November 9, 2025

Everyone who knows me knows that I love fall. It’s my favorite season of the year. Not only is the weather the perfect amount of chilly without being overly chilly, I always eagerly look forward to the endless fun festivities associated with fall. October is the month that I especially look forward to because of spooky season. Now that Z is almost 3½ years old, she has begun voicing how much she loves the fall. To be fair, Z has been a fan of cooler weather for as long as I can remember. In the winter, you can for sure find her outside playing in the snow for far longer than we’d like. This past month of October has been an especially fun month for Z. The excitement only grew as the weeks went on leading up to Halloween. One perk about living in New England is just the sheer amount of Halloween events taking place in not only my town but also all the neighboring towns. We started October off with attending the Topsfield Fair, which always takes place the first weekend of October. We like to go yearly because there are always tons of activities for everyone in the family, especially the little ones. Z enjoys seeing the variety of live animals and the large pumpkins. Kev always wants to scout out the food vendors. I enjoy going for the atmosphere and to watch the joy on Z’s face as she interacts with the animals and exhibits. During the last two weeks of October, we’ve gone to a few Halloween events in our town and in the surrounding towns. Z’s favorite Halloween activity so far has been trick-or-treating. She loves collecting little pieces of candy and toys and filling up her tote bag with the varied treats and toys. To help keep us fortified throughout our October adventures, I’ve been preparing parm herb roasted veggie sandwiches for Z and I. The roasted vegetables are super easy to make in the oven, and I like to serve them on homemade parm herb bread that I prepare in advance. Speaking of, I have one loaf ready to go that is currently sitting in my freezer. I developed my version of parm herb bread a few years ago during the pandemic (when we spent most, if not all, of our time indoors). It’s great on its own but is made even better when topped with some roasted veggies and herbed cheese. I was inspired by this specific version of a roasted veggie sandwich ever since I had a fantastic veggie sandwich for a catered work lunch. The version I ate included a lot of warmed roasted veggies and goat cheese and was served on a cheese topped focaccia. The warmed roasted veggies were tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette, which altogether made the sandwich just delightful to eat. The textural contrast of the soft, fluffy bread, crunchy veggies, tangy sauce, and creamy cheese made the experience unforgettable. Ever since, I’ve been trying to recreate a similar version of the sandwich I ate on the work trip at home. A few times throughout the year, I like to plan a picnic for just Z and I, and so when I was planning such picnic during a crisp fall morning, it made perfect sense to incorporate these roasted veggie sandwiches into the menu. All of these picnics with Z also inspired me to create her latest Halloween “picnic” costume. I even made a matching outfit for myself to match Z. We then dressed up in our “picnic” outfits to enjoy our picnic outdoors. The best part about these sandwiches is that they are super easy to prepare once you’ve taken the extra step to prepare a couple of these homemade parm herb breads ahead of time. For the cheese component on the sandwich, I swapped out goat cheese (which Z doesn’t enjoy) and used Boursin garlic & fine herbs cheese instead (which Z loves). Dare I say that my version of roasted veggie sandwiches is even better than the one I had on my work trip!