a 12 plate setting of the set on her website recently.  But it will be available at the Walmart in October.

I think that the Coat Cardigan is in for sweater fashion this Fall.  The above sweater was on Ebay for a little over $12.00.  Plus shipping which on Ebay is always over $10.00.  Then you never know what you will get.  But I like the style and the color.

The Shein white chunky cable sweater is on line for $27.00.  I think it’s perfect for Fall.

I think that those long drape sweaters are neat.  And the skinny jeans and ankle boots are so stylish.

I like the Latte art heart.  I watched a video on youtube on how they make those hearts.  They just put a little Espresso in the cup and then have the froth milk in a  small stainless steel little pitcher.  Then they add the froth milk slowly and at the end make a circle and pull a line through it with the slowly poured froth.  It magically makes a heart and a latte. ❤

In New England, Sarah Vickers is a well known fashion blogger.  She lives in Rhode Island and is married to a designer.  Plus she looks like a young version of Jackie Kennedy.  The above are some of her picks for Fall sweater ideas.

I like this time of year and love the above photo.  Old time pick up truck with pumpkins and the beautiful Fall colors.

 

 

 

I love plants and the colored bottle idea with water in them for plant cuttings is just beautiful to have for Fall.

My son works for a natural foods company and he used to deliver at a place on Long Island, New York that had giant pumpkins like the huge pumpkin in the photo above.

He used to bring home one of those giant pumpkins for his kids this time of year and they would have so much fun with it thinking up new ways to display it.

I love Butternut squash first of all.  And the butternut squash ravioli is just scrumptious.  I think I saved the above recipe on my pasta board on my Pinterest.  But last night I did not feel like cooking and I wanted something quick and easy so I got that Lean Cuisine frozen dinner that is the Butternut Squash Ravioli.  It has a sauce and carrots and pea pods.  So good with a glass of Chardonnay wine.

I like ideas for Fall Fashion.  The above is New England ideas.

I like the above pearl bracelets.  They are classic and never go out of style.

I also like scarfs as they are classic.  And dressing in layers.

Only a few days left in September.

The leaves are already starting to turn.  I just love this time of year in Vermont.

Beautiful time of year.  There are lots of drives that you can take to see beautiful foiliage.

The Woodstock Inn usually decorates with Mums and all around Woodstock they have beautiful Fall displays.

The store windows in Woodstock are so fun to browse in the Fall.

All kinds of window boxes.

 

I love little winding pathways in a cottage garden.  Also the flagstone path is just so beautiful.

I love old-fashioned New England type flower gardens.  If I had the chance, I would have something like the above.

The above cottage is one that I just adore.  I like everything about it.  It was renovated from a cottage that a seamstress had back in the 1930’s.  The landscaping of it with the outdoor patio and the hedges, fence and cobblestone driveway are just beautiful.  I love the doors on the garage and the balcony above the garage.  It is located on the west coast, but I would love to build one like it on the East Coast near Hampton, NH or somewhere near Maine.

Maybe use the above house plan with that driveway and garage from the other cottage.  I would put cedar shingles on it and put a Nantucket grey stain on it.

A chefs kitchen would make the place over the top.

A double wall oven and double door refrigerator/freezer complete with a dish washer and granite.  OMG.

A kitchen desk area to plan menus and shopping lists would be awesome.

An outdoor patio would be so awesome.

A sun room with some kind of view of water.  I love the windows and French doors that would go out to a deck.

All kinds of space for all kinds of gardens would be just beautiful.

The ideas that people have for all seasons for gardening.  Just beautiful, especially the Spring bulbs and apple blossoms.

I just love Peonies.  They are like a cabbage rose.  Easy care and they come up every year once they are planted.  So beautiful.

Then climbing roses are the ultimate.

The ultimate of all ultimates would be to have a laundry room.

I just love all kinds of flowers.

With Fall here, I like the above Fashion idea.  It’s been almost 90 degrees here the last four days and does not seem like Fall.  It’s supposed to be more seasonal and cooler over the weekend.  In my opinion, the hurricanes from the south have pushed tropical air up to the north.  My favorite fashion blogger had red shoes on her blog today for Fall.  I like the above plaid scarf look with the fowl weather jacket.  Also the monagramed overnight bag.

So that’s kind of the style for this Fall I think.

The blanket wraps are in and I think they are neat.  Martha Stewart had one on QVC this week for $49.00 that was a cashmere blend.  They mostly sold out.

My daughter in law makes the best apple pie ever.  I would like to make an apple pie this Fall.

The above muffin sounds like it might be good.  I pinned the recipe on my muffins board on my Pinterest.  I messed my Pinterest up by having a Linda Tuttle account and a Linda L Tuttle account.  I did it when I first got my Ipad and don’t ask me how I did it.  But I did.

I love kale salads and have a ton of recipes on my salads board on my Pinterest.

I love making my own dressing and I found several recipes that I pinned on my salads board on my Pinterest.

 

I love the above water plant idea.  One of the plants is called a gold fish plant.

Soups are really good in the Fall and Barefoot Contessa has a good sounding recipe for a Rosemary White Bean Soup.   I pinned that recipe on my Barefoot Contessa Recipes board on my Pinterest.

I love Fall candles.

I also love coffee and think that it would be fun to have a coffee bar.

I like pumpkin bread this time of year.

Fall y’all is my very favorite time of the year. ❤

 

I was at Michaels Craft store a few days ago and discovered the most inspirational magazine that I have never noticed before.  It’s called “bella Grace”.  I just love it as it has colored photos and all kinds of inspirations in it.  I set down and read it from cover to cover.  I got Issue 12 and the Fall issue which is Issue 13 has a giveaway for the magazine on their website.  It’s got heavy pages and is kind of like a book and costs $20.00.  I could not resist it and it was worth every penny I paid for it.  I turned on my fireplace on a chilly rainy day last week and savored every page of the magazine with a cup of hot tea in the afternoon.

I love the Create channel and today they had a program from Yankee magazine on.  They showed loons from Golden Pond.   I love the sound that they make.  They are just beautiful.

Then they showed this Fire Water show from Providence, Rhode Island.  They had floating fire in a river that goes through Providence.   Kind of neat and and so beautiful to see.  Some artist created the show.  Then they had these blue lanterns that people dropped in the river with a wish and they floated in the water.

Then they visited a Vineyard in Massachusetts that was near the ocean.  Really nice grapes and they showed the soil that they grew in and a tour of the Vineyard.

They showed how they made wine and also Champagne.  Love the wine barrels and they took samples out of the barrels using like a medicine dropper tube.

Then they went to a special room and had a wine tasting with wine that had aged for 15 years, plus they had Oysters in a shell with Champagne on the Oysters.

They all looked like they were having a marvelous time.  Can you imagine having a job with a magazine like Yankee and going to all these places and getting paid for it.   It must be nice.

On my way home from grocery shopping, I stopped at a place called Hemingways and browsed through their paths.  I love that place.  They have plants and pumpkins and I love their Fall displays.

Everything is so colorful there in all the seasons.  They have Christmas trees in December and then they close for the winter.

They have all kinds of Greenhouses and right now they have a lot of pumpkins.

Have you tried that new French style Yogurt called Oui?  I couldn’t believe how delicious it was when I tried some today.    And it comes in the cutest little glass jar.

I have been wanting to get a Dyson vacuum cleaner since forever and finally got one.  Wow, I can’t believe how well it cleans.  It had 5 star reviews and I can see why.  I got the small ball and it’s light.  It costs over $300.00 on Amazon and I got it on QVC for $100.00 less.  I just couldn’t resist it as the vacuum I had before was heavy and just didn’t have the suction to really clean floors and rugs.  The Dyson is for wood floors as well as carpets.  I just love it.  I put it together and then went on Youtube to see how it works.  I had to laugh when I saw the video from taking it out of the box and putting it together.  They had the same little problems with it that I did.  But I love youtube as the videos give you lots of neat tips on how things work.

Just a total fun day today.  I made a smoothie for breakfast from just orange juice and frozen fruit.  I have one of those sealer machines where you take frozen food and seal it up and it doesn’t get freezer burn and is good for a year or more in the freezer.  So I had some really neat frozen fruit that had cherries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries that I bought months ago.  I love that machine.  And my blender has a special smoothie button and makes really good smoothies.  It’s a Black and Decker that has a glass jar and I chose it because it was the best value for the price according to Consumer Reports and American Test Kitchen.  It works better then any blender I ever had.

And that’s my thoughts for today.  It was a beautiful sunny day today.  Cool in the morning and 80 degrees this afternoon.

 

My Daughter-in-law and my Grandsons picked a bushel of apples yesterday at a local apple orchard in Westminster, VT.  They always have so much fun.

I love apple cider donuts and the cider this time of year.

It’s early for apples but they are really delicious this year.

I think that my favorite Fall dessert is Apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Up to Woodstock, VT they have a place called Mountain Creamery and they have a mile high apple pie that they are noted for.  Then they have homemade ice cream to go with it.

You can have a slice of pie and ice cream at the Creamery or you can order a whole pie to go.  I usually order a couple of pies for Thanksgiving and everyone loves them.

The Creamery brownies with homemade ice cream on them are really fun to have, also.  I really love Woodstock, anyways and the Mountain Creamery is a plus and a real treat to visit.

There is a neat Pastry Shop underneath the Creamery.  You can get all kinds of pastries and ice cream to go.

I like apple muffins and they are fun to make this time of year.  I put several recipes for Apple Muffins on my Muffins board on my Pinterest.

There is nothing like local peaches that are just so juicy and fresh this time of year.  I picked up some peaches last week at Pete’s that were from Alyson’s Orchards.  I can’t get over how delicious they were.

I sliced up one of the peaches and enjoyed it on my oatmeal with some blueberries and Walnuts this morning.  Just a treat.

The above is a neat idea on what to wear apple picking.  I don’t think that I would go as far as to get a special Fall cover for my cell phone.  But I think that the ankle boots, burgundy sweater and the plaid scarf is a nice idea.  Though the ripped material jeans are the style now, I don’t like them.   I mean I don’t have to try that hard to look so rich that I can wear worn out ragged looking clothes and not feel like I have not enough money to buy a pair of jeans within 20 years.  That look does not appeal to me.

There are a couple of neat Farm Stands in Westminster, VT.  Harlows and Allen Brothers are kind of neat.  I buy my Fall plants at the grocery store or Walmart and do not pay flatlander prices, though.

I’m no Martha Stewart, but I’ve always wanted to try to make a lattice top pie.  It just looks so fancy.

So fancy looking and really looks kind of fun to attempt to make a lattice pie crust.

I think that Apple Crisp is kind of easy to make and very good this time of year.  I put a couple of recipes for Apple Crisp on my Fall Recipes board on my Pinterest.

I really like to cook and bake.  The Barefoot Contessa aka Ina Garten, has the ultimate stove and oven to be able to get professional results in your home kitchen.  She has a Viking double oven electric oven with a gas stove top.  A Chef’s dream in her home kitchen.  Ina Garten’s style is all white dishes a lot of bland color in her small appliances like her mixer and Le Creusets.  All white.

Myself, I like flair and a little color.  I also like a double wall oven and could never afford a Viking.  But I love the stainless steel look of appliances and the granite counter tops.  What a dream kitchen.

I like Barefoot Contessa’s bread drawer idea from Kraftmaid.

Also Ina Garten’s pull out drawer cupboards that are perfect for pots and pans.

Then the drying rack and cutting board that goes over a sink is a neat idea that Ina Garten has.  And then the goose neck faucet.  So neat.

I love the handy drawer idea with spices all labeled and right at your fingertips.  I could go on and on with all the beautiful ideas from Barefoot Contessa.  What an inspiration she is to me with all her ideas.

Ina Garten also keeps a notebook with hand written recipes of her favorite recipes with all kinds of notes from trial and error and what works.  She has a whole library of cook books.

And then on top of having a kitchen to die for, Ina Garten has beautiful gardens and cuts flowers from her gardens for her table and uses fresh herbs from her garden for her cooking.  Plus she has outdoor dining space in her elaborate gardens.

Love the ideas.

And that’s my thoughts for today.

 

I love a Sunset.  So beautiful yesterday.

Today was a rainy and chilly day.  A good day to turn on the fireplace.  I love the ambiance of a crackling fire on a day like today.

I changed my table around and put a Fall color tablecloth on and some Fall looking placemats as well as a different candle.

It was a good day for a hearty and warm soup, so I used up my veggies that I got at Pete’s the other day.  I put in some Herbs de Provence, carrots, onions and celery to start with.  Then some northern beans, bay leafs, chicken broth, zucchini and summer squash.  It just made a cozy supper for Sunday night.

I got some apples at a local orchard on Saturday and they were really delicious.  Love them. ❤  I slice them and put them on my oatmeal with a little cinnamon in the morning.  And I like the apples for salad with power greens, walnuts and blue cheese.  Then I love my apple cider vinegar dressing that I make to put over the salad.   It’s just vinegar, olive oil, mustard and a little garlic and thyme.  The apples are good as a snack, also.

I got a Mum plant at my grocery store yesterday and I love it for a Fall decoration.  They were only $3.99 at the Market Basket and that’s not bad.

Then they had little Mum plants at the Walmart for $1.00.  I found one that was just right for my little Scarecrow planter.

I saw a really neat idea on “The Kitchen” show on the Food network today.  They just took a rope and made a loop on it.  Then they took some lavender bunches and some sage bunches and used some wire to tie them to the rope and put a bow at the top and hung them to dry in their kitchen.   It scents the kitchen and just looks really neat as well.

 

So it’s been a kind of fun weekend so far.

I got a Maple Creamee yesterday to celebrate the last days of summer.  That is actually what they called a small cone believe it or not.  So good as I didn’t eat lunch and stopped on the way to grocery shopping and after that huge ice cream cone, I was glad that I had room for it.

I got some imitation lobster and Old Bay seasoning as well as some dill to make Lobster Rolls.  Kind of fun and they make a nice lunch.

I also got some corn on the cob at Pete’s.  I love the one that they call butter and sugar.  It’s so sweet with melted butter and a little sea salt.  They also had local peaches from Alysons Orchards at Pete’s and I picked up a couple of peaches.  Yum!

I love the above dream pantry.  I would have a wine cooler where that little refrigerator is.  And then have a coffee bar on that counter top.

 

 

 

I like the above style for Fall.

And for a frugal find, gas has gone up about twenty cents per gallon.  In New Hampshire there is a gas station that gives you a five cent discount per gallon if you pay cash and it’s already fifteen cents less per gallon then Vermont.  So I fill my tank up in that gas station and it saves me about twenty cents per gallon always.

And that’s my thoughts for today.