Five of Fiesta's FAVORITE Fall things: Fredericksburg edition!
The leaves are falling to the ground. The temperature is no longer 3 digits. Pumpkin Spice everything is available in stores. It sounds like Fall is officially here! In honor of the start of Autumn we have gathered 5 of our Favorite Fall Things for you to check out!
1. Food and wine time!! One of our Sommelier's favorite things to do at Fiesta Winery is to put food and wine together in perfect harmony! When we think of fall we think - Chili Time! We have the perfect recipe for you to try this fall and pair it with our 2017 Country Road!
Ingredients
3 lbs ground beef
1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1-1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 to 1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 – 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 C water (or 2- 14 oz can tomato sauce)
2 cans Mexican Rotel
2 cans Rotel
Instructions
-Brown the beef in a medium dutch oven or stock pot.
-Add in spices. Stir to coat beef.
-Stir in water or tomato sauce. Simmer 5-10 minutes.
-Add in Rotel. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Notes
Serve with Fritos, sour cream, and shredded cheddar.
2. Hats, hats, HATS! We are obsessed with these adorable hats! Savy E's Boutique is a cute little shop on Main Street in downtown Fredericksburg. They have new felt Panama hats that are precious! This boutique is the best place to get the hook up on all of the cutest fall accessories with brands like C.C, Jane Marie, Thml, Mud Pie, Volatile and more. To check out more visit their website at www.savyesboutique.com
3. Do you save your wine corks? These wine cork pumpkins are my favorite DIY project because they are so easy to do! These make wonderful office gifts, house warming gift, or just fun to make for your family or your own home! Check out this video for a how to DIY the perfect wine cork pumpkins!
Materials: orange craft paint, basic craft paint brush, leftover wine corks, hot glue sticks and hot glue gun, fall leaves, and a sturdy workspace.
HOW TO: (also check out our video on Facebook for visual of the HOW TO)
1. Grab a bunch of corks and sort them into piles: white wine corks won't have a stain on one end and red wine corks will have a purple stain. You will paint the white wine corks and leave the purple ones alone.
2. Once your corks are separated you will grab your orange paint and a paint brush. Pour a little paint onto a plate or plastic cup and start painting one end of the corks a solid orange. As your paint brush runs out of paint, paint some of the corks with a slight orange hue instead of solid orange. This will give you more color options to work with when you start to form the shape of your pumpkin. Let your corks dry.
3. While your corks are drying get out your glue gun and plug it in so that it will warm up. Be sure you have extra glue sticks handy because you will need them.
4. Start laying out the corks by standing them up in the order the way you want for the pumpkin with the paint or wine stained side facing up to the sky. Starting with the bottom row put 6 different corks into a row. (The bet way to keep it easy is if you don't follow a specific pattern so I put them together at random. Some of you pattern and rule followers who have trouble with random order may want to do what looks good to you. If you want a pattern-get creative!)
5. For the next layer you will want to position the corks directly above your first row making them touch. Make each one sit on the crack between 2 corks from the bottom row like your stacking them up. This row will have one more cork than the bottom row so that it is longer. (see center picture above). Repeat this until you have 4 rows, each one longer than the one below it.
6. Once you have 4 rows you will continue to stack corks but now each row will be 1 cork shorter than the one below it. Make 3 rows like this. When you are done you should have a total of 7 rows.
7.Now that you have the pumpkin laid out the way you want it to look you can glue it all together starting at the bottom again and working your way up. Going from left to right put a line of glue on the right side of the cork and glue two corks together. Continue putting a line of glue on each right side gluing them into a row of 6. Now the bottom row is done and you will build onto this row moving up the the pumpkin.
8. Lay the glued row of corks flat on their longer side on the table with the colored ends facing you. Looking at the next row in your pumpkin that is standing up. ALWAYS going from left to right skip the first cork in the line and grab the 2nd cork instead. Now look at the bottom row of cork you have already glued together. You are going to glue the cork in your and into the crease of corks 1 and 2 of your bottom row. Put a line of glue on each of those bottom row corks and place the one in your hand onto the glue with the color end facing you. Continuing to glue in a row- left to right- with the color end facing you. When you get to the end the final cork will hang off the end a little.
9. Go back to the first cork of row 2 and now glue it to the end where it will be hanging off. You have to have something to glue it to on each row so continue step 8. Skip the first cork, glue the 2nd cork into the 1st crease. Continue the rest of the row and then circle back to cork one and glue it on last hanging off the end. Repeat until you have completed 4 rows.
10. Now on row 5 you will start with the first cork in that row and glue it into the 1st crease, continuing to glue the row across. Repeat this step for the last 3 rows.
11. Now your pumpkin that you laid on on the table is glued together, stand it upright to where the colors of the pumpkin are facing you. Using a generous amount of glue you will stand a cork up to the sky on top in the middle to make the stem of the pumpkin.
12. Tear off some fake leaves from a leaf decoration bundle. sing a little glue on the center base of the leaf glue it around the stem. Repeat this as many times as you want.
TA DA! Congrats your pumpkin is now finished!
*You can make different sizes of these pumpkins to make a set: The pumpkin you just made is the medium size. Below are the dimensions of the other sizes:
Small- bottom row start with 5 corks with a total height of 5 rows;
Medium-bottom row start with 6 corks, with a total height of 7 rows;
Large-bottom row start with 7 corks, with a total height of 9 rows.
4. We have had so many people ask and we have finally done it! In October we will be introducing our newest wine- SANGRIA! For all you sangria lovers we have bottled one of our Favorite Fiesta Traditions- house made Sangria! Follow us on Social to get updated when it hits the shelf! #fiestawinery
5. Looking for an epic date idea? Want something different to do this fall? Fiesta Winery on 290 in Fredericksburg is hosting a specialty tasting called Wine and Tapas! Join us for a wonderful adventure in food and wine at Fiesta Winery 290 in Fredericksburg. This tasting is a relaxed, but educational tasting where we take seasonal foods and pair each one with one of our Fiesta Wines. You will learn a little history, a little culinary arts, and how and why certain wines taste better than they ever did before! Be prepared with an open mind as you experience new flavors and smells as you begin your own journey to pair food with wine. This is a custom experience based on the individual or group in each class so bring your questions and your ideas and be ready to have fun!