Our Fall Garden & Nutella Pumpkin Cookies

I think everyone in Mississippi got excited this past weekend with the cool snap...off we went to purchase our mums, pansies, and pumpkins. We had high hopes that fall was here, and fall was here to stay. Up went our summer clothes; down came our sweaters and booties. And then Mississippi laughed in our faces and brought us temps in the upper 80s only a few days later. I just hope my plants survive the heat and that fall will return in the near future.

 

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I've come to really enjoy working outside and tending to plants and a garden. And I had the best time picking out the flowers and plants I wanted to use to liven up our outdoor space.

 

Here's a little tour of our fall garden. I'm far from having a green thumb, but I'm enjoying learning about what plants work best for which seasons/how to care for them, etc. I'm basically the polar opposite of whom I used to be. Ha!

 

 Our summer Citronella plant is still going strong. I don't know if it fended off any mosquitoes, but I thought it was pretty, and it does smell really good. Next to it is a Coleus...I love how soft the leaves are.

 

 Lilac Eclipse Kale, Pansies, and Goldilocks Creeping Jenny

 

 

 Wild Dusk Kale and Violas

 

 Glamour Red Kale and Violas

 

 Ornamental Peppers

 

 Kale

 

 Pansies and Goldilocks Creeping Jenny

 

 

And here's a tip: I love a big, ceramic pot, but not only are they pricey, they're virtually impossible to move once they've been loaded with soil and plants. I've started getting the plastic pots from Lowe's that look just like the ceramic ones. They're a lot cheaper, and you can move things around once they've been potted.

 

I've already posted a few pictures of our front porch, but here's another look. And we have three of those heavy, ceramic pots that stay put on our front stoop throughout the year...I just change out the plants as the seasons change. Well, I know that mums won't last too long, so rather than pot them only to pull them in a month or so, I placed them on top of the dirt in the big pots. There were some gaps between the mums and our permanent pots, so I filled those in with small gourds and pumpkins...I thought it added some color too, and I ended up really liking the arrangement! Plus, I like the added height.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I follow Six Sisters' Stuff on Instagram, and when they posted their recipe for Nutella Pumpkin Cookies, I knew I had to make them. They're really light and fluffy and almost don't taste like a cookie...but they are delish...

 

 

Nutella Pumpkin Cookies

{Six Sisters' Stuff}

 

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 egg

1½ teaspoons vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 cups flour

½ cup Nutella

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

* In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugars.

* Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, vanilla and pumpkin puree. Stir until combined.

* Add flour and mix well.

* Fold in Nutella, but avoid over mixing so you can see swirls in the dough.

* Drop dough by heaping tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet.

* Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are set.

 

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Hope everyone has a great day!