Pumpkin this, pumpkin that

Fall is my favorite season. I just love so many things about it. Today we took Bounce on a walk through the neighborhood and I just couldn't get enough of the leaves on the ground. I love to drag my feet, seeing my shoes swim through the leaves. I love stepping and hearing the crunch below me. I love the smell of leaves on the ground

Oh, but this blog post isn't titled leaves this, leaves that, now is it? I also love all things pumpkin. In fact, I am sipping on one of these as I type:

Pumpkin recipes are definitely some of my favorites. I have my standby pumpkin muffins that I make every year. And this year I couldn't help but try out a few other recipes. So far I've made my muffins plus:

• pumpkin scones (cheated and used a boxed mix but they were good!)
• pumpkin crepes (seriously delicious, but aparently crepes are hard to make...my presentation was not pretty!)
• pumpkin butter (yum yum yum - and check out the many ways you can use pumpkin butter, including the pumpkin crepes above.)
• pumpkin granola (really enjoyed this, but found that I needed to bake for longer than the recipe called for.)
• pumpkin bars (this recipe was from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and umm, I messed them up by accidently omitting baking soda, but I bet they would have been good!)

And though I haven't made one myself, I've been enjoying plenty of Soy Starbucks Pumpkin Lattes. Mmmm. Since there is pumpkin season is still upon us, I'll be baking up a few more pumpkin recipes, like pumpkin oatmeal and pumpkin ice cream pie. Plus at least one more batch of the muffins! Here's the recipe for the muffins. I got it from a fellow WSU grad student back in 2005.

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon dry ginger

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup water

1 cup canned pumpkin (I actually used the whole 15 oz can)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, stir together wet ingredients, then add to the dry, stirring until batter is just combined.  Pour batter in a greased, floured loaf pan. Put approx. 2 tablespoons in cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. Frost with cream cheese frosting (optional).

I definitely recommend the muffins. And pumpkin spice lattes. And the pumpkin crepes. And the pumpkin butter. Okay, so I recommend them all, all but the pumpkin bars without baking soda!