It is finally fall! Last week we had the first “official” day, but judging by the weather it doesn’t feel much like fall. It is one of my favorite seasons; I love it when the air starts to have that crisp fall feeling and all of the apple and pumpkin goodies (I really love fall baking!)
Unfortunately in Arizona our fall is mild. In fact we had to drive 3 ½ hours to get to an apple orchard. We decided to make a day trip out of it and it was completely worth it! I also got to read the new Nicholas Sparks book Safe Haven on the ride up :) I always enjoy his books!
This is my perfect apple! Leaf and all
Lance got stuck pulling our cart full of apples..
...Most of the time. Pulling 30 pounds of apples and my husband is no easy task!
Does anyone watch the Real Housewives shows? haha
In an apple tree next to my husband, Farmer Lance ;)
We decided to go to Apple Annies in Willcox. There were more than just apples to pick, we got peaches and asian pears too! They had a little shop with homemade fudge - we got a caramel apple pie one that is to die for! and a variety of jams and butters too.
Flavored honey sticks from the shop at the orchard
We decided to eat lunch in Wilcox and wanted to eat at a local place so we asked one of the gals working at the orchard. Her first response was “Pizza Hut” haha. We had to explain to her what we meant by local, then she told us about Big Tex. It was cheap and had some good BBQ (I liked the fries). It was charming too, the restaurant was in an old train dining car.
The whole gang in front of Big Tex
A beef brisket sandwich
After lunch we decided to go wine tasting at a local winery. It was $3 a person – how can you go wrong! There were still grapes on the vine too!
Listening intently while we heard all about the different wines
The weather was great and the vineyard was gorgeous!
I picked a few Asian pears and decided to make them into a cake. It was an excellent choice because this cake is really delicious! I whipped up a little honey cinnamon glaze to go over it and it really made the cake :)
Asian pears..
Asian pear cake!
Asian Pear Cake
Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, cored and chopped Asian pears
2 cups white sugar
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 egg whites
2/3 cup canola oil
Directions:
Combine the pears and the sugar and let stand while the rest of the ingredients are prepared.
Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 10 inch bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Slightly beat the egg whites and combine them with the oil, chopped pecans and pear mixture. Stir the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the pear mixture. Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan.
Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Honey-Cinnamon Glaze
Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 Tbsp heavy cream
Directions:
Whisk together confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, honey and milk or cream. Add one tablespoon at a time until glaze reaches desired consistency. Top cooled cake with glaze before cutting.
Source: Cake adapted from All Recipes, glaze is a Nicole Original
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