In my refrigerator and freezer recently: pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cheesecake, frozen pumpkin waffles, pumpkin souffle, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin butter and pumpkin beer.
In the cabinet: pumpkin pancake mix, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookie mix and pumpkin Hershey’s kisses. (All found at Trader Joe’s, Target and Williams-Sonoma.)
In the coffee maker? You guessed it.
My husband, Kenley, says I have a problem.
I am not alone.
My friend Katie O’Connor shares my obsession and started a “Pumpkinheads: For the love of all things pumpkin” Facebook page, where the discussion is about the latest pumpkin-flavored products at Target, the best pumpkin beer and our favorite pumpkin recipes. Let me know if you want to be added.
Our friend Betsey, the features editor at The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., dedicated a Life & Style feature to Pumpkin-mania. Several years ago, when I worked at The State, we had a pumpkin pot-luck.
My craving usually starts in late September. I ordered the pumpkin spice latte the first day it returned to the menu at Starbucks, but my favorite treat is their pumpkin bread. I have indulged in the pumpkin cupcake at Crumbs Bake Shop …
and at Sprinkles.
I have tried the pumpkin chocolate square at Ghirardelli’s, the pumpkin pie milkshake at Jack in the Box and the pumpkin pie yogurt at Pinkberry.
My favorite concoction at Marble Slab Creamery is pumpkin and cinnamon ice creams mixed with caramel in a waffle cone. My friends call it “The Shelley.”
On Thanksgiving Eve, I’m planning to have a pumpkin-beer tasting with my husband, brother and two brothers-in-law. They just don’t know it yet. Look for the outcome here in a couple of days.
When I get back to Los Angeles, one of my first stops will be Coolhaus‘ new bricks-and-mortar ice cream store (they already have an excellent food truck), where I can try their Great Pumpkin sammie, which is pumpkin pie ice cream sandwiched between two oatmeal cookies. I plan to stalk The Grilled Cheese Truck until I have the pumpkin pie melt with pumpkin mascarpone, toasted marshmallows and candied walnuts on pumpkin seed brioche with allspice butter. The Buttermilk Truck offers pumpkin cider donuts. I hope Father’s Office is still serving the beer float with Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale and pumpkin pie ice cream. I’m told Whole Foods has a pumpkin sorbet.
My friends at the Green Gourmets introduced us to pumpkin mac and cheese and pumpkin lasagna. Betsey recently made the mac and cheese, which adds just a hint of spice to a baked mac and cheese dish.
Source: thegreengourmets.wordpress.com via Shelley on Pinterest
I have attempted to compile all the pumpkin recipes on a Pinterest billboard, “The Great Pumpkin board.” So far, I’ve found more than 100 recipes, including pumpkin chili, pumpkin corn bread, pumpkin mashed potatoes, pumpkin quiche, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin alfredo, pumpkin black bean burgers, pumpkin hummus, pumpkin won tons, pumpkin spice Chex mix, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin flan and pumpkin martinis, not to mention all the cakes and pies.
My friend, Molly, sent me a recipe for a pumpkin smoothie from The Pioneer Woman blog today, which I also added to the Pinterest board.
Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Shelley on Pinterest
Let me know if you try any of the recipes on the Pinterest board, have another favorite pumpkin recipe, or find a pumpkin product or dish that you love. I’ll add them to the Pinterest board and possibly include them in a future blog post. Click the button below to follow my Pinterest boards:
Happy Thanksgiving!
Now that you are a married woman, you can no longer be considered a crazy cat lady. However, you can still be considered crazy. I’m afraid this blog post proves that point.
PS- can we have normal beer on Wednesday, too?
I recently had pumpkin latte, pumpkin chili, spiced pumpkin cheesecake and The Shelley and they were all WONDERFUL!