First Post! - All things fall

I know it sounds clichéd, and I know everyone just loves fall, but I really do.  I think it started because my birthday is in the fall and the rest of my family has a birthday in May.  I was excluded in May, but fall was my time, and only my time. 

My love of fall extended when I realized just how awesome Thanksgiving is.  I mean, a holiday completely devoted to cooking a gourmet meal and then gorging yourself, who doesn't love that?? 

I also have great fall memories of carving pumpkins with my parents and younger sisters and jumping in huge piles of leaves.  My mom always made our Halloween costumes by hand, which is a tradition I am carrying on with my daughter. Last year she went as a lamb (see below) and this year she is going as a butterfly (her choice).

 

I've been busier than I like this year, so I haven't done too much decorating, but we carved pumpkins last night and roasted the seeds.  I thankfully broke with tradition on the roasting of the seeds and did not burn them this year!  I made some pumpkin pie flavored pumpkins seeds, and they are delicious! Regretfully I did not take any pictures, but I will share the recipe:

Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Seeds:

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Olive oil
• Sugar
• Pumpkin pie seasoning

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Harvest the seeds from your pumpkin and wash them to get the goo from the inside of the pumpkin off.
3. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and put the seeds on it in a single layer.  Do not dry them, you will then roast them for 30 minutes to dry them out.
4. Toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil and add sugar and pumpkin pie seasoning to taste (more for sweeter seeds, less for less sweet seeds) at a two (sugar) to one ratio - honestly I eyeballed it and they came out great.
5. Roast for another 10-20 minutes.  I have a finicky oven so ten was enough for me, but everything seems to cook faster in my oven, so just leave them in longer if they do not look toasted enough.  However, make sure to watch them because if they are going to burn, this is where they get you!

Thanks for reading my first blog!  I will be doing another posting this week on how I made my daughter's butterfly costume.  In the meantime, here are some pumpkin carving pictures.