Fall Festival - 5/5 - The Idea Room

Apple Cider Floats & Giveaway

This Giveaway is now CLOSED!

Thanks everyone for your patience. The winner of the Our Best Bites Cookbook is number #190 Julie N. Congratulations Julie. Please email me at: [email protected]. You have 48 hours and then a new winner will be selected.

Fall is my very favorite season and I have asked a few of my favorite bloggers to share some of their fall favorites here with you. I am so excited to have Sara from Our Best Bites sharing her recipe for Apple Cider Floats {a delicious twist to the regular apple cider drink} as part of The Idea Room Fall Festival!

Hello Hello all you Idea-Roomers! I’m so happy to be hanging out over here today on sweet Amy’s awesome blog. My name is Sara Wells and I co-author the food blog Our Best Bites with my good friend Kate Jones.

Kate and I both have a serious obsession with autumn in general, but especially with fall food. I love the smell of apples and warm spices brewing, hearty, savory soups simmering on the stove, and rustic home-baked breads in the oven. My only problem, is that where I live in Boise, Idaho, all of those amazing flavors of fall (and my desire to consume them) usually arrive well before the fall weather.

When I start seeing pumpkins and autumn wreaths in the stores, we’re still sporting shorts and flip flops and buying popsicles by the truck-load. To solve that little conundrum, let me introduce you to, the apple pie float. All of the yummy flavors of fall, but perfect for summer temperatures!

It starts with nice, thick apple cider. Use the good stuff!

apple-cider-recipe

Add in some ginger ale for a little fizz action, and then plop in a big ole’ scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We like to top ours with a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg and a little drizzle of caramel sauce.

Apple-Cider-Float

The apple flavor in a good cider is out of this world, and when the ice cream starts melting and creating a creamy, frothy drink with bits of caramel and spice? Can’t beat it. So keep those flip-flops on, and enjoy every last drop of summer as you welcome in fall!

Apple Cider Floats from Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

1 cup high quality apple cider (the thick stuff is best!)

1/2 cup ginger ale

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

ground cinnamon and nutmeg for sprinkling 1-2 tablespoons

jarred caramel sauce

Directions:

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 immediately with a straw and a spoon. Yields: one serving.

* * * * * * * * *

Now, speaking of seasons, Kate and I actually released our second cook book this week and it’s called, "Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites."

This recipe is in there, along with over 150 of our other favorite things to make during the various seasons of the year. You can read about the book here.

Thanks so much Sara! It has been so great to have you here sharing your amazing Apple Pie Floats!! They look amazing! Perfect for a party! I was able to meet up with Sara and Kate just yesterday at their New Cook Book, Savoring the Seasons, Book Signing Event at Orson Gygi in Salt Lake.

Sara and Kate would love to give a copy away to an Idea Room reader! Isn’t that exciting?!

To enter simply leave a comment here, on this post, and tell us what your favorite "fall food" is. Happy Cooking!

*Disclaimer– This giveaway will end on September 19, 2012 at 9:00 pm MT. Giveaway is open to residents of the continental US. The winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize before a new winner is chosen. I was given a copy of Our Best Bites Cookbook to review, however all opinions and statements are mine.

September 13, 2012 · Filed under: Fall Festival, Fall Recipes Tagged with apple cider drinks, apple cider recipe, fall drink recipes, halloween party drinks, halloween party food ideas, homemade apple cider, icecream floats, party drinks

Pumpkin Spice mini Donuts

14 Comments

Fall is my very favorite season and I have asked a few of my favorite bloggers to share some of their fall favorites here with you. I am so excited to have Kristy from The Diary of DavesWife sharing her tutorial for Pumpkin Spice Mini Donuts as part of The Idea Room Fall Festival!

Hello Everyone! My name is Kristy.

But, you can just Call Me DavesWife.

You can read All about Me, at

The Diary of DavesWife

A Place where I spill it ALL.

I am BEYOND thrilled to be here today for The Idea Room Fall Festival !

I absolutely ADORE this time of year, especially

the Smells, the Colors, and of COURSE the FOOD!

Today I have a Delightful Fall Treat that not only tastes like fall,

but looks and smells like it too!

These little pumpkins, are plump and moist and are only made with

2 Ingredients!!!

*But you Will need to have a mini donut baking pan,

or a mini donut maker to make these little cuties!

That’s it!!! No Oil, No Eggs! Just 1 15 oz. can of Pumpkin, and 1 Spice Cake Mix.

To make the Batter for your Donuts, Simply combine in a medium Bowl

and mix with an electric Mixer until combined.

Once it is nice and creamy,

I Like to put all of the batter into a large ziploc bag.

This way I can, cut off one end, and use it like a frosting bag

and simply "pipe" my batter into my donut maker.

Cook for about 4-5 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

*if using a mini donut pan, bake at 325 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

Once cooled, top with Orange Frosting, and insert a Mini Tootsie Roll as the stem.

To Make the Leaves I used a Wilton Sugar Sheet

And cut the leaves and curly "Q" with a pair of kitchen scissors.

These are DELICIOUS, and Addicting! I betcha can’t eat just one!

For More Recipes and other Creative ideas, make sure to visit Me at:

The Diary of DavesWife

Washi Tape Candy Corn Candles

Dottie—The Kitchen Aid Mixer

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Don’t those donuts look so good? Thanks so much for sharing them with us Kristy! I love Kristy’s fun website. She always has a lot of fun and cheerful projects. Her site makes me feel happy. And she is just as happy in person. I was able to meet Kristy at the Snap Conference in April and really enjoyed her upbeat and cheerful personality! Be sure to head on over to her site and check out all her creative projects. You won’t be disappointed! –Amy

September 11, 2012 · Filed under: Fall Festival, Fall Recipes Tagged with

How To Make A Wreath using corn tassels

18 Comments

Fall is my very favorite season and I have asked a few of my favorite bloggers to share some of their fall favorites here with you. I am so excited to have Brooke from All Things Thrifty sharing her tutorial for How to Make a Wreath with Corn Tassels today. Brooke officially kicks off The Idea Room Fall Festival!

Hello to The Idea Room readers! I LOVE THIS BLOG. Amy rocks. The end.

corn wreath 4

My name is Brooke and I normally blog over at All Things Thrifty where I post about my thrifty decorating addiction! Let me tell you a little about myself before we get going! In a nutshell, I grew up on a farm in Central Utah. I’m a mom of four little kiddos, and I love to decorate. My sisters, my mom, and I love to craft together, and the project I’m sharing with you today happens to be a wreath that my Sister Natalie made. I’m a super thrifty gal and I love to teach my tips and tricks. I’m telling ya peeps, sometimes the cheapest projects turn out the very best around my house. My favorite way to decorate my home is with ultra unique items that can’t be bought in any store. Come check out some of my furniture transformations, and you will see what I mean! I am thrilled to be part of Amy’s Fall Festival today, and I was super excited that she asked me to participate! Let’s get started!

This project most likely won’t cost you a dime to make.

You can’t beat FREE right!?!?

You will need:

A corn field {HA! yep, I said a corn field}

Scissors

A plastic bag

A pool noodle {Summer is over so just use an old one you have laying around or go buy one for $1 or less}

Some duct tape.

*Before you to stalking through the corn field off in the boonies, please ask permission. :)

Step 1: Gather 4 bags full of corn tassels. Scissors work great for this. The tassel is the very top of the corn stalk in case you didn’t know.

019 scissors 023

Try your darndest to get tassels that are straight instead of tassels that spray all over the place.

corn wreath

Step 2: After you have a bag full of tassels, you need to make a pool noodle wreath by cutting it and duct taping it together. You can spray paint it if you want, but really no one will see the pool noodle once you are done.

corn tassel wreath spray paint

Step 3: Divide your tassels into separate piles depending on their lengths. You can cut down your tassels if you need to.

corn tassel wreath

Step 4: Make a small hole in the noodle with the end of your scissors and slide in your tassel one at a time. Start at the back with your longest {and straightest} corn tassels.

Step 5: Continue layering your tassels into your pool noodle until it is full.

Corn wreath 1

The only thing that would make this wreath better is if it were MINE instead of my Sister’s. Don’t you think she should make me one? I think so.

corn wreath 2

I think a trio of corn tassel wreaths would be darling on my front door to celebrate FALL. I hope that you have enjoyed this fun {and more importantly basically FREE} idea, come visit me over at my blog! I would love to have you!

Brooke from All Things Thrifty

Brooke from All Things Thrifty

I LOVE this wreath! Thanks so much for sharing it with us today Brooke! Maybe your sister wants to make a couple of extra ;)! I am so excited to have Brooke here today. I first met Brooke last October when I traveled to the Scentsy Headquarters with her. I felt an instant connection with her! I have always admired her amazing site where she shares her creative talent and genius. Some of my favorite projects of hers are the following: