Hill Homestead

Fall is full of wonderful things that delight your senses; the crisp smell of fallen leaves, the beautiful array of colors, the cute babies dressed up in Halloween costumes, and the delicious taste of fall foods. There is something about perfectly roasted pumpkin seeds that is too good to resist! We have an annual pumpkin carving contest at my church. Last year I cooked the pumpkin seeds from the 5+ pumpkins. I must admit, my roasted pumpkin seeds were a hit. This year I was volen-told I was again in charge of roasting the pumpkin seeds.
I think sweet pumpkin seeds are fantastic, but my heart has a special place for savory roasted pumpkin seeds. I made both this year, but I wanted to share my savory roasted pumpkin seeds with you.



Carve the Pumpkin and Collect the Seeds 

Of course, as all pumpkin seeds are born, the pumpkins has to be carved and gutted. 


Washing  Pumpkin Seeds
Start by separating the seeds from the pumpkin guts. Place these seeds into a colander. Next, wash the seeds well …

Just imagine this wonderfully cheesy Italian lasagna sitting on your dinner table tonight. Layered with noodles, ground meats, sauce, and cheese, this lasagna is a bound to be a family pleaser. My cousin Becky made this lasagna for my family after John was born. Ever since then, my husband cannot get enough of it.





Now I want to share with you the best part of this cheesy Italian lasagna (other than the cheesy goodness). This recipe calls for both Italian sausage and ground beef. Andrew and I do not disagree on much, but we have had an ongoing argument about the meat that must go into lasagna - Italian sausage or ground beef? Andrew believes you cannot make an Italian dish with hamburger and I am not a particular fan of Italian sausage alone. So this dish is the best of both worlds as it combines Italian sausage and ground beef together.   Win win!





Be careful to not let you mouth water too much as you prepare this cheesy Italian lasagna for your family.

Printable Recipe




Ingredients 1 poun…

Is there a better way to tell someone how proud you are of him but with candy? The semester is coming to an end and my brother David is graduating with a mechanical engineering degree. We are so proud of this accomplishment. Now you have to understand this is a little bittersweet for me. David and I have lived in the same place our entire lives. The past 3 years we have lived so close we could see each other’s apartments. Well, this smartie pants got an amazing job in a different town, so we will not be seeing each other as much😭. But considering this is a post about a graduation candy bar, we won’t focus on the bitter aspects of the changes in life, but the sweet!






My mom is the ultimate party planner, so we decided we wanted to throw David a graduation party at our church. David’s grad party was a great opportunity to make a graduation candy bar! We had so much fun planning this graduation candy bar. My mom and I have always been fond of using candy to make creative sayings, but we…

Now that summer is well underway I wanted to share my mother's famous No Bake Cheesecake. It would be a crime to hold this back from you! 
Every time we take this No Bake Cheesecake to an event, everyone loves it. And best of all, on warm summer days you don't even have to turn on your oven. It is easy and fast so you can whip it up for a last minute event or even make it a day or two before and store it in the refrigerator until the event. 



I have been MIA for a bit the past several months. This spring semester I completed my student teaching and graduated from college. Yay! Then I decided to change my hosting provider for my blog and I am having to redo many of my old blog posts. So if you are wanting some old content up, let me know what you want to see and I will get it up for you. 
Recently, I found some of my great grandmother’s handwritten and typed recipes. This gave me some inspiration. A new goal of mine with this blog is to make it into a sort of family cookbook. I lov…