Welcome to another post of The Monthly Scoop! September has already come and gone and it was a pretty darn good one. The kitchen was busy as 11 recipes were made and posted, the smoker whipped out several meat-sweats-worthy meals and we started to jump into Fall with apple season.  Let’s jump on in!

September can be one of those weird, in-between months for me. I LOVE fall and cooler weather, so I do have to say that I may have gotten a little inpatient with all the warm days we had in September. What can I say, its the Norwegian blood in me! Visiting our local apple orchard is one of our favorite things to do, and this year was no exception. By golly, we waited in line 50 minutes for those hot-out-of-the-fryer apple cider donuts! They simply melt in your mouth with each bite and I ate three of them before I knew it. No shame at all! Honeycrisp apples were in season so we loaded up with a couple bags of apples and jars of homemade apple butter – a necessity for my Spiced Apple Butter Bread.

September Recipes:

Recipes this past month were all sorts of delicious. From smoker recipes, to healthy recipes, and, of course, desserts, there are plenty to choose from. PS: there’s even some new appetizer recipes! Click on your favorite recipe below and get to cookin’! If you make any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you! Shoot me an email, post a comment or share on social media tagging @kjandcompany or using #kjandcompany!

Monthly Favorites:

1. This top from Target is one of my new favs! Perfect for wearing to the office or out and about. 
2. I have absolutely been crushing over all the new kitchen and dining items from Anthropologie! Here’s what I snagged: napkins, bowls, chopsticks, serving platter, serving utensils and this adorable baking dish! I can’t believe I didn’t cave and get these pumpkin cocottes – definitely on my list! I’ll be able to use all these items as props and for everyday use, so I’m pretty excited about it!
3. We spent waaayyy too much of our time binge watching Designated Survivor on Netflix, but it was SO good!! Definitely worth staying up until 3 in the morning on a Saturday night to get through a season!
4. Old Navy – they’ve really made a comeback in my book! One of my favorite cardigans is from there and I’m excited to see how this vest turns out. You can get a lot of good staple pieces from there!
5. We got a new couch! If you saw in my Instagram stories, our old sectional in the basement was busted (the back frame literally snapped in half), so we were in desperate need of a new sofa. Living in Nebraska, Nebraska Furniture Mart is always a good option! We went with this sectional and LOVE it. I will spend all my time curled up on the corner wedge piece. 
6. I’m going to be so typical here, but I have been obsessing over the pumpkin cream cold brew from Starbucks. Add in a little coconut milk and do a happy dance!
7. Panera has new warm grain bowls and I am here for it! The Baja Chicken Grain Bowl has my name written allll over it. I may have eaten three of them within the past week. Having a Panera with a drive thru nearby is deadly…

Next Month:

It’s OCTOBER!!! If you can’t tell, I’m stoked! I’ll be busy working on all sorts of fall and holiday recipes (I see you, Thanksgiving and Christmas!) I’m sure I’ll drag John to at least one pumpkin patch this month and he was already talking about going back to the orchard when the Granny Smith apples are in season! Most importantly, I’m ready for it to be soup and slow cooker season! They are two of the easiest ways to get a heart-warming meal on the table without a lot of fuss and usally result in some pretty darn good leftovers. What are you looking forward to this October? Cooler weather, sweaters, and fire place season are on my list for sure!

KJ