Making pumpkin seeds is something that I have always wanted to do while carving pumpkins, but I had never done it before until this year. The excuse previously was that it was too much work. I will say that there were a lot of steps, but the only hard one was cutting open the pumpkin without bleeding (Luckily, I can say no blood, sweat or tears were spent in the making of this story). All I really did was scoop out the seeds, boil them, dry them and then season them. I split up the seeds to try different seasonings. I put plain olive oil and garlic salt on a quarter of them, garlic salt and paprika on another quarter and a honey-sriracha-garlic seasoning mix on the remaining half. My favorite ended up being the garlic salt and paprika-seasoned pumpkin seeds. They came out with the perfect roasted flavor and an excellent crunch. I would definitely make these again for a special addition to a Thanksgiving salad or a fun snack for a get-together with friends.

My friend showed me this recipe while I was at a swim meet and told me how amazing they were. So, I had to try them myself. My sister was very excited to make the recipe because she is self proclaimed “swifty” and it was indeed a great idea because these Taylor Swift Chai Cookies are perfect for getting into the fall mood. If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with friends during the fall season baking cookies is a great idea. The chai tea was really easy to find and even without the chai concentrate (which I didn’t know was something that was sold anywhere) the cookies still tasted great. These came out fluffy and a bit crumbly. I typically prefer gooey cookies but I couldn’t imagine the flavor working as a gooey cookie. They probably would have had more flavor if I was able to get the chai concentrate that was part of the recipe. Even without the chai concentrate these cookies were still disappearing as soon as they came out of the oven.

This vegetable beef stew is a recipe that my family makes a few times every winter.  It’s just something we found on the internet a few years ago and we all liked it. It is filling and warm and nothing is better on a cold day. If you catch a cold from the crazy fluctuating St. Louis weather, this soup would be just what the doctor ordered (or probably what the doctor should order). Even though the superior soup is chicken noodle soup, this beef soup is equally great in terms of flavor and comfort. It’s also one of those recipes that doesn’t really need a recipe. You can 100% measure with your heart on this one. I tossed in some frozen vegetables, a diced onion, roughly chopped potatoes, canned tomatoes, and ground beef. It’s nothing fancy but sometimes it’s the comfort foods that we appreciate the most.