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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party. There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party. There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

Good evening!

 

The weather here was actually lovely today, the first cool-ish day we've had so far.

 

Well, if your definition is broad enough, virtually everything we eat here is a vegetable dish. I love Indian food, though. So, I'll bring something with a curry sauce.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

Indeed. My husband and son spent most of the afternoon and early evening re-arranging our living room to make way for my son's Halloween party next weekend. (We're hosting at least four teens over night, which means they need floor space for sleeping.) Now that the organizing is done, decorating will be next.

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

 

No, I've skipped this one. The last couple of weeks have been unusually busy around here, and I didn't want to get sucked into anything that would divert my attention from the things I'm already not doing.

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Jean, potatoes are vegetables! So my favorite, which I eat about once a decade, is potatoes au grain. My daily favorite is salad.

 

Seasonal decorating: I have an orange tablecloth that has bats, spiders, and spider webs on my dining room table.

 

The giraffe - I look at the camera every 4 hours or so, except when I'm sleeping. I used to expect to see the baby's front legs sticking out, but now I expect to either see Walter or to see Autumn eating or chewing her cud.

 

Did you know that the average male giraffe weighs 3500 lbs., and the average female weighs 1800 lbs.?

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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party. There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

 

We are sunny and warm here today - about 75* - perfect weather to take our kids downtown to the symphony hall for a free concert.

 

My favorite vegetable dish is asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Not an autumn dish, I suppose, but still my favorite. I also love butternut squash baked with apples. I'll bring this, since it's the season.

 

We do a few autumn decorations. We put (artificial) fall leaves around our front door "family name plaque", and I have a couple of copper tealight holders with maple leaf cutouts on our buffet table. Dd keeps asking us to get a couple of hay bales from the famer's co-op to put our pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns on in front of the porch, and hopefully I'll get to that this week.

 

I have not been keeping up with Autumn, but since I see the post about her so often, I may go take a peek.

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I love eating seasonally.....I'm enjoying the wonderful squashes that are coming into our stores. A friend of mine gave me a big bag of pears tonight off of her tree; I'm so excited!

 

I've given up on decorating seasonally. I have a lovely pinboard of ideas....small branches cut off of trees, an arrangement of gourds, some brown paper decorations.... The only new thing I actually have "up" is a countdown paperchain until my baby is born in a couple of months. I still have a few roses out on my bushes. I'm going to pick them tomorrow--they are likely the last of the season.

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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party.

 

I think I love almost all vegetable dishes. Today I'm making red cabbage with apples, though, so that's what I will bring :) Although I have a ton of acorn and butternut squash from the garden so I could bring that as well.

 

There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

It was cooler here today too. Yesterday was just glorious, like summer. I do whatever I can outside on these last few warm days so I can suck up all that great sun and warmth before the winter sets in.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

I usually do...have a big box of decorations for each holiday. Seems the more years that go by, the less I end up bringing out. Sadly it just feels like one more thing I have to do (although we still do it big for Christmas!). My kids finally brought the Halloween stuff down a week or so ago and they have decorated their rooms and their playroom. When I go in to say goodnight, their pumpkins are all lit up; it looks so warm and welcoming!

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

 

No, although I have seen the thread, I haven't clicked on it to find a link. Has she given birth yet? It seems everyone's waiting with baited breath. We did see a video of a giraffe giving birth at a local zoo...it was pretty neat.

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I'm not much of a cook, but I do like salad! One of my favs has green and red leaf lettuce, red grapes cut in half, crumbles of bleu cheese, and lightly toasted pine nuts...Mmmm!

 

I really fail in the "make your home lovely" catagory, but I TRIED this year. So here is a picture of my mantle. It is hard to see, but the leaves have words on paper on them--It says, "You crown the year with a bountiful harvest."

I know it's not balanced quite right, but there ya go. I took an old mirror and popped out the mirror and kept the frame, and hung the fake leaves (from the dollar store) on a piece of raffia.

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Good Sunday afternoon! We had a mild day with sun and managed to spend a few hours out of doors biking.

 

I don't decorate, but I have accumulated a small stash of seasonal items and the kids pulled out the wooden pumpkins, leaf vines and a few large ponderosa pine cones that look more autumn-like than Christmasy.

 

Favorite veggies dish is asparagus lightly pan fried with butter, but it's so pricey with all of the kids that we only eat it two or three times a year. More common are green beans cooked the same way with garlic. This time of year we love butternut soup. We've tried several different online recipes and they are all delicious with their own little variations. yummmm

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I'm trying out two new recipes today with something they call "rainbow chard", but looks to me like it is just regular chard with different color stems? Well, I've never cooked chard before, rainbow or otherwise, so it will be an interesting adventure. One recipe involves bacon, so it is sure to be a hit here.

 

No Fall Decorating here.... unless you count all the leaves that come into the laundry room with the dogs.

 

I'm not watching Autumn, but I did watch the Great Dane puppies being born that was linked on that thread. Too Cute!

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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party. There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

 

I might be cheating a little, but I'll bring baked sweet potatoes & apples with allspice.

 

I used to pull out some vine & berry decorations for fall and a fall fabric table runner. We also put out our small painted pumpkins. Haven't done any of it so far b/c we've been too busy with extracurriculars. Now we are in a bit of a lull with no more dog shows for a month and no 4H until November, maybe I'll think about pulling them out---after I get some cleaning and decluttering done.

 

Oh, I forgot! I count seasonal books as 'decorations'. I usually bring down the Thanksgiving/Fall books around this time of year. I wonder if the kids are going to think they are too old for those books this year? We always used to read Cranberry Thanksgiving among others.

 

I have not opened the Autumn the Giraffe thread b/c I've been too busy.

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Mmmm. Asparagus! I like the spring crop with very thin tender stalks.

 

So. . . RC - what else can you tell us about giraffes? How big is a giraffe's hoof?

 

I realized that I did not answer my own questions.

 

Favorite vegetable dish:

 

Baby bok choy with garlic sauce

 

Stuffed roasted acorn squash

 

"Drizzled tomatoes" - tomatoes with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing

 

I like vegetables!

 

I do not decorate for the seasons except for Christmas. And even there I have stopped doing the decorating and have the kids do it. But this year I might have dd10 make some fall decorations for handicrafts.

 

No, I have not watched Autumn. I do get a great kick out of reading the Autumn watch thread and watching all these sleep deprived obsessed Hivers!

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This year, I have discovered the joy of roasting vegetables! :001_smile: Broccoli, green beans, and butternut squash so far. Mmm. Throw in some garlic cloves, drizzle with olive oil, and roast. Add Parmesan cheese at the end if you want. Experiment with seasonings; herbes de provence is yummy. For a very easy dinner, put boneless skinless chicken breasts on a cookie sheet. Add broccoli florets, butternut squash (cubed), garlic cloves, and some fingerling potatoes. Drizzle all with olive oil, and sprinkle with seasoning. Roast at 425 for 25-30 minutes. If you line the cookie sheet with foil, you don't even have to wash anything!

 

I am trying to choose a recipe to make for dinner tonight. DS wants tacos, but I'm in the mood for something else. I just don't know what yet.

 

Wendi

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Favorite veggie dishes? Hard to pick just one. Pretty much anything with spinach or asparagus.

 

Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I don't mind that cozy spot on the floor with the pillow.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating? Yes. Starting 1 October I decorate for each holiday.

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga? I'm keeping an eye on the thread. Hopefully I'll catch something interesting.

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Veggie dishes... there are so many! I guess my absolute favorite would be grilled red peppers, onions, and zucchini. So, I will bring those.

 

Seasonal decorating... I have high aspirations to decorate for the fall, but I don't really have many decorations, so it's usually a few pumpkins on the doorstep on the outside of the house. For the inside, I decorate the mantle over the fireplace. For Christmas, I have things everywhere! I love, love, love Christmas!

 

As for Autumn... I have invested too many hours looking at her behind. I usually have the earthcam site open, and I check it off and on. If I'm out for a while, I stop by the thread first to see new updates before I go to the earthcam website. I wish she'd just have her baby already!

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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party. There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

I like most vegetables so off the top of my head, I can't think of a favorite. However, for the virtual party, would home canned applesauce fit in anywhere (even though it's a fruit), since that is what I spent the weekend doing - preparing apples and canning applesauce?

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

I'm not too good with seasonal decorating, except for Christmas, although I try to change some things. So, on the buffet are fall-colored silk flower arrangements and a cute cloth pumpkin that we've had since time-immemorial. The dining table centerpiece includes a pretty yellow home-crocheted doily with season-appropriate colored candles (these change every day or so as we use them, especially at dinnertime). And on the front door is the cutest decoration! It's so simple, but I just love it. I found a decorative broom a few years ago at a thrift store for a quarter. I spotted the absolutely cutest little girl cloth doll at a dollar store for a dollar. She has the most quintessential and adorable expression on her face! She is wearing a blue jeans jumper and has her hair in pigtails. She tickles me every time I see her! I'm horrible at making things so I explained to dh what I wanted and he beautifully arranged her on the broom and put pretty orange ribbon around. Every October I put this on the front door - but this year, I put her up in September.:) Finally, a pot of silk orange and yellow posies rests on another small accent piece. And that's it.

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

 

No.

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Hello everyone.

 

Today we are celebrating nature's bounty. What are your favorite vegetable dishes? Tell us what they are and bring one to our virtual party. There's a cold wind outside so today's chat is inside. Grab a seat on the couch or one of the chairs. I'll grab some chairs from the dining room too so we all have a place to sit.

 

Do you do any seasonal decorating?

 

And today's random question - are you keeping up on Autumn the giraffe's birthing saga?

 

Good evening, Jean.

If potatoes are considered veggies then my favorite is Twice Baked Potato Casserole.

If they don't count, I love cauliflower with cheese sauce.

 

I love decorating for fall. In the desert, colors don't change so I bring them all indoors. I have garlands hanging above the curtains and on top of tall furniture. It's my favorite season!

 

I haven't followed Autumn at all. Maybe I should.

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Hope you don't all run away, but we recently discovered we love brussel sprouts! Boil for just a couple of minutes (DO NOT OVERCOOK); fry a couple of pieces of bacon in a skillet, drain some of the grease out and throw the sprouts in the skillet (I cut them in half first). Add a sprinkle of salt, pepper and nutmeg and you're good to go.

 

I usually decorate a bit for autumn but it's been so hot here (until yesterday) that I haven't even thought of it yet. This week I'll set out a couple of pumpkins on the front porch and scatter fall leaves about the living room. I'll pull out plenty of candles, too: we use them a lot through the fall/winter months for ambience.

 

I have not been following Autumn the giraffe.

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I thought I deeply disliked Brussels sprouts, until I roasted them in olive oil and sea salt. This turns them into pure deliciousness. Promise. :D

 

We decorate for every season/holiday. I can't help it. I make most of the decorations so there's little cost involved. I just made a bushel of Halloween decorations. They're hard to explain, but are loads of fun. I'm getting ready to fill cellophane bags with candy and close them with hand-stamped card stock cut to size.

 

I haven't followed Autumn, but that's only because I have limited access to the internet.

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Sounds yummy! How long do you roast them? And how high is the heat?

 

Sorry...I got distracted clearing closets and dressers of outgrown clothing. :tongue_smilie:

 

I trim the stem ends and make an x cut in that end with a sharp knife. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Then I roast them at 400 degrees F for a half an hour or so...until they're browning and tender and look as if they're starting to Carmelize a bit.

 

Truly delicious.

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Boy, and all this time I've been serving snacks and desserts at our chats instead of these yummy vegetables!

 

Desserts, snacks, veggies...they're all yummy! After all, variety is the spice of life! Plus, who knows what other goodies are yet to be discovered and served? Anyway, it's the company that counts. :D

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