By now, everyone knows that we take Halloween very seriously around these parts. I always have lots of ideas for how I want to decorate my house but it seems like every year, by the time I get around to fluffing my pumpkins up for the big night, I have run out of idea steam. I generally come up with something, but I must admit that there are always much cooler pumpkins around the block than mine. And then I feel ashamed. I can get a little competitive with Halloween. So I am sharing some of my favorite pumpkins from around the web to help me gain a little inspiration.
Last weekend, I woke up desperate for some pumpkin pancakes. I started googling recipes and much to my dismay, they all required egg. I am not an egg girl, and only keep them in the house when I am baking something, so none of these recipes would work for me. Instead, I decided to do a little doctoring of my Aunt Jemima Complete (the super duper lazy kind) by adding some pumpkin and a tad bit of spice. Although probably not as delicious as the kind made from scratch, I found these pumpkin pancakes were really quite good.
Very Complicated Recipe:
- 2 cups Aunt Jemima Complete
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2/3 cups canned pumpkin (I used Libby’s)
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix ingredients. Heat lightly greased griddle on medium-low. Pour batter onto griddle into pancake-portions, I usually use 1/4 cup. Flip when batter on the top side of the pancake starts to bubble.
I like my pancakes really sweet (usually with chocolate chips), so I would recommend syrup or at least some cinnamon and sugar.
This past week has been a little rough for me. I know I just talked about having a bad day last week and surely don’t mean to sound complainy but last Thursday I found out one of the children I work with (I am a speech therapist in real life) passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. I was obviously pretty devastated when I found out but overall it has been a slow and sneaking kind of grief. Usually I am fine, but just when I think that I am safe, the sadness will hit like a wave and overwhelm me for a time until it recedes again. Mostly I am feeling the pain and loss for his sweet family. Needless to say, I have been making an effort to be careful with myself this week and taking time to do things that are comforting for me. This has meant letting myself make out-of-the-way trips to Fresh Market for my favorite Pumpkin Spice coffee and “Harvest” white chocolate covered pretzels, buying the cutest little white pumpkins I could find, lazing in my bed and reading my book, and letting the tiny kitten I found on the side of the road on Monday curl up and sleep on my chest for hours instead of being proactive about finding a home for him. Comfort for me also meant spending a few hours on Tuesday evening making pumpkin cookies instead of any of the millions of other things I should have been doing. Sorry world, but I have kicked the concept of practicalness to the curb at least for this week. I choose to do what feels good.
If any of you need some comfort food, I highly highly recommend this recipe. The cookies are so soft and perfect that they melt in your mouth and taste like an explosion of fall. Usually I would write the recipe here in the post but because I don’t really feel like it right now, I am not going to. You don’t mind, right? You guys can surely click the link to see the recipe if you so desire.
I added an extra 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp cloves to the dry mixtures. This was in addition to what it already called for. I also added an additional 1/2 tsp vanilla. I almost always do this when I bake because I like my things really flavory and I really wanted these bad boys to taste like Autumn in my mouth.
And that is just about where I forgot to remember to take pictures. Oops. Sorry ya’ll. You will just have to imagine the rest.
For the glaze, I used the recipe but added a little more milk and 1 tsp of cinnamon to flavor it along with a tiny bit of extra vanilla.
Of course they are delightful anytime, but I really find that they taste best in the morning with my cup of pumpkin coffee. Since I forgot to take pictures and did not write out the recipe, I will make it up to ya’ll by sharing teany tiny kitten pictures. I apologize to those of you who have seen these on facebook or instagram. I am obsessed.
We have a deep and pure love for Autumn weddings. This is probably because of our deep and pure love for Autumn and because they give you the opportunity to use pumpkins in your decor if you should so desire. I found this incredibly delicious looking cocktail by My Life As A Mrs. and could not pass up the opportunity to create some wedding inspiration from it.
Just a fair warning to everyone. You should probably expect some mention of Fall or pumpkins at least 2 times a week from now until Christmas time. We really can’t help ourselves.
