if you are what you eat...

...then I am a pumpkin!  These past few weeks I have been on a total pumpkin kick.  It still feels like the middle of summer outside (but locals keep talking about how it's cooled down, I guess 100 is cooler than 114) but I am so ready for fall inside.  I don't really decorate much because we don't really do nicknacks and there isn't a place to put them.  Every time I see someone's home decked out I do get super jealous, maybe I need to put up some shelves...

But I digress.

Last weekend I tried out this recipe for pumpkin pie cupcakes, it was a time suck (I think I was at it for almost 2 hours) but so worth it.  They were amazing.  The only changes I would make is making a little more of the graham cracker crust because I had more cupcake filling than I did graham cracker.  And if you wanted to save time I bet you could use a box spice cake.  These got the thumbs up from both Doc and his friend that he brought by for a beer unannounced when my kitchen was a total disaster after work.  These are the cupcakes I made:

Not too far off from the picture on the recipe!

 

This morning I decided that I really wanted pumpkin coffee and I remembered seeing a pumpkin syrup on Pinterest  so I tried this one.  It was okay, I don't think I will be making it again.  I had to add 3 tablespoons to my coffee to taste it and that is more sugar that I like to drink.  Then I got a bunch of it with my last sip, not a nice surprise.  Here is how mine turned out:

Looks nothing like the picture on the recipe but I followed the directions

While I was making this I also made breakfast, of course I made pumpkin pancakes!  I got my recipe here .  They were yummy!  It had been a while since I made them and I forgot they cook slower than regular pancakes so my first batch was a little runny but oh well.  It was funny, Doc saw them and made a face "what am I going to eat?" But he ended up eating more of them than I did!  

TC approves

While looking for a pumpkin pancake recipe I came across one for pumpkin spice cake in my Betty Crocker Cookbook, obviously I had to try that too.  I'm not posting that one, I am sure most of you have that cookbook if you want to find it.  That was super yummy too, I even made my own brown butter frosting!  The frosting was a bit overpowering so I ended up scraping most of it off.  

One day I will learn to frost without getting crumbs everywhere, until that day I will just say it adds character.

So that's pretty much what I've been up to.  I tried to get TC to help me but she almost put the tsp of pumpkin pie spice in her mouth so I would say she's not ready yet.  It is nice to disappear into the kitchen for a bit and have a little time to myself.  And since I don't want to gain 100lbs I will have Doc bring the majority of this cake to work to share with the guys.

Finally, I have Doc take my weekly belly pictures and every week he bitches about it.  He thinks he's funny so he throws a mini (fake) fit every time which takes longer than actually taking the pictures.  Each week I end up with several pictures just like this one.

Thanks Doc, I think I'll frame this one.