Fall Favorites

October is a busy busy month! So many leaves to admire, foods to make, pumpkins to carve, birthdays to celebrate, costumes to sew, classic thrillers to watch, produce to harvest, festivals to attend..
Not to mention that classes are in full swing. I'm still loving every bit of them though, especially after the A I received on a midterm I was seriously stressing over!

I've been trying to do it all this month. I don't ever recall being as stressed as I am currently, but I at least know I won't have regrets when October is over and things slow down.

One of my favorite places in the fall is the Mill Pond in Setauket. I've been twice in the past couple weeks, and not many things make me as happy as strolling around the pond observing the wildlife and changing foliage. Logan loved watching the turtles sunning themselves on a log, and we even saw a great blue heron!

Logan contemplating life under one of the huge trees.

Logan and Terra watching the turtles.

He's very excited about the ducks.

The great blue heron. I was so excited to see one of these!

The leaves changed so much in just one week.

I've been looking forward to using my Halloween cookie cutters for months now. The pumpkin shape was really the only one that worked, so I ended up with lots of pumpkin cookies using my recipe for vegan sugar cookies. Logan helped me decorate them with a vegan cookie icing I found on Kelli's blog, animal-friendly eating. My little artist had as much fun "painting" the cookies as he did eating them.

Ready for decorating.

Logan is serious about this.

This was before he figured out how yummy the icing was.

My creations.

Though it was a drizzly day, we spent a lot of time outdoors. Andrew planted lily bulbs, Logan sang and played his guitar on the lawn mower (he likes to use the handle as a microphone!), and I hollowed out pumpkins to make mum containers.

I saved the pumpkin seeds and made two absolutely delicious recipes with them. One involved roasting them in the oven, and the other in a pan on the stovetop. If you haven't already carved your pumpkins, save those seeds! These only take minutes to make!

Candied Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed
• 2 packed Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1. Mix very thing together in a small bowl.
2. Spread the mixture over a foil lined baking sheet.
3. Bake at 250º for 40 minutes.
4. Once cooled, break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. butter substitute, like Smart Balance
• 1/4 tsp. tumeric
• 1/4 tsp. celery salt
• 1/4 tsp. cumin

1. Mix everything together in a pan on the stove.
2. Toast over a medium flame for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until starting to brown.
3. Remove from heat and store in an airtight container.

These toasted seeds taste like crunchy popcorn, and are super addictive!