By Gretchen Beilfuss Witt
Rowan Public Library

Autumn is a special season for outdoor activities like apple-picking, tailgating and fall decorating. The best part of the day is coming home to hot soup, homemade bread, gingersnaps and fresh apples. With a nip in the breeze, it’s time to break out the soup pots and whip up a favorite. Check out Janet Lembke’s “Soup’s On!” and try a familiar favorite broccoli and cheese or a new hearty Portuguese sausage soup with kale. Simple, everyday ingredients and clearly written recipes along with tips on how to make your own stock make this book a terrific find for a novice or an old hand.

What’s better with soup than fresh-baked bread? Gregg R. Gillespie’s “1,001 Muffins” offers recipes for sweet and savory muffins and other quick breads.   Chocolate-raspberry muffins, corn and zucchini muffins, savory Parmesan and cheddar scones or sweet butterscotch-hazelnut bread are some of the many options. This book also includes recipes for doughnuts, waffles, popovers and coffee cakes.

For those who are football enthusiasts, the season has begun. Watching football at home can be festive and exciting; make your own tailgate party for the family. Taylor Mathis’ “The Southern Tailgating Cookbook” has perfect guidelines for a full day of fun. Beginning with drinks and breakfast, Mathis includes descriptions of specific watering holes or towns and how to make themed recipes like bacon whiskey from Nashville, Tennessee, or Krispy Kreme Doughnut French toast from Winston-Salem. He entertains by relating the unique tailgating traditions of various universities — the “Vol Navy” on the Tennessee River outside of Neyland Stadium in Knoxville and the Cockaboose Train behind Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Appetizers, main dishes, sides and desserts from fried pickles and crab cake sliders to jambalaya, pimento cheese clubs and Training table brownies, this book has plenty for every fan.

For those looking ahead, Halloween is not far away and while trick-or-treating may be out of the picture, fun activities and treats can still make it a favorite day for the kids. The Better Homes and Gardens “Halloween 101 Frightfully Fun Ideas” is just the book to move you in the right direction. Trim a pumpkin with painted leaves or silver swirls made from solder. Create placemats or make a variety of snack mixes for the ghost or ghoul in the house.   Frighten and delight with spooky spider cookie wreaths or shrunken head caramel apples and punch with gummy worm ice.   

Gretchen Beilfuss Witt is History Room librarian and supervisor at the Rowan Public Library.