By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Are you looking for the perfect food for breakfast, a snack, or a sweet treat? This pumpkin bread will fulfill your cravings for a fall themed food! This easy to make recipe is moist and the perfect mix of savory pumpkin bread and sweet frosting.

I found this recipe on TikTok @jazzy.leon. She has captured the perfect fall recipe. I had my friends try it, and they thought it was perfect, especially on a chilly day.

Enjoy this recipe from home!

Ingredients for bread:

• 2eggs
• 15 oz of pumpkin purée
• 1⁄2 cup of white sugar
• 1⁄2 cup of brown sugar
• 1⁄2 cup of milk
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 1⁄2 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of pumpkin spice

Ingredients for frosting:

• 4 oz of cream cheese
• 4 tbsp of butter
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 2 tsp of milk
• 1⁄2 tsp of vanilla
• 1⁄2 cup of powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Add eggs, pumpkin purée, milk, and oil into a large mixing bowl and stir together.
3. Add sugars, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and pumpkin spice into the bowl and mix it all together.
4. Spray bread pan with cooking spray, then bake in the oven for 60-65 mins. Let cool.
5. Mix together cream cheese, butter, sugars, milk, and vanilla into a small mixing bowl for your frosting.
6. When bread is cooled, spread frosting onto bread.
7. Enjoy!

By: Brennan McMahon

With Halloween happening just over a week ago, lots of kids have to decide what candy to keep and what to get rid of. This is a very hard decision to make so here is a list of the top 10 candies you should keep.

#1 Snickers

Snickers are a very popular candy bar that has chocolate, caramel, peanuts, and nougat. More than 48 million people think that Snickers are the best candy. Warning this candy contains nuts and milk.

#2 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Many people believe that this is the best candy with 42.8 million people liking it. It is the best selling candy in the world. This candy is peanut butter coated in milk chocolate. Warning contains peanuts and milk.

#3 Hershey’s Kisses

This is a milk chocolate candy that is individually wrapped. 42.5 Million people ate kisses in 2020. The first production of Hershey’s Kisses was in 1907, and they make 70,000,000 each day. Warning contains milk.

#4 KitKat

KitKats were originally developed in the UK but are now produced globally. This is a classic candy bar that consists of a wafer surrounded by milk chocolate. Warning this contains milk.

#5 M&Ms

M&Ms are a beloved candy to almost everyone, but most don’t know that peanut M&Ms are more popular than the classic variant. These candies are super good and nobody is upset when they receive them. Warning this contains milk.

#6 Hershey’s milk chocolate bars

This is the classic chocolate bar that everyone knows and loves. The Hershey’s company sells more than 250 million bars each year. Warning contains milk.

#7 Twix

Twix is one of the best candy bars in the world; it has the perfect mix of chocolate, caramel, and shortbread cookies. There are 161 million bars sold each year. Warning contains milk.

#8 Starburst

Starbursts were created in the 1960s by the Wrigley Company in the UK. The USA is where most Starbursts are sold. Over 16,000,000 people ate Starbursts this year.

#9 Skittles

These candies were created by the same company as Starbursts, just 20 years later, and just like them America buys most of them. Their iconic slogan is “Taste the Rainbow.”

#10 Candy corn

Either you love them or you hate them. These iconic candies fall last on our list but there are still more than 35 million pounds of them sold each year. These candies were developed in Philadelphia in the 1980s.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/most-popular-candy-in-america

By M. Ahmadad

The warmer half of October is over, now people are looking forward to the temperature cooling down and getting ready for the snow brought by November and December. Before that, I recommend you try a dessert by Just Jill* (on https://justjill.com) and consider trying this one before moving onto the warmth of hot cocoa.

We already know and love a lot of pumpkin classics, pies, cakes, cupcakes, lattes, etc. so, an apple brownie is a perfect thing to try this month. Apples tasting the best during the fall and with just a bit of cinnamon and caramel if you’d like.

Just Jill’s Apple Brownies

*The recipe/dessert does not belong to me, credit goes to respective owner. The article’s purpose is a recommendation alongside things that I personally add to it while making this dessert

Soft brownies made with vanilla and brown sugar, crunchy and sweet with chopped apples. Brownies are a really versatile and easy dessert, so adding additional things doesn’t take away from the forming of the pastry.

I recommend adding cinnamon and a bit of apple cider (sweetened or unsweetened) into the dry and wet ingredients to boost the recipe’s taste, and chop the apples however thin or thick you’d like depending on the portion you’re making.

A great alternative for those who are tired of pumpkin flavored snacks put in shops and at cafes everywhere during October.

For a link to the recipe: https://justjill.com/apple-brownies/

By: Sophie Johnson & Addison Strack

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Recipe:

1. Whisk the flour and eggs.
2. Gradually add the milk and water.
3. Scoop the batter onto a hot griddle, make sure it is a thin layer.
4. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom.
5. Flip and continue cooking until done on both sides.

Toppings:

• fruit (blueberries, strawberries, banana, apple), chocolate chips, Nutella, peanut butter, whipped cream, caramel

Review:

These crepes were so simple to make, yet so good. The recipe was fairly easy, with minimal ingredients that you probably already have in your house. There also aren’t a lot of steps to follow, so there’s less chance of making mistakes. We have a couple different topping recommendations, but you can add almost anything you want to these crepes. The crepe itself doesn’t have an overpowering flavor, and it isn’t sweet like a pancake, so you aren’t limited to only sweet toppings.

Our favorite topping combination we tried was Nutella and strawberries. This is a very common topping that is put on crepes, so of course we had to try it. After trying it, we understand why it is so popular. The crepe is on the more savory side, so it helps to balance out the sweetness of the Nutella.

Another combination of toppings that we tried was peanut butter, banana, and chocolate chips. The combination was really good, but we ran into a small problem. We found that since the crepes were on the thinner side, it made it difficult to have multiple toppings. If we added too many toppings, it caused the crepe to tear and break, making it more messy to eat. If you don’t mind the mess though, we definitely recommend this combination. To help to avoid the mess, next time we agreed we would try adding chocolate sauce instead of chocolate chips. This would make it so that you still have the chocolate flavor, but less ingredients for the crepe to hold.

We also tried the combination of apples and caramel since it is fall. This combination was okay. It was good, but we both agreed there were a couple of things that could have helped to improve it. The texture of the apples were more crunchy, and we again ran into the problem of the crepes tearing. Next time we agreed that we would cook down the apples so the texture paired better with the texture of the crepe, and there would hopefully be less tears and breaks. We used a caramel sauce which worked well with the crepe texture and flavor. We also think that it would taste even better if we added some cinnamon to add more flavor to this combination.

One final combination we tried that was very simple was blueberries and whipped cream. This combination was good, and we don’t have any improvement ideas. The whipped cream was really good on the crepes, and we agreed you could have added whipped cream to almost any of the combinations and it would be really good.

While we were making our crepes, we found that it was difficult to make the crepes thin enough without them tearing when we flipped or removed them from the pan. To avoid this, we tested some different oils in the pan to see which one helped with this problem. Butter worked the best in this situation because we were able to make the crepes thin without them tearing. When you are adding butter to your pan, make sure that it covers the entire pan when it’s melted down, and this will greatly improve this problem.

This recipe was great, and we would recommend it to anyone who wants to try crepes. Next time we want to try this recipe with savory toppings. We think that it would be interesting to try to use the crepes as a substitute for a tortilla and make burritos with the crepe.

Overall we would rate this recipe a four out of five, and we would definitely make it again.

Link to recipe:

• https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16383/basic-crepes/

By: Addison Strack & Sophie Johnson

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup of vegetable oil, such as candle, sunflower, or almond oil
• ½ cup granulated of sugar, plus additional sugar for topping
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 packet chai tea
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350º f and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease generously with baking spray
2. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed for about 1 minute, or until smooth
3. Add the vegetable oil (may not fully incorporate with the butter, some separation is okay)
4. Add the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, egg and vanilla, beating on medium speed until all ingredients are fully incorporated
5. Cut 1 chai tea packet and empty the crushed tea leaves into the batter
6. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt, or beat on low speed until the flour is fully mixed in
7. For large cookies add two tablespoons of dough to the baking sheet, and for small cookies add one tablespoon to the sheet
8. Press the dough evenly onto the baking sheet until it is about ¼ of an inch thick
9. Sprinkle some sugar on the top of the cookies
10. Bake for 12-14 minutes for larger cookies and 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies, or until they reach a golden brown color
11. Let the cookies cool and set on the baking sheet for about ten minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack

Icing (optional):

• Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon, and 3 tablespoons of milk or eggnog (you can add more or less milk/eggnog to change the consistency of the icing)

Review:

If you enjoy fall and winter recipes, then you may want to try Taylor Swift’s famous chai cookie recipe. This recipe screams cooler weather with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and overall chai flavor. It is a spin off of Wilson’s sugar cookies, and it tastes like a more flavorful snickerdoodle cookie. In this article we will cover how these cookies came to be, and give a more in depth review of these delicious cookies.

Before we review these cookies, we want to give a bit of background about their origin. These cookies were first made by Taylor Swift in 2014, when she baked a version of Wilson’s sugar cookies. She has enjoyed baking, and wanted to try out this recipe, as she loves fall, and it is the perfect fall cookie. Fans begged her to release the recipe for the cookies, and eventually she obliged, posting the instructions on tumblr.

Her cookies began to gain more and more popularity when she made these cookies for her 1989 secret sessions listening party. During this listening party, she invited hundreds of fans into her homes across the world. She baked tons of these cookies for her fans, and they were able to meet her cats, hear the new album a month before everyone else, and get a tour of her home.

These cookies are not only a great fall and winter recipe, but they are also a reminder of Taylor Swift’s generosity.

Overall, these cookies were good, but there were a couple of things that could have helped to improve the recipe.

When we tried these cookies, we noticed that they were less flavorful than we had initially predicted. We agreed that adding two or even three packets of chai could have helped to amp up the flavor. We also agreed that adding cinnamon to either the dough, or the top of the cookies before baking could also help to add more flavor to the cookies.

Adding the icing on top is a must. By itself, the cookie is good, but with the icing it is even better. The icing adds more flavor and sweetness to the cookies, and also helps it to have a smoother texture when you eat it. We made the icing with milk, because we couldn’t find eggnog. We both think that with eggnog, the icing might be even better and more flavorful.

Another issue that we ran into with these cookies was with the vegetable oil. We couldn’t find canola oil, so instead we ended up using a little bit of olive oil instead. We couldn’t taste the olive oil in the cookies, but we wanted to mention this to make sure our review is one hundred percent honest. We weren’t sure if the olive oil could have masked some of the flavors in the cookies, or affected the texture of the cookies, so we wanted to bring this up to have a fair rating. Eventually, we are planning on trying the cookies with canola oil and more chai tea packets to see if we can improve the flavor of the cookie.

After reviewing our errors when making the cookies, and thinking of ways to improve the flavor, we have decided to rate the cookies a 4 out of 5.

We agreed that our use of olive oil could have been a big contributor to the flavor of the cookies, and could have affected the flavor without us realizing. We docked one point because we think that the chai flavor was a bit less strong than we hoped. Overall though, these cookies were good, and we would both make them again.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/10/taylor-swift-1989-secret-sessions-video?scrlybrkr=6e9bdaa6

By: Austin Bailey-Zimmerman

Are you in the mood for a fall themed dessert? These Pumpkin spice cookies are perfect for you then. This is a very easy recipe that won’t take up a lot of your time, and will leave you feeling satisfied on a chilly fall day.

I chose this recipe because it has the perfect fall feeling, and has perfectly balanced flavors with savory cream cheese frosting and sweet pumpkin flavored cookies.

I got this recipe from @tabiibakes on TikTok. She has created the perfect cookie, filling your mouth with a mix of smooth, creamy frosting and a moist, fluffy cookie. It will fulfill your cravings for a fall delicacy.

It’s a lovely thing to share with family, friends, neighbors, or anyone else you have in mind!! I had my family try it, and they thought it was perfect for this fall! Get in the mood for fall with this treat!

Ingredients

Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temp
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Cookie:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup pumpkin purée

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and lay parchment paper on two baking sheets.
2. Stir together the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder and soda, salt, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl.
3. Stir together the wet ingredients; vanilla, butter, and pumpkin in a medium bowl.
4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients together and knead until dough forms.
5. Make dough into balls and set on baking sheets.
6. Put into the oven for 16 minutes.
7. Whisk together cream cheese, butter, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar in a large bowl for frosting.
8. When cookies are cooled, spread frosting on top, and sprinkle with cinnamon (optional).
9. Enjoy!

By: Jefferson Palma

Waffle House is located across America with around 1,900 locations with most of its locations in the South. It was founded on September 5th, 1955, by Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner. It is 2 years away from reaching its 70 year anniversary.

This casual dining restaurant has a service of being open for 24 hours/ seven days a week.

Waffle House has an unofficial index for government agencies to measure the conditions of a hurricane. As mentioned above, most of Waffle House is located in the South where hurricanes can hit. There’s a green sign, indicating that they can serve a full menu. Yellow sign meaning that they’re probably using a generator, or are low on supplies and cannot serve a full menu. And lastly, a red sign showing that the restaurant is closed and the storm is dire.

Waffle House is also known for its violence. According to ‘Rolling Stone’, Jessica Gantt, an employee, states that “I’ve had to clean up blood from the lobby area because people were cutting on each other. Just last week there were two shootings at Waffle Houses, one in Indianapolis and one in Dillon, South Carolina. I feel scared.”

For the employees they have to endure the threat of violence, minimum wage, and very short breaks.

Waffle House is famously known as a fight club in the social media world. There were many fight videos online that went viral. One employee was a ‘hero’ on the internet and was titled “Waffle House Wendy,” after she instinctively caught a metal chair that was thrown at her.

Having seen some of the Waffle House social media, it can be said that it is funny, and crazy, and that there is always some kind of argument or conflict going on.

Although the never closing diner has a crazy reputation of fights and a hurricane meter, the main website of Waffle House states, “Waffle House was founded on the principles of providing the friendliest service in town.”

For more information please visit:

• https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/waffle-house-viral-fight-labor-strike-123478 9822/

By: Aliana Baumgardner-Romo

Minnesota has an impressive amount of state parks and beautiful things to see. Overall, there are 66 state parks which make up more than 235,000 acres of land, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Minnesota is also bordered by Lake Superior which offers quick access to the beautiful clear water and many of the parks beside it. Overall, a lot of Minnesota is forests, lakes, waterfalls and rivers, most importantly the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi river is the primary river and the second largest river in the world, and it starts here in Minnesota. It starts from lake Itasca and flows all throughout the United States into the Gulf of Mexico. One of the most known state parks in Minnesota is Itasca State park. I’ve been going to Itasca with my family ever since I was around 6 years old. In my opinion the park is very beautiful and it’s fun to swim in the river, especially with family. There’s many things to do, learn about, see and explore. Many people like to camp, fish, and visit a lot of the historical sites around. Overall, Itasca state park is one of the best in Minnesota for family trips.

Another personal favorite of mine is Gooseberry Falls which is located in Two Harbors, only 30 minutes away from Duluth. Gooseberry Falls is one of the most popular and most visited parks on the North Shore of Minnesota. The park includes 20 miles of hiking trails, scenic waterfalls, Lake Superior shoreline and many things to see. This is a favorite for me because it’s very family friendly, you can swim in the water and get relatively close to the waterfall. Overall, it’s very beautiful and offers a lot of hiking, it’s also close to Duluth which also offers a lot of beautiful trails and Lake Superior access.

There’re many state parks that offer Lake Superior access and views, although one of the prettiest is Tettegouche State Park. Located in Silver Bay, this park offers a beautiful scenic view 300 feet above Lake Superior. Along with 60-foot waterfalls, hiking, camping and rock climbing.

Besides rivers and lakes, Minnesota has many prairies and land to visit. One of the best places to explore is Glacial Lakes State Park, which provides access to hills and the clear water of the Signals Lake. It’s perfect for camping, swimming and provides many hiking trails for views of cone shaped hills and water-filled depressions.

Overall, Minnesota has a rich history that provides a lot of new things to learn about and explore. It’s home to a lot of prairies, lakes, rivers, forests, waterfalls and much more that allows scenic views and access to hiking trails.

By: Cleo Newton           

Did you know that boba tea first came from Taiwan? The website Food&Wine says, desserts like tapioca pearls and shaved ice were pretty common in the 80’s, so was drinking milk tea. People decided to combine these things together to make boba tea. They put tapioca pearls at the bottom, added shaved ice, and finally filled the rest of the cup with milk tea.  

Over time, people who sold boba tea at the market created fruit boba by using fruit powders and syrups. After this, they created more and more different types of toppings such as egg pudding, grass jelly, red beans, and almond jelly.

Eventually, they also created popping boba. It’s exactly what it sounds like, it’s a type of boba that pops when bitten into. In the classic boba tea, they swapped out the milk for non-dairy creamer, because of this, boba tea is known for being very creamy and sweet.

Some other common boba tea flavors are taro, green tea, mango, and watermelon. This one isn’t a boba tea flavor, but did you know that there’s something called boba tea pizza? It’s just where they take the classic brown sugar tapioca pearls and put it on pizza. Boba pizza is only sold at Dominos in Taiwan, would you try it?

When Taiwanese immigrants came to the US in the early 90’s, so did boba tea. The shops they set up were a good source of money and kind of became a safe place for other Asian American immigrants. Boba tea became popular in the US. It seems like boba tea first appeared in Los Angeles, California.

According to hypebae, some of the most popular boba tea shops around the world are, Happy Lemon, Ten Ren, The Alley, YiFang, Chatime, Boba Guys, and Xing Fu Tang.

Visit these places to try boba if you haven’t already or if you want to drink good boba tea. Boba and Tea and Sencha are two places locally where you can also find boba. After reading this I hope that you learned a couple new things about how boba came to be.