The Best Time of the Year

I love this time of year for so many reasons. Jake would say he loves it because of baseball playoffs and college football, but I love the Fall and the holidays. The excitement of everything still gets to me even though I'm almost 30. What?! That can't be!! (We'll talk about that another time)

One word, pumpkin. I love pumpkin treats, pumpkin pie and I once tried pumpkin pasta. But this last week I made two pumpkin recipes and each one was a success! I usually buy the regular size can of pumpkin and seem to have some leftover that never gets used, but no longer!
One can of pumpkin + 2 recipes = a happy mom. I thought I would share, because that's the nice thing to do. Sorry, no pictures. I'll just fill in some of my cute kids instead!



Pumpkin Choc. Chip Cookies - Foodnetwork.com

1 cup unsalted butter, softened - I used salted and it turned out just fine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree - not pumpkin pie mix
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda - tsp will always remind me of Sleeping Beauty, I love that part!
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1.4 tsp. nutmeg
1.4 tsp. cloves
2 cups choc. chips

*note - we added a little extra pumpkin and spices for more flavor

Heat oven to 350* Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray
Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. beat in white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then mix vanilla and pumpkin. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in chips. Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheets and bake 15-20 min. Remove from oven and rest for 2 min. Take cookies off and cool on wire racks.



Pumpkin Pancakes -Martha Stewart

Whisk- 1 1/4 cups flour
2 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves in a large bowl
In separate bowl, stir - 1 cup milk
6 T canned pumpkin
2 T melted butter
and 1 egg
Fold mixture into dry ingredients.

We sprinkled choc. chips on while cooking to keep with the theme for the week. Fun dinner!