Autumn is in full swing!

And so it's time to say goodbye to the goldfish. Too many leaves are falling into the pond for me to keep up with. I must have skimmed half a tree out of there in the past two days.

So this afternoon, we threw on the cover. You can get netting like this either a.) in a pack labeled "Pond Net" with some useless plastic stakes for $15 or b.) bulk from a hardware or home and garden supply store for $4. Guess which we chose?

I hope the cover lasts until winter. The fish have already started eating less because of the cold weather. Pretty soon they'll be little fishsicles. It's always amazed me how they survive winter living in a block of ice with no food. Very strange. Fishy hibernation I guess.

MDT and I also made caramel apples this week. Delish. At the grocery, we looked at the Happy Apple brand premade caramel apples, but every variety we saw contained trans-fats (hydrogenated oils)! Ridiculous. Plus, at the cheapest they were $1 a piece. Also ridiculous. So we bought a kit that included popsicle sticks and a packet a caramel mix for less than $2 and a bag of Jonathan apples.

It was much more fun making our own than just buying them, anyway. All we had to add to the mix was 2 cups of sugar and some water.

Dip chilled apples, set on wax paper or parchment paper in fridge for 20 minutes, and voila!


The best part about these apples is that the caramel isn't hard and grainy; it's soft and creamy.

Total cost for ten homemade caramel apples: $4.70. Total cost for ten store-bought trans-fatty caramel apples: $10. It's all about the little everyday choices, folks.

As an added bonus recipe, try out my spur-of-the-moment caramel mocha, made with a bit of leftover caramel, spooned straight from the pot

Caramel mocha (or macchiato, if you prefer)

Ingredients:
1 cup brewed coffee (or espresso) of your choice
1 teaspoon warm caramel
1/2 teaspoon chocolate/cocoa powder/chocolate syrup

Add chocolate/cocoa to coffee and stir. Then add caramel and stir again. Sprinkle with a bit of cocoa powder, powdered sugar, or cinnamon. The caramel adds enough sugar that cocoa powder works just fine. Or pop in a square of Hershey bar or a few chocolate chips for some super sweetness. Whatever you've got around. That's how we roll.

Thanks to Yes, I Am Cheap for including this post in the Festival of Frugality #199, to Gotta Little Space for including this post in the Make It From Scratch Carnival, and to Focus Organic for including this post in the All Things Eco Carnival.