Fall is here! The first day of fall was September 22nd. While we bask in these last warm days of the year, enjoy the gift nature has given us. We get the beauty of fall with days that still feel like summer. A couple favorite things about fall are...

1. The colors changing on the trees

2. Fall flavors in food

Let me cover both really quickly.

DuPage County has a ton of forest preserves and so many opportunities to see the changing of the leaves and nature doing its beautiful thing. I read that the peak leaf changing time for our region is early October. While we have this beautiful weather, take advantage of all of those forest preserves in DuPage County to go see and smell the sense of the season. Some DuPage County Forest Preserve hosted events in October are:

Fall Colors Hike (10/16, 10/23 and 10/30) at varying forest preserves

Fall Festival at Danada - 10/11 & 10/12

Pumpkin Night Hike for Families - 10/17 & 10/18

There are lots of outdoor activities the forest preserves offer in fall. Check them out and register at dupageforest.org Also, I never miss an opportunity to run at the Morton Arboretum during this time. Destination Run Club meet up anyone?

Fall flavors kick up this time of year with in season produce giving us so many more options. I shared a picture on my instagram recently and I got a ton of reactions to my salad. As a full time working mom it checked all my boxes: nutritious, easy, and had leftovers for multiple meals.

Acorn Squash Salad:

• Mixed greens

• Diced chicken (I used leftovers from a previous week)

• Maple glazed acorn squash

• Preheat oven to 400

• Slice acorn squash halfways, scoop out seeds

• Drizzle with olive oil and maple syrup, brushing it over to make it even. Sprinkle with salt & pepper and roast face down for about 45 minutes.

• Mix goat cheese with a little syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg

• When the squash is cooked, turn it over, fill with the goat cheese mixture and bake for an additional 10 min.

• Top with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and / or pecans