What I Wore: Apple Picking

As I mentioned in my earlier post about apple picking, sometimes I think it's necessary to embrace my Midwestern upbringing, especially around this time of year. For me, this meant taking advantage of the opportunity to wear overalls! I figure, once I'm living in New York, I will no longer be able to justify wearing such farm girl "fashions". Now is the time to sport the overalls, flannel, and enjoy the brisk Midwestern fall weather.









I've been thinking about purchasing a good pair of overalls for a while now. This is partially due to my urge to bring back the 90s in full swing. I haven't owned a pair since I was a small child, and for a long time I didn't think they would fit into my more feminine, classic wardrobe. However, as I get older, I'm realizing that I can have a wide variety of styles in my clothing arsenal. I figured this was the perfect time to try them out again! It turned out the orchard was a great choice. Plus, they are insanely comfortable (and you never have to worry about your pants falling down).









I'm gonna keep this post nice and short, but please enjoy the photos! How do you feel about "farm girl chic"?

The Perfect Fall Day

I know it's been quite a while since my last post, but as is customary here in the Midwest at this time of year, the weather has been pretty icky and on top of that, I contracted a lovely cold that kept me from even thinking about being in front of or behind the camera. However, yesterday turned it all around! I have been wanting to go apple picking for the past few fall seasons and yesterday we finally went! My mom, sister, aunt, two cousins and I made our way to Hillcrest Orchards for the most perfect fall day I could've ever imagined. In the few hours that we were there, we took a hayride, picked over thirty pounds of apples (and gobbled up a few), got pretty lost in a corn maze, meandered through the pumpkin patches, and had a whole bunch of family fun!









It was the most wonderful of days to do it. After suffering through the bipolar weather tendencies of Northeast Ohio, we had a gorgeous, sunny, crisp fall day. The land seemed to stretch forever; no wonder we needed to take a hayride to get to the apples! There were a ton of families out, mostly with little kids, all enjoying the great weather and taking advantage of all that this beautiful farm had to offer. While apple picking was our main event, the pumpkin patch is another point of interest at this farm, with a huge selection of great Jack O' Lantern material and fall decorations for days.









We loved Hillcrest! The land was so pretty and spacious. Even though I'm really a city girl, sometimes I love getting out in the country and breathing in all that fresh air. Plus, being a Midwesterner, you have to take some time every now and then to embrace your inner country child. Hillcrest has so many activities and being there was so much fun! They even have a market where they sell their fresh made apple butter, cider, and salsa! It's great for the little ones, too. They had play areas, a smaller hay maze, and pedal karts. They really have something for everyone, and we all had such a blast! We will definitely be bringing Charlie back at some point.







We spent a good hour or two in the orchard, sampling the different delicious apples. They had a large variety, from Red Delicious to other kinds I'd never heard of before, such as Empire. They were each a little different, and we got a great medley! I know that alongside my pumpkin obsession, I'm about to look for creative recipes that call for apples. My mom, sister, and I filled a 20 lb bag to the max, and we ended up with around 50 apples! My aunt and cousins filled a 10 lb bag for them to take home, and between the six of us, we probably ate about a dozen. It's so great that at Hillcrest, they let you eat as many apples as you want while you're out in the orchard. It gave us the opportunity to taste each one so that we knew exactly what we were picking. We got some specifically for baking, some for applesauce, and then of course some to just eat by themselves.





Olivia has already made two pies with a few of them, and I plan on trying my hand at an allergy-friendly pie. That means gluten, dairy, and egg-free crust! I'll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying our wonderful fresh apples and the memories that we made getting them. Even though this may be the last year I live at home, I'm hoping I'll be able to come back from time to time and go apple picking with my family :)

Have you ever been apple picking? What was your experience?

Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bars!

Happy October everyone! There are a couple of reasons that I am really excited about this post. For one, I am obsessed with pumpkin. I absolutely adore indulging in all things flavored with this wonderfully seasonal fruit. This is very clearly illustrated on my Instagram. The second reason that I'm excited about this post is because it's my first recipe post that is completely gluten, dairy, egg, soy, and peanut free! As I have mentioned briefly on my blog before, I have these five food intolerances, which makes enjoying many common foods impossible. Since I found out about my dietary restrictions about seven months ago, I've been on the look out for substitutions and replacements for my favorite foods. I've found some wonderful alternatives to some of them, but I've been a little bit worried about completely missing out on this fantastic pumpkin season. Last time I was at Trader Joe's, I picked up some pumpkin butter (surprisingly not made with any dairy at all) and a couple cans of pumpkin purée, having every intention to make the effort to add pumpkin to my diet this way, despite the fact that I can't have pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, pumpkin bread, etc. So when I found this recipe in my Living Without's Gluten Free magazine, I thought, What a perfect way to kick off my pumpkin spree! I made a couple of adjustments to the recipe, based on what I had available to me in the house, but I think they came out great! I hope that even if you don't necessarily have food restrictions that you still give them a try. They are healthy and yummy and easy to make. So without further ado, here we go!





Pumpkin Pie Bars

Makes 8 Bars

1/2 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar
1 tablespoon coconut oil, organic margarine or grape seed oil
3/4 cup pure pumpkin purée
1 cup gluten-free oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon ground chia seeds or flax meal
2 tablespoons amaranth flour
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8X8-inch pan or line it with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, combine dates, syrup, oil and pumpkin. Pulse until mixture forms a paste.

3. In a medium bowl, place oats, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, amaranth flour, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Stir until well combined.

4. Add date paste to dry ingredients and blend thoroughly.

5. Press mixture evenly into prepared pan.

6. Place in preheated oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes.

7. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan completely before cutting.

Recipe taken from Living Without's Gluten Free magazine, August/September 2014 issue.







For this first time around, I used maple syrup and flax meal. I replaced the oil with dairy, soy-free butter substitute, and used all-purpose gluten-free flour in place of amaranth flour. I also used chopped hazelnuts in place of pumpkin seeds. Again, this was purely because of what I had on hand. Next time, I absolutely want to use the ingredients that are listed in the recipe, and I think I'll try honey in place of the maple syrup. Overall, though, I think they are delicious and a wonderful way to have my lovely pumpkin while still keeping within my dietary limits.







Let me know if you try them and what you think! Do you have any food restrictions? What kinds of substitutions do you make?

Country Bumpkin

Fall is a-comin'! Being in Cleveland, the weather cannot seem to fully make up its mind. This is pretty typical of our city. One day, we get that lovely fall breeze, bringing in the chilliness that makes me want to bundle up in tights and scarves and adorable boots, and then the next day it's back up into summer temperatures and I'm in sandals and sundresses again. I'm not really complaining, though, because as much as I adore fall, we never really got a summer here. So we're all hanging on tightly to our last few warm days. There is abundance of people on the streets who you can just tell are denying the change in seasons. Even with the unexpected warmth, it's almost October, and no longer flip-flop season.





For some reason, fall seems to be synonymous with the ideas of country and farms. I suppose it has a lot to do with the images we see around this time of hay bales and scarecrows and, at least in the Midwest, plenty of fresh autumn produce like corn, apples, and squash. I know the apple season is ending soon, but I'm hoping to go apple-picking before it's totally gone. Enjoying the last of the sun's warmth before it hides away for the winter and running through the orchard is a wonderfully romantic idea to me. I haven't experienced the fun of apple picking since I was a little girl, and even then, I was with a school group so it would be entirely different if I were to go today!





Of course, the best part about fall, apart from the fashion, is the pumpkin!!! I cannot express to you all how much I adore pumpkin. Pumpkin flavor, pumpkin scent, the look of pumpkins on our porch, it's all perfect. I'm sure there will be a couple of posts within the next month or so about all the pumpkin goodness that I come across this season. Pretty soon, we will all be headed to our local farms to pick out our pumpkins for October and Halloween, and before we know it we will be carving jack-o-lanterns! You'll all have to stay tuned for that, too, because my family always seems to come up with the wackiest faces for ours!





Since we're still kind of teetering between the sunny heat of summer and the brisk chill of autumn, I'm taking advantage of these last chances to wear my lighter weight dresses without tights. This is one of my favorite dresses because it is so breezy and light. It was a thrift store find, and I'm pretty sure it's homemade. Every time I wear it, it reminds me of the dresses that Laura used to describe in the "Little House on the Prairie" books. I'm not really sure why, but it does make me feel kind of country bumpkin-ish (in the best way possible, of course). Today, I decided to add my orange gingham top, which just kind of added to that country feel. The boots just topped it off! Sometimes, I think it's ok to stray from high-fashion and be comfortable, especially as we get deeper into the season. Give in to the country callin' y'all!

What's your favorite part about fall? What images come to mind for you?

P.S. I have to wear a slip with this dress and sometimes I think it's fun to let your petticoat slip a little :P