Corn Bread, Walden Pond, Honey Pot Hill Orchards, Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Feta and Rosemary, and Eric Carle!!

On the plate:  Corn bread and crispy smashed potatoes with rosemary and feta cheese

Soundtrack to cook to:  Notorious B.I.G.'s Duets:  The Final Chapter.  A bit of a throwback for the beginning of fall.

FALL!!!  I loooooooove, love, love fall.  It's like a nice, warm, and cozy hug.  Whenever the weather starts to get cold, I always always have to make a pot of my mom's chili.  It just feels right.  Plus, whenever I have chili, I almost always have to have a nice wedge of cornbread along with it.
Since I was feeling lazy and didn't want to go out to the store to buy a box of Jiffy cornbread mix (which has always been the way I've made it), I decided to whip up a batch from scratch using what I had at home.
Here is a very easy recipe for cornbread.  I want to put an emphasis on EASY because William's two front teeth were coming in this past week and he was incredibly fussy and never wanted to be put down.  So, I made this entire batch one-handed with a baby on my hip.  It really is THAT easy.

In a large bowl, whisk together the following ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal (I used organic because that's what I had)
2/3 cup white sugar (I used turbinado)
1 tsp salt

Then, stir in:
1 egg
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/3 cup applesauce (instead of 1/3 cup of vegetable oil)
1 1/2 cups frozen roasted corn kernels

Pour the batter into a greased 9" round cake pan and place in a
400 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes.

I like my cornbread on the sweet side.  This was a lovely, sweet,
and moist cornbread with delightful little pops of corn riddled
throughout.  A great accompaniment to dip into a beautiful bowl
of soul-warming chili.  Fantastic!

Whenever the weather starts to get cold, I love to spend as much time outdoors as possible.  I bundled the boys up in some fall-appropriate attire and we hit the ground running to one of my favorite spots - Walden Pond.

A little raccoon and a handsome devil.  :)

Alexander being cheeky at Walden Pond.

Alexander at the beginning of the trail around the pond.

Ok, I'm only including this picture because of William...please
don't pay attention to my creepy face.  I just LOVE that whenever
William sees the camera, he immediately flashes a big smile.
This was my first time wearing him on my back.  It wasn't too bad
and he seemed to like it.

It was much easier to carry him this way instead
of in the front, since he's so heavy.

"Mommy, I want to touch the water."

"Aaaaah!  I got wet!"  This child loves to play with water but
hates getting wet.  Go figure.  :)

So beautiful :)

He picked up a walking stick and started running.  This was
great exercise for all of us.

The leaves are starting to change.  I love the colors of fall.

Alexander checking out the swamp.

The site of Thoreau's little hut.

Midway through our hike, we took a break and had a little picnic.  Alexander is a huge fan of picnics now.  :)

Me and the boys at our picnic site.

Alexander decided to eat his lunch on a stump.

After our lunch, we were re-energized and ready to conquer the rest of the trail.  Alexander found a little plant, uprooted it, and decided to carry it for the rest of the trail.  He insisted.

A boy and his plant.  :)

He was so proud of his plant.

Woo hoo!  We made it to the end!  I was so proud of Alexander for walking the entire 1.7 miles around the pond.  What a trooper.  I wore William on my back the entire time, and let's just say, I was incredibly sore the next day.  A perfect day for a walk around Walden Pond!

What better way to end a day full of activity than with a nice, juicy steak and some crispy, smashed potatoes, eh?  Joseph bought some beautiful steaks and I told him that I had the perfect side dish to serve alongside them.  This is yet another Pinterest inspiration that was super easy and wonderfully delicious.  These potatoes were SO good that our son Alexander (who doesn't like potatoes in any form...I know...how could this kid be my child when I would be content eating mashed potatoes for every meal for the rest of my life?) willingly ate them and actually enjoyed them!

I did a little tweaking to the recipe to save some time and it worked out really well.

Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Rosemary and Feta Cheese

I took 1 lb of red potatoes and put them into boiling water.  I boiled the potatoes until I could easily pierce a fork through them.

Then....

Take a flat surfaced kitchen tool (I used the bottom of a drinking glass)
and smash the potatoes on a greased, foil-lined pan.

Drizzle the potatoes with some extra virgin olive oil.
Then, season the potatoes with salt, pepper, garlic powder,
rosemary, 5 sliced green onions, and a generous
crumble of feta cheese (~1 cup).

Place the potatoes in a 450 degree F oven for about 10-15 minutes

Oh.my.goodness.

I was speechless as I was taking my first bite.

I could have eaten this entire pan of potatoes by myself.  They
were that good.

No, not good.  Amazing.  Mind-blowingly delicious and
easy to make.  Like I said, if Alexander would eat them, then you
know they're good.  Enjoy!

Silly William Billiam time!  William no longer likes being put inside his walker.  Instead, he uses his walker as an actual tool to help him walk.

Our silly little panda bear

This little guy is everywhere!

He's so mischievous.

I LOVE it when he wears his little bear hoodie.  He's so cute in it!

Another mommy friend of mine posted that she recently took her family to Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA.  I had never been to this orchard, and you know that I LOVE to go to "Pick your own fruit" places.  So, I packed the boys in the car and we headed off to Stow for our adventure day.

The orchards were absolutely beautiful and as soon as you
walked onto the grounds, the air smelled so sweet and applelicious.
The day started off pretty cool, but by the time we got to the orchards,
it was about 78 degrees F. 

A beautiful pond on the orchard's grounds.

I've never seen so many lilypads!  They were beautiful, floating
on the water.

The picturesque and very hilly orchards.  

There were ladders all over the orchard that were propped up
on the apple trees.  Alexander was SO excited and immediately
scaled every single ladder that he saw to go and pick apples.

There he goes again!

Alexander, enjoying the "fruit" of his labor.
HA HA HA!  (I couldn't resist.)  :)

He became more of a daredevil as the morning went
on and climbed all the way to the top to get
the biggest and most ripe apples.

Look at him go!

He really LOVED climbing the trees.

I climbed up a couple of times and felt like
William was being a little left out.  So, here's a picture
of William's view from the tree.

After some apple picking, we decided to head towards the farm area to check out their animals.

Alexander looking at the piggies.

"Sheep, mommy!  Whoaaaa....BIG sheep!"

They had some goats as well.

Once we were done looking at the animals, we headed over to the farm stand to pick up some apple cider donuts.  I kid you not, these were the BEST apple cider donuts that I've ever had in my life (and I've had my fair share.).  If you ever have the chance to visit here, you MUST get their cider donuts.  They're incredible.

Our last stop of the day was pear picking.  These were bosc pears and they were pretty good.

Alexander, ready to climb the ladders once more.

Our beautiful boy enjoying a juicy pear.

This was a really fun day, but fair warning, if you decide to visit this orchard, make sure you bring good walking shoes.  The hills are VERY steep when we were climbing them to get to the fruit trees.  I was pushing William up and down the hills in our BOB stroller, and my shoulders, back, and upper arms were very sore the next day.  

And now for a little silly Alexander time!

He really wanted to wear my shoes for some reason.

What a goofy guy!

This past week, William started to stand up and greet me in his crib when I would get him after his naps.  Here's what I get to see after I open the door each time:

I love his little grin!  He smiles with his whole face.  :)

Finally, the highlight of our week, last week.  We ventured to the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA.  It took us about 1 hour and 40 minutes, one way, to get there.  What a trek, but the drive is absolutely beautiful going through lots of farmland.
I was reading through the Boston Parents magazine and noticed that Eric Carle was going to be doing a book signing on the 21st of September.  Since Joseph was going to be gone the whole day anyways, I decided that we couldn't pass up this opportunity of meeting one of our favorite children's book authors in person.  PLUS, as an added bonus, the museum was allowing museum guests to purchase his new book that will be released in November, on that day only!  Woo hoo!

Here's Alexander in the Eric Carle gallery, posing by
an original "Very Hungry Caterpillar" (his most famous book).
He was SO excited to see all of the artwork from
some of his favorite books.

Another huge highlight of the museum was that it had an entire gallery dedicated to the artwork of Mo Willems, another one of Alexander's favorite author/illustrators.  Alexander loves the "Don't Let the Pigeon..."series, the "Knuffle Bunny" series, and it even featured artwork from the "Elephant and Piggie" series.  He had so much fun looking at each picture and saying, "Mommy!  That picture is from this book!"  It was pretty cool to see that he could identify which picture came from which book.

Alexander in the Mo Willems gallery.

As you walk into the entrance of the museum, there are beautiful paintings done by Eric Carle, as well.

Here's Alexander by one of the paintings.

This one was my favorite one in the gallery.  Gorgeous colors!

While we were waiting for our group to be called to enter the line for book signings, Alexander did some tissue collage art.

However, I think the highlight of the morning
(other than meeting Eric Carle), was getting some
delicious apple cider that was provided by a local farm.
He doesn't get juice often, and loved every last drop.

Once our group was called, we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes (which is an eternity in 3-year-old time).  Alexander and William held it together for the most part and then we finally got to meet Eric Carle!
I told Alexander to say, "Thank you!" to Mr. Carle when we got up there, but there were so many people around Eric Carle, and a giant caterpillar behind him, that Alexander didn't know where to look to say, "thank you."  He was about one foot in front of Mr. Carle saying, "Thank you!" while looking up at the ceiling, down at the floor, and all around at the other people.  Oy!  What a silly kid.  I guess there was just so much to look at that he couldn't find Mr. Carle in all of that chaos.

Alexander, Me, and William with the very talented
author/illustrator, Eric Carle, while he was signing
our books.

Alexander holding the newest Eric Carle book
entitled Friends in front of a VW bug decorated
like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We had such a great morning at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  After the signing, we relaxed in the auditorium where they were playing several of Eric Carle's books that had been turned into short movies.  It was a nice and relaxing way to end our somewhat hectic but exciting morning.  Alexander and William love his books, and it was so great for them to meet him in person.  

What a fun-filled week!!  We had lots of physical activity and traveled all over Massachusetts.  Great times and even greater memories.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki