In northern Minnesota it snowed today. Fall didn’t just fall, it crashed!
Sometimes the season sneaks up on us… a pretty leaf here or there. A tree full of yellow leaves that wasn’t there yesterday. There might be a cold freeze in the morning but a toasty afternoon followed soon. Not this year…lots of rain followed by snow just a few days later.
I really hate to see this, as fall is my favorite season. Fall means cinnamon candles, pots of soup, decorated pumpkins and best of all – muffins.
I have found making muffins with another favorite ingredient, cream cheese, you get a moist, delicious combination. These can be made in large batches and frozen for up to a month.
Cream cheese is one of those wonderful foods that absorbs the flavors of those ingredients around it. A little like tofu but with a better consistency. A favorite evening snack is cream cheese covered with my mom’s jalapeno raspberry jam and pita chips.
Creamy, crunchy, sweet and spicy all in one bite!
Last weekend we were able to spend some time with our youngest nephew and niece. They absolutely love chips and cream cheese ranch dip. My nephew Will would take the tiniest of chips and overload it with dip up to his fingers and say “Cheese” when I pointed my camera at him.
I sat on the floor and pretty soon he was quietly climbing onto my lap. He whispered in my ear, “Who are you?” I said “Aunt Sandy, who are you?” He giggled and wouldn’t answer me so I said, “Are you Spiderman?”… “Yes, I am Spiderman.” He answered with a huge smile.
Who knew? Spiderman loves cream cheese.
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is
wedded to it, and if I were a bird I
would fly about the earth seeking
the successive autumns.”
– George Eliot
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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