'Tis the season of pumpkin everything! 

I'm definitely not one to knock this fall obsession. I love most pumpkin-flavored dishes, especially my mother's pumpkin cheesecake bars she makes during the holidays. I may share that recipe if she ever decides to share with me!

But until then my other favorite fall treat is roasted pumpkin seeds. I personally like the sweeter versions, but the salted ones aren't half bad. 

One of my many goals this year is to learn how to bake more things from scratch. I've usually relied on the "recipes in a box" style of baking, but I have to admit, nothing compares to homemade. My first attempt (and success I might add) was these lemon-blueberry muffins. 

I'm continuing my baking series with another recipe I've always wanted to try which is homemade bread. The only person in my life who made their own bread was my grandmother and it was always a staple in her house. Especially when we used her extra slices the next morning for french toast. Now that she’s passed, I want to carry the tradition forward and try it out for my family.

I decided to start this new series called "Sunday Baking" where I share our latest comfort food/baking recipes on (as you can guess) Sundays. Especially since it's so cold and all you want is warm treats... and those pumpkin spiced lattes just won't do the trick.

Richard and I have recently added running to our workout regimens - much to my chagrin. I can't knock it too much since it is the fastest way to loose inches, however it's also the fastest way to lose muscle mass (and boobs... can I complain about that for just a second!). To prevent this (the muscle mass loss, not the boobs) we try to include post-workout snacks into our diet. Hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter, and of course, protein shakes and smoothies. 

Lately I've been sucking at balancing my meals. I don't know if it's the winter blues or just crazy work days, but I'm either stuffing my face with snacks all day or starving myself until I get home. So I decided to start making meal replacement smoothies at night to bring with me to work.