Welcome Autumn
🍁 Fall Decorations 🍁
Happy fall! My favorite season has finally arrived! I have been decorating and pulling out all of my favorite fall recipes. In this blog, I offer some ways to connect and celebrate the equinox, and I have also included a recipe for my favorite autumn treat - Autumn Apple Cake. I hope you enjoy reading it and wish you all an abundant and healthy harvest season!
Here are ten ways to celebrate and intentionally align with the autumn equinox and the fall season:
Get out in nature and experience the changes - perhaps noticing cooler temperatures (we are suppose to get those tomorrow here), changing leaves, acorns and pinecones falling on the ground, etc.
Bring some of fall into your home: I like to use pinecones, acorns, pumpkins and apples in my decorations.
Plan a harvest themed meal with foods that represent fall to you. At our women’s circle’s equinox celebration we enjoyed a Butternut Squash and Apple Spinach Cheddar Salad, Kale, White Bean and Farro stew and an Autumn Apple Cake (recipe below) to help us connect with the abundance of the season.
Sip on warm apple cider or apple cinnamon tea or enjoy your favorite pumpkin spice treat.
Reflect on your summer and create a gratitude list for all that the season brought you.
As equinox actually means equal day and night - Equi (equal) and nox (night) - it is a time to focus on balance. Journal/Reflect on how you can bring more balance into your life as we move through this transitional season into winter.
Clear out an area of your home and/or do a fall cleaning.
Select candle colors and scents that bring warmth and evoke the season: orange, gold and yellows, white, forest greens, etc. and scents such as cinnamon, clove, ginger, and cardamom.
If available and accessible near you, go apple or pumpkin picking.
Send out fall cards to friends and family.
Fall mantle decorations, apple picking, harvest salad and a walk in the woods.
🍎 Autumn Apple Cake 🍏
Apples, Pecans and Spices make this the perfect cake for harvest season!
1-1/2 cup sugar (if you are using all tart apples, you may want to increase the sugar by 1/4 cup more)
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose baking flour
1 cup all-purpose white whole wheat flour (like King Arthur brand)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups finely chopped peeled apples (1 cup tart apple and 1 cup sweeter apples - I used Pink Lady and Honeycrisp)
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease a 13x9 in baking dish.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until mixed. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
Gradually add the flour mixture in thirds to the sugar mixture, mixing briefly after each addition and scraping the side of the bowl before the next addition. After last third, mix just until it is all blended together. (don’t over-mix)
Fold in the apples and pecans. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Serve plain, with whipped topping and/or ice cream.
Adapted by Lara Spell-Worsham from a Taste of Home recipe.
ABOUT LARA: Lara Spell-Worsham is an Intuitive Coach, E-RYT 500 Yoga & Meditation teacher, Ayurvedic Counselor, Holistic Health & Wellness Coach and a certified Wild Woman Project Circle leader. A lover of nature, the elements and animals, she loves to hike, play with her poodle and enjoy time outdoors. The founder of Intentional Living with Lara she focuses on empowering women to find meaning and magick by nurturing their mind, body & spirits. She offers one on one intuitive coaching and Private and Public Women's circles both in person and online.