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Weed Orchards & Winery

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Fall is my favorite holiday simply because of all the food, the activities, the fashion, and it basically means the holidays are around the corner! 🙂 I recently went on an apple picking double date up at Weed Orchards in Marlboro, NY with my cousin and our boo thangs. Although we got lost once or twice along the way and then our wagon full of everything we picked tipped over (thanks Cosmo), we still had an amazing time.

Coming from suburbs right outside of NYC, we are all sooo used to the fast-pace, go go go lifestyle, houses on top of one another, skyscrapers, etc. Driving through these “country” roads (that’s basically what it is to us), was so beautiful and peaceful. Looking out the window and seeing farms, and an expansive amount of rolling hills was so different, and I loved it! It’s so refreshing to get away from all of that city hustle and bustle sometimes.

Once we arrived, we were immediately overwhelmed with everything that there was to do. There was a cafe, a winery, a kitchen, and a little petting zoo for the younger kids. They also had free hard cider tastings going on (they had a few different flavors, all looked awesome!). We were in a rush and on a mission to pick some apples so we didn’t get a a chance to taste any of them. We rented our wagon and we were off.

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We first came across the pumpkin patch (buy 3 get 1 free), where it was perfect pumpkin on perfect pumpkin on perfect pumpkin. Seriously, I kept changing my pick because every few feet I would come across another perfect one!

Then we got to the apples and the fun began. It was the boys first time apple picking so they had fun climbing the trees, and shaking the branches. Basically my cousin and I were the babysitters.

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Since we went in early October, they had 8 different apples: Empire, Cortland, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Mac, Macouns, early Fujis, and Honeycrisp. We also came across some other fruits and vegetables like eggplant, grapes, and peppers.

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As we were finishing up, our wagon tipped and everything spilled out (WTG Cos hahaha). We salvaged most of it, but we still wanted our apple bags to be filled, so on we picked. Before and after he lost his wagon privileges hahah.

Also, Cos decided to put me on his shoulders. As you can see from below, it gives me complete panic attacks. The before and after:

We finished the day by getting some BBQ and other fresh food from their kitchen. I walked through their little store where they had fresh baked pies of ALL kinds, honeys, jams and spreads, salsas, breads, the list goes on. I was like a kid in a candy store. I bought a strawberry pie for Cosmo’s family, some zucchini walnut bread, blueberry crumble bread, and some honey. The blueberry crumble was so good I may have to make a trip back up there just so I can have it again.

Overall, amazing place that I would definitely recommend you check out if you live around the area. I would also try to get there a bit earlier so you can fully enjoy all it has to offer.

After a successful day of apple picking 🙂

Can’t wait to show you what I do with all of these apples!

Already looking forward to coming back next year!

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Double Stuffed, Cookie Dough Fried Oreos w/ Nutella

Yes. You read that title correctly. Luckily summer is over and it’s okay to indulge a bit (thank goodness for sweater season!). If you still want to reminisce on the summer feels, like carnivals and festivals, what other way to do so than fried oreos?! These are incredibly easy to make, and I must admit I make them more often than I should. I like to add cookie dough, because well cookie dough is everything and I personally believe it to be it’s own essential food group. And of course the Nutella drizzle just speaks for itself. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo’s (I usually get the mega-stuffed, or whichever new flavor they have at the time)
1 Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough roll
Aunt Jemima pancake mix (I use this because you just need to add water to the mix)
Vegetable oil (enough to fry the Oreo’s in)
Confection sugar
Nutella

Directions:

First, prepare the pancake mix in a medium sized bowl. If using Aunt Jemima, it is 2 cups dry mix and 1 1/2 cup water.

Begin to heat up the oil in a deep frying skillet, or a fryer if you have one.

Next, take your Oreo’s and twist the top off of each (gently, so the cream stays on one of the cookies). Take a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough and press onto the cream to flatten so it looks like it is just another disc of cream. Put the cookie that you just took off back on.

I recommend doing this to all of the cookies first, and then once that is done, begin dipping them into the pancake batter, as it is more efficient.

Once all the cookies are done and the oil is heated (you can test by flicking a few drops of water in it – you’ll hear it sizzle and see it bubble), begin to dip the cookies into the pancake batter. Using a spoon, gently place them into the oil.

As they begin to cook, line a plate with paper towels to absorb the oil for when you remove them.

You’ll notice the Oreo turning golden brown. If the oil isn’t high enough, simply use the spoon to turn the Oreo to fry the other side as well.

Once a nice, bronzed, golden brown color, remove the Oreo from the oil and let cool on the paper-towel lined plate. Continue doing this until all Oreos are done.

Once cooled, sprinkle confection sugar and drizzle Nutella all over those bad boys! This is where you can really go to town, use as much as your heart desires 🙂

Sorrento

Oh Sorrento, I absolutely adore you. Sorrento is definitely in my top five favorite cities of all time and I recommend if you ever go to Italy to make it a priority to spend a day/night here. With charming little alleyways lined with shops, incredible restaurants, and views like no other, it is also the limoncello capital of the world (all the more reason to visit!).

When I first arrived in Sorrento, I’ll never forget how breathtaking the views were, especially since it is like a city carved into and atop the cliffs. Overlooking the sea, our hotel room (see the video below) was like a dream.

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My sister and I immediately went to the beach and went swimming – the water was freezing since it was September, but we figured we were in Italy so we just had to do it. Later in the day we were able to rejoin our group and went to a local pizzeria where we were able to have a pizza demonstration and of course eat our body weights in pizza (when in Sorrento, right? 😉 ). Afterwards, my sister and I went strolling around, shopping at the boutiques and emptying our wallets. We strolled around Piazza Tasso, a square lined with little cafes.

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I think my favorite part was when we went to Limonoro, a candy/sweet shop that revolves around everything limoncello. I’m talking limoncello filled cookies, limoncello gummies, the list goes on. They offered us free samples of literally anything we wanted to try! I had these cookies, and honestly my taste buds have never been the same. I am seriously placing an order as soon as I finish writing this post.

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To end our stay in Sorrento, we had a feast with our Contiki group for those who wanted to participate, and the views were just breathtaking from the restaurant, Circolo dei Forestieri. The decor was beautiful, the food was unmatched. When I get married, I’d consider having destination wedding with the reception here – everything about it was above and beyond. After my meal, I was sitting there with my sister and this older gentleman came up and asked me dance! I’m normally very shy, ESPECIALLY dancing in front of other people to Italian songs doing Italian moves I have no idea how to do. I kept saying no, but that doesn’t work too well with Italians – especially the men haha! So he pulled me up and whisked me away for a solid two songs. I let him lead the way…and of course I had him dance with my sister as well. We go down we go down together, sisters are forever haha!

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Before we left for the night we stopped at a limoncello store I Giardini Di Cataldo, and stocked up on bottles on bottles on bottles of limoncello. It also made for the perfect favor. Good thing we didn’t drink too much of it since we had a boat ride to Capri the next morning.

Stay tuned for the lovely Capri!

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Pumpkin Spice Crumb Cake

It is officially the first day of Fall! I seriously could not be happier. Although I’ve been sipping on my pumpkin spice coffee since it’s seasonal debut early September, today makes my order much less embarrassing as it is now officially Fall. I just wish the weather would follow suit and stop being 80 degrees! I can’t wait for hoodies, chilly mornings and nights, football Sunday, leaves, bonfires, ugh I can go on and on. What better way to ring in the most amazing season with some delicious pumpkin spice crumb cake! Crumb cake is my guilty pleasure, and during the fall, everything must be pumpkin flavored, so viola – the pumpkin spice crumb cake was born.

Ingredients:

CAKE:

2 cups floured (always spoon in the flour and level off with a butter knife, otherwise flour gets packed in and you get too much flour!)
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick of butter, room temp.
2 heaping cups of sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 can of pumpkin (I’ve only seen 15 oz ones)
1 cup milk (2%, whole, whichever you prefer)

CRUMB:

1 stick COLD butter (will be easier to form crumbs)
1 firmly packed cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. Then beat the sugar and room temperature butter until combined. Add eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin until batter is smooth. Add the dry ingredients in the bowl you set aside slowly, alternating with the milk. Beat again until smooth and batter comes together. Pour the batter into your sprayed pan and even out with a spatula.

For the crumbs, combine all of the ingredients into one bowl. This is where it gets fun! You can either get down and dirty and use your hands to combines everything, or you can use a fork or pastry cutter. Since I like big crumbs, I always use my hands. Sprinkle your newly formed crumbs all over the poured cake batter.

Bake 45-50 minutes, until crumbs turn a light golden brown and a knife or toothpick comes out clean from the center. You can serve it with some vanilla ice cream, or as I did, with a dollop of whipped cream.