On the rack: Southern Living (September 2012)

I don't read as many magazines as I used to.  Who does, really?  But occasionally there's nothing like flipping through the pages of a glossy.  Mostly I tend towards knitting magazines with pretty patterns in them, but I also like the 3 Fs: fashion, fitness, and food.  In a little mixed-media meta-ness, I thought I'd share my thoughts about various issues I pick up and let you know if I find something particularly worth checking out on the newsstand.

I've never read, much less purchased, an issue of Southern Living before.  Not out of any proactive statement against it, I guess nothing ever grabbed my attention enough that I really needed to.  But this one got me for one simple reason: I love apples.

Photo credit: Southern Living

Mmm, apples.  My appreciation for this fruit came later in life, just in the past year or so.  I even started cataloguing the different types as I tried them out, figuring out which were my faves.  Seeing apple recipes featured on the cover of this reminded me how close we are to fall, so I grabbed it.

There are some tasty looking dishes in here, I have to say.  I'm never really sure what I'll make next, I don't plan more than a week or so out for the office goodies, but I'm sure I'll have to feature something from this issue later this year.  Probably the Caramel Apple Muffins, since I love baking in cupcake tins.  Although the Caramel Apple Coffee Cake could be cupcake-ized.  I could even use my little mini-Bundt cake molds.  I also want to try making the Caramelized Apple Chips, sounds simple and delicious, though I'll probably skip the fancy mandolin and having it be a whole cross-section of the apple and just cut my own thin slices from segments.

Aside from apples, there were a few other recipes that sound worth a try in my own kitchen.  There was a page called Community Cookbook that had recipes from readers: Potato Skin Nests and Buffalo Chicken Rolls.  The first uses a cupcake tin, so obviously that's going on my list.  And I love Buffalo hot sauce.  The recipe is for either fried or baked, I'll do baked.  And at almost the very end of the issue: German Chocolate-Pecan Pie Bars. Umm, yum, that's a must-try!

I also found some of the stuff about gardening interesting, since I continue to harbor hopes that I could cultivate a green thumb despite seemingly perpetual drought.  Overall, I'm not clamoring for a subscription of Southern Living, but I'm glad I picked this up.  I don't know how much longer this will be available since it's from September, so October should be out soon, but if you find it, check it out.