Joanna Gaines Jalapeno Cornbread, Nana B Stuff (Coloring Nana's Way), Picking Out Aunt Ro's Pumpkins, Hangin' with Eden AND Cullman 4-D Family Farms

Good Saturday afternoon!

Joanna Gaines Jalapeño Cornbread

(Taken from Magnolia Table Cookbook, Page 262)

You will need the following ingredients:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled; plus, softened butter for the skillet and for serving
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup fine stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
1 cup drained canned white corn
1/4 cup chopped drained jalapeños (optional)
1/4 cup chopped drained roasted pimientos (optional)

1. Position a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 10-inch cast-iron skillet.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt and garlic powder.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, cream and eggs.

4. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture along with the corn and the jalapeños (if using) and pimientos (if using). Stir until moistened, but not overmixed; batter will be thick.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared skillet and smooth the top. Bake until the top is lightly browned, the edges are browned and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

6. Slice the warm cornbread into 6 wedges and serve at once with pats of butter.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - After 25 minutes, I always lay a loose piece of aluminum foil on top of a cake, pie or bread to keep it from browning too much.

Nana B Stuff

Coloring Nana's Way

When more than one Grand-Tot is coming over, I sometimes put the Marker/Crayon Caddy in the middle of the kitchen floor. I then tape (all four corners) color sheets all over the floor. The Grand-Tot(s) can color one or more. They can go from one pic back to another.

Instead of being a two- or three-minute activity, the placement and variety makes it last much longer. Sometimes five to seven minutes!

Also, no one has to share a coloring book, and the pages are ready to take home for their refrigerators when they leave.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I always Google Free Printable ________ Coloring Sheets, and print them one by one. Fill in the blank with words like "fall," "camping," "food," "animal," etc. Any theme you want.

I am able to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor and keep everything going smoothly.

Once you color on a sheet, no one else is allowed to color on that particular piece of paper.

Also, if I see one Judith would like, I will put a purple star in the corner. If it is something RT would love, he gets a red star. If they see their star, they know that is THEIR color sheet.

One more thing...

I have two of every color in the big crayons. Even when there are three or four coloring, having extra big crayons makes sharing much easier, and the wait for the crayon much shorter.




Judith is going to be Minnie Mouse this Halloween, so this sheet is for her.





RANDOMNESS #1 - Picking Out Aunt Ro's Pumpkins - It just so happens, RT has been around every time any of us needed a pumpkin or two or three.

When he heard Aunt Ro needed a couple more for her front porch, he offered his services.






Once again, wagon-pullin' was his favorite activity.






I keep a bunch of Dollar Tree pumpkin decorating kits on hand. Sometimes you can get a packet that will decorate three or four pumpkins with stickers, and out of one of those packages, RT picked the Pirate Pumpkin.

It now sits on my front porch steps, along with Judith's cat pumpkin. (That pic will be in next week's post.)




I told you last week about RT's VERY blurry pics coming down the hill in the car.

Aunt Ro and I re-enacted it a few times so you could see his face this time.





RANDOMNESS #2 - Hangin' with Eden - We also got to spend some one-on-one time with Eden.




She's a good anchor when you're doing crunches.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I should say, "when Aunt Ro is doing crunches."

Nana is a crunch-free zone.

RANDOMNESS #3 - Cullman's 4-D Family Farms - This was my first time to visit 4-D Family Farms, and we all had a lot of fun. Austin and RT spontaneously joined us, so except for Melia and Roxie (both out-of-town), we were mostly all together.

Mostly, but not quite.




I've decided I'm going to ask Mikie for a giant blob for the backyard as my Christmas gift this year.


It's one of those things I think would be low maintenance...


And fun for just about everyone.


Nana may be a "crunch-free" zone...


But I have a feeling I would be VERY blob-friendly.


Precious...


And even more precious.


This is a Cookies-n-Cream Funnel Cake topped with a ton of whipped cream.

I have no other words.














The giant slides were another favorite...


For no other reason than you never knew what direction someone would be shooting out at the bottom.




Nothing says FARM FUN more than bouncing on Hippity Hop Balls in the hay.


Fun fact for you...

Cowboys and farmers used to do it ALL the time after a long, hard day of herding cattle or working the crops.

At least, that's what I've always heard.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back in a few days with more Fall-type stuff, pics of Grand-Tots and a little of this and a little of that.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

"Do you ever just like flex your foot and it cramps, and you're just like this is it. This is how it ends."

"If I was Snow White you would never be able to kill me with an apple. You would have to poison an éclair or something."

Blog Linkage, Quotable Quotes, Peach Puff Pastry Tart, Celebrating Grandparents Day with Judith, Celebrating Roxie's Birthday in Auburn, Combo Birthday Party for Courtney, Roxie and Josh, Picking Out Pumpkins with RT AND Upcoming Post Info

Good Wednesday afternoon...

AND WELCOME TO FALL!

Blog Linkage - Go to Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and read the latest post entitled, "P-Diddle Diddle." It's really an overview of everything that has been happening in her life recently, but there is also a Book Tour Schedule. Nothing scheduled in Alabama yet, but if you're heading to Nashville or Atlanta, she has a date or two in those places. Also, the new book is coming out in a week!

Something else to look forward to this Fall!

Quotable Quotes - "When God sees you doing your part (developing what He has given you), then He will do His part and open doors no man can shut."

Peach Puff Pastry Tart

You will need the following for the pastry:

1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
2 to 4 peaches, sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon flour

You will need the following for the icing:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk

1. Thaw puff pastry until it's soft enough to unfold. Once thawed, cut into even squares and line them an inch apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Peel and slice peaches. Mix in sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and flour. Spread the mixture evenly onto the centers of the puff pastry squares.

3. Beat egg and generously apply to the edges of the pastry squares.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Baking time will vary, so watch the pastries closely toward the end of the baking time. When the edges have browned nicely, it's time to take them out!

5. While the pastries are baking, mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk to form the icing.

6. Drizzle icing over warm peach tarts.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - This is such an easy recipe. It isn't too sweet, and you could possibly eat it for breakfast OR dessert.

RANDOMNESS #1 - Celebrating Grandparents Day with Judith - Mike and I were excited to visit Judith's school in Hartselle a couple of weeks ago to participate in the Muffins and Milk Celebration for Grandparents Day. This was our very first Grandparents Day festivity, and we proudly lined up outside the lunchroom with all of the other Nanas and Pops.

What can I say?

The muffins were delicious.

The milk was ice cold.

And Judith sat in between the two of us.

It was pretty thrilling, I tell you!




Pretty thrilling, indeed!

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I know what you're thinking.

Where is the pic of Nana and Judith?

There is most definitely a picture, but Mike took it with us standing in front of a school mural...

And there was a tree or fence or something right behind my head.

Short story shorter...

I look like I have Maleficent horns.

Not a good look on me...

At all.

RANDOMNESS #2 - Celebrating Roxie's Birthday in Auburn - Roxie turned 23 on the 25th of September, and Mike and I drove to Auburn to take The Chick to lunch on her special day.

After a bite to eat at The Blue Bagel, we walked around Auburn a little bit, and soaked up the awesomeness that is War Eagle Country.




I may be a little biased, but I think she is aging pretty well.

RANDOMNESS #3 - Combo Birthday Party for Courtney, Roxie and Josh - Since Courtney, Roxie and Josh's birthdays all fall within a 20-day period in September, we have a combo party for them.

I make each of them their favorite dessert. Sometimes we have a meal, and other times we just eat cake in the afternoon.

For this specific milestone, we threw in some hotdogs and hamburgers.

Also, I asked Roxie to try to get a pic of the three Grand-Tots together, and she obliged.














I just mixed in the "good" ones with the "not-so-good" ones.

You get to decide which is which.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - Just to help you judge, any photo with Eden's thigh front and center is most definitely a "good" one.


RT and Judith helped with the opening of the gifts...


And Aunt Mia helped with the holding of Baby Eden during the opening of the gifts.


While I was putting the finishing touches on the birthday desserts, everyone else went outside with the Grand-Tots so they could ride various and sundry wheeled things in the driveway.

It quickly turned into a "riding-the-Cozy-Coupe-down-the-hill" kinda activity.










Every pic is blurry, but the ones of RT were the blurriest of all (except for the two shown above)...

Because not only is the car moving. Everything inside the car is moving, too.

Two year-old boy probs!


The main theme for the dessert portion of the party was suppose to be the candles.

I wanted the actual number of candles all ablaze at the same exact time (28 for Courtney, 26 for Josh and 23 for Roxie).




There were some problems with that plan...

1. I made Courtney Oreo Cake Pops.

At first we thought we could put the candles inside the straw handles of the Cake Pops.

I would have had to whittle the base of each individual candle to fit into each straw handle.

2. Also, just sticking a lit candle beside a paper straw Oreo Pop handle would have been a little on the dangerous side.

3. I put all of Roxie's candles AND Courtney's candles on Roxie's huge White Texas Sheet Cake...

And even though I had two helpers lighting the big cake with me and another person lighting Josh's Banana Pudding, it quickly became apparent Roxie's chocolate icing was going to become solid wax unless someone called it.

And we all know that "someone" wasn't me.

Next year...

A blow torch!

RANDOMNESS #4 - Picking Out Pumpkins with RT - The past two years, Judith has been with me when it was time to go to Witt's Market and pick out my pumpkins for the season.

As it happened this year, RT was hanging with Nana when the desire hit (and hit hard) for Nana to get her display pumpkins.

He was all in...

Except his main concern wasn't the collecting of the perfect pumpkins.

Nope.

Pulling a wagon was the big draw for him.

And not just my wagon, but any wagon he happened to see in the general vicinity.










No matter.

Nana always gets what she wants in the end!

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - This is SO not true!


Because he did such a good job helping with the pumpkins, I upgraded him to window washer.


Next week he's getting a new toothbrush to help scrub the toilet.

The fun never ends at Nana's house!

Upcoming Post Info - I will have more Fall pics of the Grand-Tots doing Fall-type activities.

Roxie and I re-enacted the Cozy-Coupe-going-down-the-hill pics with RT this week. We obtained a few less blurry ones, so I'll be posting those.


I already have two new-to-me recipes to share.

Oh...

And one more word for ya...

PICKLEBALL!

I hope you and yours have a splendid autumnal week. I hope that for me and mine, too!

Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

"Why would I pay for a haunted house when I can wake up to my kid silently standing beside my bed staring at me at 4:00 a.m.?"

"I'm not sure how many cookies it takes to be happy, but so far it's not 27."