I love fall. I think it may be my favorite season. It was not my favorite season when I was a teacher because it meant the end of a fun summer and going back to work. The beginning of a school year was always so busy and hectic though there was something exciting about beginning a new year. Even after three years of staying home and not teaching, I still think of life in semesters and school years rather than in calendar years. Back to school shopping was always a highlight and I still love to wander the aisles of school supplies. I even bought Katherine folders and a new backpack and lunchbox when they were on sale.
I love fall football though I don't really participate much anymore. I went to a private Christian school so we were more involved in football games, attending most of them even in elementary school. Then in junior high I was a cheerleader and in high school I was on the drill team so I went to a lot of football games. The Friday night enthusiasm was so much fun. I loved the pep rally and spirit. Then I had Aggie football in college. My opinion (and I am sure some of you will beg to differ) is that there is no better college football game than one played at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. In Aggieland it was not just a 4 hour football game, it was an entire weekend. I have not been to a game in a few years due to having nursing babies and living overseas and I miss it. This year though they are not doing well so I am not missing much.
My all time favorite thing about fall though is the pumpkins. There are several things I love about pumpkins. I love taking the kids to the pumpkin patch. Katherine has a ball playing on them and I have fun taking pictures. Now that she is older I plan to start a tradition of decorating a pumpkin. I think that this year we will not carve our pumpkin but we will paint and decorate with different craft materials. Be on the lookout for pictures in the future.
The best part of pumpkins is eating them. I love that at this time of year there are all kinds of delicacies with pumpkin in them. I like recipes with pumpkin baked more as a squash like a good pumpkin soup but I especially like it when it is sweet. I can eat pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake . . .
So, for my contest. I would like to have your favorite pumpkin recipe. You can either submit it in the comments section for one entry or you can post it to your blog and link back to this post for two entries. You may submit as many recipes as you like and each recipe submitted is worth one entry. You have one week to submit your recipe so the contest will end on October 14th. What is the prize? A pumpkin recipe book!
To get us started, here is a recipe of a wonderful pumpkin bar from the Paula Deen cookbook I received for Christmas last year (thanks Pam).
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
One 15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat as it was what I had and it was great)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy.
3. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.
Katherine decided to sample the dry mixture-icky
4. Spread the batter in an ungreased nonstick 9X13 inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.
5. To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.
My reasons for cloth diapering are varied but it was mainly cost and the fact that they are more healthy. Saving the landfills from my diapers is a nice side benefit as well.
We used cloth diapers with Katherine as well and Caroline is using those same diapers so the savings is really adding up now. It especially adds up as I am able to sell some of the diapers we have outgrown to a friend for about half of what I paid for them new.
In the newborn phase we use a Kissiluvs fitted diaper with a Prowrap or Bummis cover. When the girls get bigger we have a larger set of those diapers as well as a lot of pocket diapers. Our favorites are Fuzzibunz and Bum Genius. Fuzzibunz are sized (S, M, L, XL) whereas the Bum Genius are a one size diaper so there are advantages of each.
A few months ago I entered a Friday Fluff contest on the Diaper Whisperer blog. Actually, I enter almost every week. But, I won! I won a large wet bag that I use in my diaper pail, a small wet bag that I use when out and about and one new diaper. It is a Blueberry diaper. The Blueberry diaper is very similar to a Bum Genius and I really like it a lot. It fits Caroline very well and has not leaked yet. It is the diaper she is modeling in these photos.
