Since we've done so much talking (and dreaming) about soup lately, I thought I would share one of my most favorite kitchen hacks, that help make making homemade soup even easier than it actually is.

Halloween hits every year right around the same time the leaves start changing colors and the temperature drops down enough that I start thinking about making soup again for the first time since summer began. The kids start planning their Halloween costume choices, Trader Joe's starts selling pumpkin everything, and I start scouring the drug store for pumpkin carving kits. Not, for carving pumpkins mind you, but so that I can score all the pumpkin scoops I can find. You know what I'm talking about, the bright orange or green scoops that make cleaning out a pumpkin during the jack-o-lantern carving process a snap.

Those very same scoops make cleaning out ANY type of squash a snap, and they are so much easier (and more cost effective) than any spoon or dedicated kitchen tool could be. I love those scoops! Not only do I use them for cleaning out butternut (and any other type of seeded squash) before roasting, chopping, or steaming; but I also use them for removing all flesh from the inside of watermelons, seeds from honeydews and cantaloupes, and against stale bread to make crumbs.

Trust me, these scoops just make life easier.