It’s a weird habit of mine, but being Italian, I tend to think of food more than it’s probably recommended, and going through all my favorite dishes in my head is pure heaven—especially when I exist mostly on sandwiches and coffee in real life.

One of the things that will most definitely appear at my last meal are caramel apples.

Now that it’s fall, I walk past the (ridiculously expensive) Farmer’s Market and see them all the time, glistening in their plastic wrapped and ribboned packages.

If you enjoy turning something healthy into something deliriously sugar-packed as much as I do and you’re looking for a fun activity for a dreary Fall day, here’s a fool proof recipe guaranteed to make you the most popular kid on your hall.

The Goodies:
12 Granny Smith (or Macintosh) apples
12 lollipop sticks
1 pound Caramel
Saran Wrap
Melted dark, white or milk chocolate
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup M&M’s or favorite candy topping (or more if you’re like me and can never have too much chocolate)
Waxed paper

The Instructions:
1. Insert lollipop sticks into core of apples.

2. Heat caramel until it becomes liquid (Use stove top or microwave). Once slightly cool, pour caramel onto one large piece of Saran Wrap and cover with another piece of the same size.

3. Roll out caramel in between the 2 pieces of plastic wrap to flatten. Cut caramel into long strips, about 4 inches long, to fit around apple.

4. Wrap caramel strips around apple. Stand upright on waxed paper and let set for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, melt dark, white or milk chocolate (careful not to burn it! Burnt chocolate smells horrible, tastes worse, and ruins cookware!). Pour melted chocolate into a metal bowl. Dip apples into chocolate.

6. Sprinkle chocolate covered apple with nuts, M&M’s or your favorite topping (I’m a sucker for crushed Butterfinger…). Place decorated apples onto wax paper, standing upright. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

…Once you take these babies out of the fridge, you’ll be amazed at how many friends you suddenly have…

[Recipe courtesy of the geniuses over at The Food Network.]

Take advantage of the cool fall nights– they are more fun (and can be more romantic) than you think!

Have a bonfire

Summer bonfires make you sweat. Fall bonfires keep you warm without overheating. It’s the perfect time to gather your friends, cozy up around some flames, and reminisce about the “good old days”– like the time you got so drunk you passed out in your dorm stairwell (which may have been last weekend). If you’re still in the creepy Halloween mood, you can pull a “Summer Camp” and recite urban legends under the moon, or you can pass around a couple of forties and see where the story-telling gets you. Bonfires are a great way to set the mood in a group setting, so if you’ve been feeling shy around someone special, it’s the perfect opportunity to initiate something.

Go on a Hayride

Nothing screams “Autumn” like sitting on a bale of hay and being taken around a farm on a horse-drawn wagon. After being cooped up in stuffy lecture halls all day, a hayride is literally a breath of fresh air. If you’re feeling stressed from school, go on a clear night, sit back, relax, and be one with nature… and the twenty other people crammed into the cart! Besides, sharing a bale of hay on a cool night with a guy is a great excuse to snuggle up. Got energy to burn? Try a corn maze instead!

Be Creative.

Make leaf rubbings. Make a scarecrow to scare creepy dudes away from your room. Carve a pumpkin. Trace your hand and make it a turkey. String some acorns, or make an apple doll. If you can’t think of things to make, call your mom and ask her what kind of junk you used to bring home from kindergarten art class. Recreate it, and see if you’ve gotten any better.

Play in Leaves.

In case you haven’t noticed, the things on this list are things you may have thought you’d outgrown since the autumn days of yesteryear. Think again. Life is short, and the days are getting shorter… put your inhibitions aside and jump in a pile of leaves on your way home from the dining hall. If you wait much longer, you’ll be forced to jump into snowbanks, and you might end up with frostbite or ice in your shirt. Note: If you play in leaves on your Friday stumble home from the bar, you may or may not be reported for domestic disturbance, so keep the noise down.

Eat. Everything.

Everything fall-related that is. I’m talking candy corn, pumpkin pie, caramel apples, popcorn balls– and wash it down with hot apple cider! You don’t need a fall holiday as an excuse to indulge in some of the season’s finest sweets and treats. Grab the girls and have a fall picnic on the quad– you won’t have to worry about summer’s pesky mosquitoes or the smell of citronella candles. Besides, you can multitask and eat these goodies while you engage in any of the above activities!

While everyone loves a good brownie, a brownie can be made exponentially better by adding peppermint (or peanut butter, caramel, marshmallow… the list goes on).

Mint chocolate brownies are the perfect treat as the weather gets colder, but really, they’re perfect for any time at all. Is there ever a bad time for a brownie?

The Ingredients:

1 stick of unsalted butter

8 oz. of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (chocolate chips will work too)

1 cup sugar

3/4 t salt

3 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

25 small peppermint patties (my fave are York!)

Getting to Brownie Bliss:

Line an 8 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil with butter on it. This will make the brownies much easier to get out of the pan (the easier it is to get the brownies out of the pan, the sooner you can stuff your face).

Put the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water. Gently stir until the chocolate is melted and then remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt.

Now whisk in the eggs, cocoa powder, and flour until the mixture is nice and smooth. Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan.

Unwrap all your peppermint patties and arrange them over the layer of batter. Now pour the remaining batter into the pan, bake for 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees, and consume!

Sound like too much work? You can also make the mint chocolate brownies using a boxed brownie mix. Simply make the batter following the box’s directions, pour 1/3 of it into a pan, layer your peppermint patties, and pour the rest of the batter over. So technically, the brownies didn’t come from a box because you added your own special touch to them.

Now that I’ve had these, I want to make brownies with all sorts of candy bars inside. Snickers? Heath bar? This could get dangerous.

Celebrities, campaigns, and informative guides have all tried to help alert the public to the dangers of additives and saturated fats, yet we’re still far from the natural and organic palate most of us are striving to achieve.

In particular, E-numbers have caused a stir for a good few years now. Despite the banning of some, there are still a great many present in our everyday favorite drinks and foodstuffs: candy bars, fizzy drinks, crackers, and more.

For example, E102 (also known as ‘Tartrazine’) is used to color jams, cereals and drinks. It also happens to be banned in Norway and Austria, as it has been linked to thyroid tumours, chromosomal damage and asthma. Worrying? I certainly think so.

Not all e-numbers are harmful to the human body, though whenever I happen to come by an E-number on a product I find in the supermarket, I will still flinch, and occasionally put it back on the shelf. In addition, a great many manufacturers are phasing out their E-numbers and replacing these with natural colors and/or flavorings (Nestle Smarties being a prime example). This can only be a good thing for both manufacturer trust and consumer health.

Unfortunately, more organic foodstuffs tend to be priced higher than their ready-meal counterparts, an obvious testament to the cheap cost of mass production. Although the special offer on ready-made lasagna may seem tempting at first, remember that even though your purse won’t pay for it in the long run; but your body certainly will.

For more information regarding food and cosmetic additives, I recommend visiting Explore E-Numbers and CureZone.com for a list of E-numbers, and their associated side effects.

It’s because I’m a woman. But the world of the woman is polluted with Catch 22′s and this is just another example. How in the freakin’ world do we keep the body we want if we’re going to indulge in our beloved sweets?

Well, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Luckily, some lovely health conscience Rachel Ray’s out there have have formulated some recipes that can make us all feel a little more comfortable with our affair with sweets.

So get your girls together and dive in on Oscar night well telling yourself: “Scarlett Johansson has curves. So can I.“

Provided you LIKE caramel walnut cheesecake. (And if you don’t; I don’t think I can trust you.)

CARAMEL WALNUT CHEESECAKE RECIPE:

With only 7 g of fat and 336 calories, this dessert is a sweet alternative to regular cheesecake. It’s got 12 g of protein, 53 g of carbohydrate, 439 mg of sodium, 10 mg of cholesterol, and 1 g of fiber.

You need:

6 oz of reduced fat graham cracker crust

FILLING:

1/2 cup of sugar

12 tsp of vanilla extract

20 pieces of melted caramel candy

5 egg whites

2 tbsp of fat free milk

1/4 cup of walnuts

16 oz of fat free cream cheese-softened

Mix all of the filling ingredients, except for the caramel and the walnuts, together and pour into the crust. Then pour on a layer of caramel and top it with walnuts. Bake the whole thing at 350 for 30 minutes. When it’s done, let it cool in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Remember, ladies: Sweets are not a treat for women…they are a RIGHT. Enjoy!

The last thing any of us probably need is a new idea for a delicious blast of sugar…and something we need even LESS than that is a new idea for a blast of sugar that can be made without cooking.

That’s right…this one is for you dorm ridden girls. (Or just those of you who hate baking). My friends have titled this pie I make PCP=peanut butter cheese pie.

The boys I make it for swear that this treat might as well be a drug, so apparently, it’s aptly named.

I swear to you that this dessert is an automatic cure for depression. It’s simultaneously a cure for everything else out there, too. (IF you love peanut butter).

Here’s what you need:

A graham cracker crust (it’s in the baking section of the grocery store, ladies).

A jar of peanut butter (not that it makes THAT much of a difference, but I used the Skippy REDUCED fat chunky stuff. Yeah, yeah…it’s still got fat either way, but THIS WAY, I can convince myself that I’m being healthy….or….healthier)

Powdered Sugar

Milk

Cream Cheese

A mixer of some sort. This can be a beater or a blender…or hours of using a spoon. Which ever you prefer.

Directions:

Mix 1/2 cup of milk, 3/4 of a jar of peanut butter, 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/2 a block of cream cheese all together.

Pour this into your pie crust. Taste test the mix yourself…it’s AMAZING.

I like to add things like chocolate and nuts to the top of this dessert…so if toppings are your thing…shoot for the stars and go all out.

Now you need to freeze this whole thing. It takes about 2 hours to get it to the right frozen consistency.

The last thing you need for this are…friends. You’re not gonna want any help eating this, but it’s for the best if you have some.

Enjoy!