Chocolate Peanut Butter Spiderweb Tart

Spiderweb Overhead 2

Halloween is coming up, and I’ve had conversations with a lot of parents about how it’s going to look different this year. Some families are getting creative with modifying trick-or-treating traditions, some are attending outdoor activities like Boo at the Zoo or Haunted Wagon Rides at Eckert’s. Others are doing drive through events like Halloween at Grant’s Farm. Gathering with friends around a bonfire might be more popular (and safe) this year than cramming in a haunted house.

Hudsonville Ice Cream

Whitney Holding Hudsonville

This post is a paid partnership with Hudsonville Ice Cream. As always, our opinions are our own.

Every year around Labor Day, I look forward to dusting off the huge plastic bins in the basement that store our fall decorations. Wreaths! Pumpkins! Let the celebration of all things fall begin. After spending a few hours getting the house just right and seasonally appropriate, I step outside to hang the wreath on the door and suddenly remember how HOT it still is in September. Really, that St. Louis heat can linger through October. No matter the weather or what season the decorations around my house are channeling, there’s one treat that I continue to crave all year round: ice cream.

Healthy(ish) Strawberry Mini Muffins

Strawberry Mini Muffins

I don’t need to be the one to tell you that things have been nothing short of crazy lately. Some of you have endured more pain and hardship than I’ll ever know, especially these last few months. First, COVID-19 quite literally made the world stop in its tracks. Neil and I were both fortunate enough to keep our jobs and work from home, and although balancing our family’s schedule proved to be ever stressful, I am thankful we had the opportunity to do so and remained healthy throughout. The silver lining gifted to us during this pandemic has been time with our daughter, who is 14 months (How has it been that long? Time is so weird.). I never thought we’d get to spend so much time together as a family, and for that I feel overwhelmingly blessed. Sweet moments with Quinn have kept us ever optimistic and grounded as tragedy continues to spiral throughout the world.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Pumpkin bread

Neil says this recipe is one of my top three desserts of all time. That’s high praise coming from a guy that doesn’t really like desserts. Back in 2015, we did a sponsored post in collaboration with Cuisinart and featured a recipe that makes two mini loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. They’re delicious and adorable but most of the time I don’t want two loaves. I researched pumpkin bread recipes and realized almost every recipe on the internet make TWO loaves! I don’t want two loaves. I want one loaf. I also don’t want 1/4 of a can of leftover pumpkin puree sitting in the fridge this holiday season next to an opened half-used bag of chocolate chips. So, I created my own recipe that solves all of those problems. ONE loaf! A whole can of pumpkin! And yes… A WHOLE BAG OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS.

Stone Soup Cottage

Neil and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary earlier this month. I know, we’re not newlyweds. Just roll with it. To celebrate, we went to Stone Soup Cottage in Cottleville. You should know that after we go to a new restaurant, we usually write an email review of the place to my parents. After sending this one, I thought, “Huh. This is pretty much a blog post.” SO, here ya go. Our review of Stone Soup Cottage (spoiler alert: A++++)

Warning: All of these pictures were taken with my iPhoneXS and get progressively worse as the sun set.

After driving about 40 minutes we arrived in Cottleville. We had never been to Cottleville, but it reminded us of Hermann. Cute little main street town with shops and restaurants. We drove through that, then through a more residential part of the town, and then up a winding driveway onto the Stone Soup Cottage property.

Stuffed Shells

Finished Shells

I love lasagna. My dad’s epic lasagna featuring Neil’s bolognese sauce is probably one of the best recipes on the blog. But sometimes, I just don’t have the time (or energy) to make it. Recently I’ve discovered a way to get the flavors of lasagna to our table in way less time. Now introducing: stuffed shells.