When I write, I tend to utilize the word autumn more often than fall. Autumn reads with clarity, a noun specific to a season. Fall may be used as noun or verb, is more nuanced and less precise, and seems to tend toward negativity.
Yet, fall does imply movement and evolution as in to fall, falling, and fallen. The word does capture the seasonality of the moment exceptionally well: the changing of seasons, the harvesting of food, the storing and preparing, the slowing and gathering, the reflecting and planning.
I have been falling myself these days, I have been changing bedding, putting the summer quilts away and pulling out the down comforters. I am securing the storm windows and door frames at NOLD, which still has its original wrought iron windows and arched doorway and tends towards draftiness. I am wearing the rich colors of fallow soil in layers and natural fibers for the unpredictable weather that may bring brisk winds and warm sun in short order.
My reasoning may be fallacious these days as time flies by weeding and clearing beds in the garden, meaning the dust collects in the house and blog posts fall by the wayside. So much falls through the cracks as visitors arrive before the snow flies and the fresh air of cold north winds causes me to fall into bed at night in complete exhaustion.
Like so many, I have fallen in love with October, its colors and skies, the landscape, the rituals and happenings, the smells and flavors. Of course, I have been active in the kitchen and my cooking is one thing that hasn't fallen away but rather has been transformed with the season and, as a result, been reinvigorated.
Lest I fall into a stupor and forget my original intent here, let me share a few recipes before darkness falls and my play with language tries your patience such that you fall away. No, no, I say! Instead, let's cook with the flavors of autumn, whole grains and apples, and leave fall for another day.
Yet, fall does imply movement and evolution as in to fall, falling, and fallen. The word does capture the seasonality of the moment exceptionally well: the changing of seasons, the harvesting of food, the storing and preparing, the slowing and gathering, the reflecting and planning.
I have been falling myself these days, I have been changing bedding, putting the summer quilts away and pulling out the down comforters. I am securing the storm windows and door frames at NOLD, which still has its original wrought iron windows and arched doorway and tends towards draftiness. I am wearing the rich colors of fallow soil in layers and natural fibers for the unpredictable weather that may bring brisk winds and warm sun in short order.
My reasoning may be fallacious these days as time flies by weeding and clearing beds in the garden, meaning the dust collects in the house and blog posts fall by the wayside. So much falls through the cracks as visitors arrive before the snow flies and the fresh air of cold north winds causes me to fall into bed at night in complete exhaustion.
Like so many, I have fallen in love with October, its colors and skies, the landscape, the rituals and happenings, the smells and flavors. Of course, I have been active in the kitchen and my cooking is one thing that hasn't fallen away but rather has been transformed with the season and, as a result, been reinvigorated.
Lest I fall into a stupor and forget my original intent here, let me share a few recipes before darkness falls and my play with language tries your patience such that you fall away. No, no, I say! Instead, let's cook with the flavors of autumn, whole grains and apples, and leave fall for another day.
Applesauce Mini Cake Donuts
1
cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½
cup granulated sugar
1
teaspoon baking powder
1
teaspoon baking soda
¼
teaspoon salt
½
cup milk
⅓ cup
buttermilk
¼
cup applesauce
½
teaspoon vanilla
1
egg white, lightly beaten
1.
Coat
mini-donut pan with oil or butter. Set aside.
2.
In
a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3.
In
a large bowl, beat together milk, buttermilk, applesauce, and vanilla.
4.
Fold
flour mixture into wet ingredients until just moistened; fold in egg white.
5.
Add
1 tablespoon batter per mold, leaving the center peg showing above the batter.
6.
Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes, until dough springs back to the touch.
7.
Remove
from oven and cool 2 minutes; loosen and remove donuts.
8.
While
still warm, coat donuts in granulated sugar (which may be combined with cinnamon) or confectioners’ sugar.
Yield: 3 dozen
Granola
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts or sliced/slivered almonds
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
⅔ cup honey or maple syrup or brown sugar
¼
cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple juice or cider
2 tablespoons apple juice or cider
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch sea salt
½ cup dried fruit: chopped apricots, blueberries, sweet
cherries, sweetened cranberries, currants, or raisins
- Combine oats, seeds, nuts, and coconut in a large bowl.
- In a
small bowl, whisk together syrup or honey, juice or cider, olive oil,
vanilla extract, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over dry
ingredients in large bowl and toss until well combined.
- Spread
out evenly on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350˚for 10 minutes, stir,
and bake 10 more minutes. Brown further, if desired. Remove from the oven
and stir again.
- Cool completely, stir in dried fruit, and store in an airtight container.
Yield: 1 quart
Millet Bread
5 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons molasses
2 ½ cups whole wheat bread flour
1 cup rye flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup millet
1 ½ to 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- Mix yeast, water, honey, and molasses in the bowl of a standing mixer with a dough hook until well combined. Add whole-wheat bread flour, and stir until well combined. Add rye flour and salt, and stir until well combined. Add millet and mix well. Finally, add enough of the unbleached all-purpose flour (about 1 ½ cups) to make a fairly firm dough. Let dough rest for 15 minutes.
- Knead dough with bread hook until elastic, about 5 minutes, adding more unbleached all-purpose flour as needed. Dough should feel slightly sticky and spring to the touch.
- Place dough in bowl covered with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.
- Oil two bread pans. Punch dough down, divide in half, and shape into two loaves. Place loaves into prepared bread pans, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled in size again, about 1 hour.
- Slash tops of loaves with a sharp knife, if desired. Bake at 400°F until golden and sound hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and turn out onto wire racks to cool.
Yield: 2 loaves
Note: Millet gives this bread a wonderful forgiving crunch which toasts well. Millet Bread is adapted from a recipe of the same name in Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis.
***
Oh, and just one small poem from my fall brain....
A Single
Cause
Yesterday,
under brilliant sun and blue sky, the wind picked up and sent autumnal leaves
into a frenzied dance of absolution.
I
paused in the garden like the rodents that work alongside me, often at odds,
with senses on high alert, when hawk circles the neighborhood, hungry.
I
turned my face upward into the circling chaos raining down from above as yellow
whisked past my cheeks and caught in my hair.
Faith
has never been my cause despite the best efforts of my youth, but joy, simple
and complete such as this fuels faith in a single cause:
To
live in relation to other by letting go completely and seeing what might
possibly grow as unimaginable as the outcome might be.
