Autumn is that wonderful season where we can fill our pantries for the winter, bake yummy things for our family without guilt, and spend cozy evenings together around the table. Family traditions involving the kitchen are probably some of the most powerful we have, since it is the room in our home where we spend so much of our time.
Kitchens are also the place where we can fully experience all of our senses, and because of that, we have the potential to create vivid and rich memories there for our families. Fortunately, with a tiny dose of creativity, we can do this simply and frugally if we so choose!
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Simple Family Memories
– Make memories through seasonal recipes and memorable baking pans. Special Fall cakes made in seasonal shapes will always be remembered. One pan can last through years of baking and cost far less than one dinner at a restaurant.
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– Use hollowed squash or mini pumpkins to serve dips or meals. Kids will think this is very fun and adults will be amazed at your Martha-ness.
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– Keep regular weekend traditions but add a new twist in the fall, like pumpkin waffles with maple syrup on a Saturday morning. My family’s new favorite? Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancakes. Just say YUM.
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– Have special towels and table linens you bring out for the season. If you keep your main dishes white, punching up the color with a few accessories can give you the same visual pleasure as a whole set of seasonal dishes without the added expense or need for storage.
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– Add a seasonal flourish to your best recipes with special tools, cookie cutters or shapes you make by hand.
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– Embrace traditions that are unique to the colder weather, like chocolate or cheese fondue. Repeat the tradition regularly so it becomes a vivid memory.
My son hollowing out his pumpkin this year.
– Let your kids make a big mess with fall projects at the kitchen table. You only have to clean up once. They’ll remember it for a lifetime.
– Make being in the kitchen creating the meals or baking together part of the experience of memory making. Put on some favorite music and bring your kids in to help prepare a traditional family night feast! Little things and special touches will be long remembered. Simple creativity will bring lasting memories to even the most ordinary of events.
What are your family traditions centered around the kitchen?
photo credits: Kitchens Country Living
portions of this post were previously published on The Inspired Room
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This is so nice. I’m definitely in the fall mood! I love that sink by the way!
I am loving that acorn pan. How cute!
We are big into apple cider over fall! I love heating up a big pot with cinnamon sticks and spices. So perfect on those chilly evenings!
Be still my heart! I adore that sink!
And those leaf shape dough cutters? So cute!
My favorite thing in the kitchen is having my kids help me prepare food. We have this teensy little town home kitchen, so we often move food prep to the dining table and sometimes I have to get really creative to make sure all three of the big kids have their own part in the process, but it’s worth any inconvenience. I love having them underfoot, they love learning and helping and they’re so proud to say they helped make the finished product! Sorry, I know this isn’t really about fall, so I’ll tack on one of our favorite things to make together, first discovered last fall: homemade cranberry applesauce! (The recipe is from http://www.simplyrecipes.com.) It’s easy and declicious and *so* Autumn! :) ~K
Don’t even get me started on the cooking tools in the William Sonoma catalog that just arrived in my mailbox! I want them all…the fall-themed cake pan and those little leaf cookie cutters for dressing up pie – oh my! Okay, okay back to reality.
Wonderful post, so true, kids remember the projects and traditions done at home for a long time! Our kitchen island gets such a workout, not only with my projects but theirs, including finishing Isabella’s costume this weekend! Enjoy yours…Janell
My three little ones love hot cocoa in the fall … and soups! Mixing, stirring and watching it simmer while filling the house with yummy aroma – now I want some.
I’m in love with the acorn pan!
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite! I get the kitchen to myself and my whole family mills in and out all day – tasting and stirring and lifting the lids to see what’s cookin’.
And then…pulling that bird out of the oven, sitting down together at the table, bowing our heads and holding hands and lifting up thanks…
No better moment.
Your son is doing that with great relish! Hope that the mess wasn’t too awful and that he helped. I bet the pumpkin turned out great. One thing that I really appreciate about how you share things with us is that you don’t focus in on one thing. I doubt very much that anything beyond the apron sink in that CL photograph (#9) is your particular style, but I adore it. I once had old wood countertops just like that and I’d love to have them again. They cleaned up easily and always looked great.
Great post! I loved the paint colors in the lead off photograph! Where can I look more closely at that kitchen?
I also enjoy following you on twitter!
*swoon*
Those pictures smell like all spice.
Please excuse me while I go eat my weight in pumpkin bread and apple butter.
I used to make cheese fondue all the time during winter when still living in Switzerland…, and haven’t made one since I came to the U.S. in 1997!!!! I think I miss it!
Oh goodness…so many lovely things here. I need to get to Williams Sonoma asap! I love the acorn pan and the tiny cookie cutters. That TJ’s pancake mix is delicious!
Don’t forget, black plates can be dressed up every bit as much as white ones!
I love the smell of a turkey in the oven, and I only make them around Thanksgiving. Reminds me of when I was a kiddie!
Melissa,
Making pumpkin bread, soup, and breakfast for dinner.
You’ve done a great job with your 31 days of Autumn Bliss! Thanks.
Karen
baking at Christmas time together….goodies for our neighbors.
decorating our Halloween Houses in October at the kitchen island…
cutting up fruits and veggies to snack on…everyday.
loading and unloading the dishwasher each day together!
Love the imprinted bread pan. I sometimes use a bundt pan for a loaf pan which looks pretty too.
When we carve pumpkins, we always roast and salt the seeds. Delicious.
Stew and biscuits is one of our favorite fall meals. It’s what’s for supper tonight since our kids will be coming for the weekend. Card playing will be one of the highlights of our evenings.
Jody
I agree, the kitchen probably is “the heart” of most homes. In our kitchen, we’ve made lots of home-made pizzas, and cut-out and decorated sugar cookies many, many times. There’s lots of flour involved in each of these activities, so you can imagine how the kitchen looks “after”. I have found, though, that the interest wanes when it’s time to clean up, and the kitchen clears our fairly quickly. Oh, well, wonderful memories all the same. Great post! :-)
This post is putting me in the mood to bake. I agree with the hint of having white dishes. This was one of the wisest tips my mom gave me. Have white dishes and use your linens for color. I switch out my tableclothes and centerpieces for different seasons.
Our traditions around the kitchen are actually just at Thanksgiving time, mostly. It’s when my hubby’s whole family comes over for a nice dinner and day together.
One of our traditions, HONESTLY, is BURNING the bread sticks EVERY YEAR! lol Last year was a first in many years that they were not burnt, thanks to my new sister-in-law! =)
Mostly our tradition is just that the ladies prepare the meal, and the men visit, and then one of the men cuts the turkey. It’s nice because my husband’s sister lives out of state, and it gives us a chance to visit with her in the kitchen, while the men get to visit with her husband in the other room.
LOVED the photos you shared! So many neat kitchen gadget/helpers to make lots of fun and seasonally designed foods! So creative-really enjoyed looking! Thank you!
I absolutely love the picture of the pantry. I’m not sure why….could be the color. Yellow is one of my favorites. Or it could be all the glass containers all neatly lined up or the baskets. I lined the pantry in my previous house with a green checked wallpaper and used white shelving. I was pretty happy with that. My present home does not have a pantry closet so we use a white cabinet purchased from Lowes in our laundry room. It works, but not near as pretty as the one in the picture.
One of our family’s kitchen traditions is making the Christmas pudding. All the family would have a stir of the mix and make a wish. My mother still calls us when she’s making the pudding so we can have a wish while she stirs – funny!
Thanks for the great Autumn inspiration. It almost makes me wish we were going into Autumn here in Australia. I’m going to have to revisit these posts in six months time to get into the mood when our Autumn arrives!