October is here! It's my favorite month of the year! Rosy cheek and sweater weather, pumpkin everything and those cool, crisp temps! I adore Fall in New England.  Love it.  October this year also means that our newest addition is now 5 months old and I feel like I'm slowly coming out of survival mode.  Slowly.  I admit that the adjustment from 3 to 4 kiddos was a steeper climb than I imagined it would be.  I had this idea in my head that I would be super chill and have a go with the flow mentality because what could stump me after 3 other babies, right? Cue baby Tommy.  He's a healthy, happy little man but our first 3 plus months were consumed with feeding struggles.  We made the change to exclusive pumping as direct nursing wasn't working for this little guy.  We haven't looked back since.  He's thriving and that makes a momma happy.

These cookies are another thing that makes this momma happy.  Pumpkin is pretty much my favorite baking flavor and it turns out that stuffing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with Oreos is a very good idea.  This treat is worth it.  The cookies are true to their name: giant. Let's bake a batch, pour a cup of coffee and enjoy, shall we?

Ingredients
(makes approximately 13 giant cookies)

-1/2 cup butter
-3/4 cup pumpkin
-3/4 cup white sugar
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 eggs
-4 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt
-2-3 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp nutmeg
-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
-13 Oreos

Directions
Remove 13 Oreos from the package. Eat 2 just to make sure they're perfect.  They are.  Grab 2 more for the recipe. Heat a skillet on medium heat and add the 1/2 cup butter.  Allow the butter to completely melt and then continuously stir the melted butter until it turns brown in color and there are solid bits separated on the bottom of the skillet.  This takes approximately 8 minutes from the time you put the stick of butter onto the skillet.  Pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer.  Make sure to use a spatula to scrape all the bits from the skillet into the bowl.  Add the white and brown sugar to the browned butter and cream together on medium speed.  Once the butter and sugars are combined, add the vanilla extract and 2 eggs.  Mix again. Next, add the pumpkin and mix again to finish combining the wet ingredients.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg on top of the wet ingredients.  Lightly use a fork to gently stir the dry ingredients together and then mix the dry and wet ingredients on low to medium speed until a cookie dough forms.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

I've tested this cookie dough a couple of ways and found that the best method is to cover the cookie dough and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.  You can also prep the dough at night and leave in the fridge overnight if you would like to break up the steps. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non-stick cooking spray.

Remove the cookie dough from the fridge. Using a cookie scooper, scoop a generous amount of cookie dough equivalent to 1 1/2-2 scoops of cookie dough.  Roll into a ball using your hands and then press into a flat circle approximately 1/4-1/3 inch thick.  Make sure that the cookie dough circle is larger than the diameter size of an Oreo.  Place an Oreo cookie in the middle of the cookie dough circle.  Scoop another generous amount of dough like the first one, roll into a ball and press into a circle larger than the diameter of the Oreo.  Place this cookie dough on top of the Oreo.  You now have a cookie dough Oreo sandwich.  Gently pinch the edges of the two cookie dough circles together all around the Oreo so that you cannot see any part of the Oreo.  Repeat these steps with all of the cookie dough.  Tip: Dampen your hands if the cookie dough starts sticking to them. Place the unbaked cookies on the cookie sheet with at least 3 inches between each cookie.  Bake for approximately 17 minutes (oven times may vary).  Remove from the oven, allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Enjoy every bite!

My favorite season is rolling in! I don't think I could live anywhere that doesn't have Fall....I love the leaves, the sweater and rosy cheek weather, the fall fashion, the pumpkin everything and those cool, crisp nights. Love. It. I also find that September is a natural time to reorganize and plan.  Maybe it's that back to school vibe...maybe it's that it's the last quarter of the year.  Either way, it's had me thinking about meal prep.  I got away from a lot of meal prep as I navigated the postpartum period after this sweet little baby joined us and I've been winging it. It's time to get back to a little bit more organization....and less cereal for dinner if I'm being completely honest here.

This breakfast bowl combines apples, sweet potatoes, turkey sausage and spinach.  This fall sweet potato home fry mixture is paired with scrambled eggs for a wholesome start to the day.  It's easy to put together and makes 4 meals ready to go.  

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients
-1 medium to large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
-1 medium to large apple, peeled and chopped
-1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
-1-2 generous handfuls of spinach
-6-10 turkey breakfast sausages
-salt
-pepper
-5-6 TBS olive oil
-6 eggs

Directions
Add approximately 3 TBS olive oil to a large skillet and heat on medium.  Once heated, add the chopped onion and stir fry until softened, which takes approximately 2-3 minutes.  Add the sweet potato and apple. Add salt and pepper to taste and continue to stir fry together for approximately 20-25 minutes until the sweet potato and apple are fully cooked.  Add more oil as you feel like the ingredients are getting dry and sticking to the pan.  In a separate skillet, prepare your turkey sausage (or you can substitute any sausage you prefer) according to the directions (I used a 10 pack of turkey breakfast sausage links).  Once fully cooked, remove from the heat, chop into pieces and add into the large skillet with the other ingredients.  Toss 1-2 generous handfuls of spinach into the skillet and stir fry until reduced in volume and cooked throughout the other ingredients.  Remove the skillet from the heat and allow to cool.

Prepare 6 eggs by scrambling them in another skillet.  Divide the eggs and fall sweet potato mix into four separate meal containers.  Store covered in the fridge and enjoy!

Chances are that you have a lot of zucchini coming your way right now if you started a garden this year or if you're like me and your garden flopped in the midst of having a baby, then you have wonderful friends who give you fresh veggies from their gardens.  Either way, it's zucchini season here in New England and I'm here for it.  I love zucchini season.  Dinners, muffins, breads and more!

This recipe will take one bowl and about one hour from start to finish.  I used a high powered blender to puree the zucchini but you could also shred it if you don't feel like pulling out the blender or food processor. Let's get to it!

Ingredients
-3/4 cup zucchini puree or shredded zucchini
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 eggs
-3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
-1 tsp espresso powder
-1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Puree or shred your zucchini.  Prepare a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the zucchini, oil, vanilla, eggs and sugar.  Then add the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt and baking powder.  Use a fork to lightly mix together the dry ingredients and then thoroughly stir together the wet and dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Bake for 45-50 minutes.  Test the bread by inserting a toothpick or knife and it should come out mostly clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes and then remove the loaf to a baking rack to finish cooling, slice and enjoy.