Living in the Pacific Northwest we are blessed with a bounty of fresh, wild salmon, some of which comes from the pacific coast and some from Alaska. My cooking creativity is sparked just by looking at the plump and glossy, pink-hued fillets.

In between nursing the babies, changing diapers, reading stories to the girls, and building block towers with the babies I still need to make a meal, right? Or shall I say three meals a day, every day.

I don't know about you all but we sure have been doing a lot of Christmas baking these days. The girls just love to roll out the dough and cut out Christmas cookie shapes! The cookies are fun to give away to Christmas carolers and friends. Today I wanted to share one of my newest creations for you to enjoy this holiday season.

The other night Tom began preparing dinner by making his favorite Quinoa Black Bean Salad. I usually like to serve it along side some steamed winter squash for a light meal.

When it comes time for dessert how about celebrating the day with what's perfectly in season....pumpkins! I have a relatively new recipe to share with you that is super easy to prepare and always a crowd pleaser. A Pumpkin Spice Cake, cooked to perfection in a bundt pan.

The past few years I have made a delicious, savory, gluten-free wild rice stuffing for the big Thanksgiving Day turkey. We always use half of it to stuff the turkey, while the other half gets baked in a casserole dish. I have not had a recipe for this until today; I usually just toss it all together until it tastes just right.

What do you have to be thankful for? Family, friends, a warm house, a cozy fire, delicious food? There is so much to be grateful for; just stop and think about it for a minute.

This morning we awoke to a hearty layer of frost on the ground. It was a beautiful sun-lit morning that beckoned me to go for a walk. I bundled the boys up in their fleece buntings and put them in the baby jogger. They fell asleep five minutes into the walk which left me time to daydream as I pushed the heavy jogger up and down the hills.

Today was a house-cleaning day. Lily (6-years old) decided to make a chore chart and put our names next to what needed to get done. She put all of our names (including the babies) on clothespins to attach next to each chore. She decided that Ben (10 months old) would be her helper for the family room and toy clean-up.

I just love fall. The colors, the bountiful harvest, the warm flavors…I could go on and on. This is my favorite season to cook and bake.