#Thursday13 - Autumn Date Ideas

I love FALL.  Everything about the season is wonderful! Acorn squash smothered with butter and brown sugar cooks in the stove while a hot apple pie cools. Burning leaves and then enjoying a glass of wine with friends. Here are a few ideas for you and your honey to have some time to yourselves.

1. Visit a local orchard or pumpkin patch.

2. Go apple picking then make caramel apples.

3. Bake an apple or pumpkin pie together then eat it before it gets cold. Have fun with the left over whipping cream. Enjoy a glass of local wine or brew.

4. Find your inner child and go on a corn maze and hayride. Rake leaves into a pile and jump in!

5. Make Apple Cider Floats and snuggle in front of a fire.

Apple Cider Float

1 cup of real apple cider

½ cup ginger ale

1-2 scoops vanilla ice cream or a seasonal flavor such as cinnamon or apple pie

Ground cinnamon and nutmeg for sprinkling

1-2 TBSP caramel sauce

Pour apple cider and ginger ale into a glass. Add vanilla ice cream. Sprinkle on nutmeg and cinnamon to taste and drizzle caramel sauce on top. Serve with straw and spoon.

 

6. If you are in a warmer climate, take your lap top and a bowl of popcorn to the backyard and watch a movie.

7. Have a thermos picnic at the park. Pack soup and hot cocoa.

8. Go on a Fall Foliage Drive. Pick up some pumpkin spice coffee and enjoy the ride.

9. Visit a local book store. Many offer special autumn displays and events.

10. Hop in the car and go for a drive to find a coffee shop or a local pub to visit.

11. Go on a Sunset Date. Grab a thermos of cocoa and a blanket then head off to a park to watch the sunset. If a park isn't in the cards, simply step onto your porch or back deck.  Weather permitting, do some star gazing too. Super romantic!

12. Have a “Power Outage” Date. Turn all the lights off, light some candles and have some fun.

13. Try a Spa Night. Take a bath together, give each other massages and put on your comfy-cozies.

What word do you use to describe this season? Autumn or Fall?

Click HERE for more super cool Thursday 13 lists.

Halloween Drinks (For Adults)

Will you be dressing up (or not) and walking the kiddies around to Trick or Treat?

OR

Will you be handing out goodies to the little gremlins and like at your door?

 

How a bout a little somethin' something' to warm the cockles of your heart on the darkest night?

 

Try these frighteningly delicious drinks.

 

Baileys Caramel Apple

 

2 oz Baileys Caramel Irish Cream Liqueur

0.5 Smirnoff Green Apple Flavored Vodka

1 dash of Goldschlager Schnapps

 

Pour Baileys & Vodka into an ice-filled shaker. Shake & strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Float Goldschalger on top. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

********************

 

Cabin Cider

 

1.5 oz Cabin Fever Maple Flavored Whisky

4 oz hot apple cider

 

Add whisky to warm or cold cider in a Collins glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

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Hot Maple Chocolate

1.5 oz Cabin Fever Maple Flavored Whiskey

1.5 oz Baileys Original Irish Cream Liqueur

4 oz hot chocolate

Add whiskey & Irish Cream Liqueur to hot chocolate in a mug. Top with whipped cream.

***********

Of course I have to share my favorites. 

Try a spiced red wine warmed up. Garnish with a slice of orange and a cinnamon stick. 

 

 



Moonshine in Michigan - the kind you drink

Measuring the moonshine for the "Cheers to Michigan" drink.

CREDIT LESTER GRAHAM / MICHIGAN

It’s fall and there’s a hint of it in the air.

“It’s definitely getting into the season where I like to think about fall flavors in my cocktails,” said Tammy Coxen of Tammy’s Tastings.

Among the bottles in front of her was one of moonshine.

"This is from Wise Men Distillery. They're just outside Grand Rapids and they make a variety of different products. What I'm using today is their Apple Pie Moonshine. It starts off with a base of their corn with a little bit of barley moonshine. That basically means it’s an unaged whiskey. Then they steep it with a whole bunch of spices and then some Michigan apple juice concentrate,” Tammy explained, adding, “To me it tastes like drinking an apple pie.”

Every year it seems as though there are more apple, cinnamon apple, and apple pie spirits on the grocer and liquor store shelves. It’s starting to be a lot like the trend of everything pumpkin spice in the fall. The question is whether those spirits are going to the same trouble of using real spices and apple juice.

Tammy says there’s a lot of variability in the market.  

“Some things, especially the apple whiskeys, are really just using flavoring and can to me have kind of an artificial taste. That’s not really something I want my glass. Then other people are taking more of an artisan approach. So, it's really kind of a buyer beware issue,” Tammy said.

She used the Apple Pie Moonshine in a drink based on the whiskey sour template.

“Our base spirit here is an ounce and a half of vodka. I also used the Wise Men distillery vodka. Then it's got three quarters of an ounce of their Apple Pie Moonshine and just half an ounce of lemon juice. Shake it up with ice. Strain it into a glass.

My experience with apple pie-like tasting is limited to a guy I knew who made it every Halloween. It was tasty, but a bit too sweet for my taste. It was popular and it was potent.

The Apple Pie of My Eye has more citrus notes than what I’d tasted in the past. It's not as cloyingly sweet as that drink was. To me, this mixture is more drinkable.

“I will say that that moonshine on its own is quite cloyingly sweet. It’s great for drizzling over ice cream or if you're a person who likes sweet drinks, sipping on it on its own over some ice would be great,” Tammy said, adding, “To me on its own it's a little too sweet, but that's why I really like it in this sour application called the flavor comes out without so much of the sweetness.”

Apple Pie of my Eye

The ingredients of Apple Pie of My Eye
CREDIT LESTER GRAHM / MICHIGAN RADIO

1 1/2 oz vodka (Wise Men)
3/4 oz Wise Men Distillery apple pie moonshine
1/2 oz lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake and strain into
cocktail glass.

This article is from a Michigan Public Radio Broadcast.

Cheers! It tastes like drinking an apple pie

By LESTER GRAHAM • SEP 27, 2019

Tasty Tuesday - Spiked Mulled Cider

Many of you know I'm a Football Mom. My boys are Youth Football, High School Football and College Football. That's sitting outside weekday for pracitce plus games on the weekend. I've learned to dress in a kazillion layers but once the cold creeps into my bones there is no getting rid of it.

However...

I discovered a shot of Hot Damn schnapps in some mulled cider works wonders. 
.

When making mulled cider use a hand held sieve to eliminate consuming the spices.

Single serving Spiked Mulled Cider:

Pour apple cider into a pot and simmer over low heat. Add clove, cinnamon stick and nutmeg. Float orange slices. Pour a shot of Hot Damn Schnapps into a mug before filling with the warm cider.

I found prepared mulling spices at my local market. After adding some to a pan, I add a few cups of cider and simmer over low heat. The longer you simmer the richer the flavor. Add a shot of Hot Damn or favorite fall schnapps to the mug before filling with the warm cider.

Easy Spiked Crockpot Cider for a crowd:

1/2 gallon apple cider

4 whole cinnamon sticks

8 whole Allspice Berries or Cloves

Orange peel or slices from 1 orange

(add lemon peel from one lemon during cold season)

 3/4 cup spiced rum

 1/2 cup Hot Damn

 1/2 cup Buttershots

Cook on high for one hour then switch to warm and serve.

For the best benifits 

this hot beverage should be read while reading a steamy romance book 

next to a cozy fire.