Pumpkin Spice All the Things
I was thinking this morning as I got tonight's meal prepped and in the crockpot that Fall is finally here. We had a long summer, as it has been very warm right up until this week, and we still haven't had a killing frost - which reminds me that I need to pick the green tomatoes. Fried green tomatoes, mmmm! But it meant that my usual fall repertoire of stews and casseroles and such in the crockpot wasn't happening.
The Ginja Ninja asked today if we're going to carve pumpkins this year, and I think we will. I almost bought some cute gourds for the table, just as pretty, at the grocery store yesterday. I love the look of the pumpkins all gathered in farm stands as I drive along at this time of year. And it's apple season and I owe my dear man an apple crisp.
I think I'm hungry - I'm very focused on food today!
I'd like to make a pumpkin pie, but I'll have to poll the family - I know the First Reader won't touch it, but I'm not sure about the kids. And I don't want to eat one all by myself! So maybe when I get carving punkins I'll get a pie punkin, too. They aren't the same, you know. You'll get a nasty watery stringy mess if you cook up a jack-o-lantern. They were originally grown as animal feed, not people food. And while I'm on the topic of pumpkins, you do realize Pumpkin Pie Spice has no actual pumpkin in it? It's just cinnamon, nutmeg, and possibly ginger or allspice. In other words, the spices you'd put into an apple pie or a pumpkin pie. I mean, I'm not a fan of PPS All the Things!! but it's not pumpkin, and there are things it's actually good in.
Like spice cake, or oatmeal cookies, or heck, just oatmeal. With walnuts and dates. Ok, I definitely am hungry. Yogurt and coffee for breakfast doesn't last me very long.
Oh, and a note about the header photo. That's a quick shot of pumpkins at a roadside stand, then the photo was manipulated in the Vinci App, not once, but twice, using both the Sunny and the Shadows filters. I wanted to see how repeated manipulations worked, and I'm pretty happy with the result.
