Mission: Pumpkin

I love the fall. The cool nights. Sweaters and boots. Wearing a hoodie to school on Friday with my jeans! But most of all, I love the many recipes and foods that contain fall's signature ingredient: pumpkin! I am making it my mission to become a pumpkin connnoisseur, to get personal with all things pumpkin in the next couple of months. It's only a matter of time before I bake my first batch of chocolate chip pumpkin bread.

Here are the first couple of items to cross off of my pumpkin bucket list this year!

Pumpkin Item #1: Graeter's Pumpkin Ice Cream

I got this wonderful waffle cone filled with pumpkiny goodness while I was with my good friend Shelley at the St. James Art Fair a couple of weeks ago. It's a huge art fair that happens right in our backyard...literally. Our neighborhood of Old Louisville basically shuts down for the weekend, so I got home on Friday from school and never left. Graeters was just one of tons of food vendors lining the streets. Once I saw that they were selling the pumpkin ice cream, I knew I had to partake.

Pumpkin Item #2: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pancake from Alfalfa (Lexington, Ky)

I went to Alfalfa with sister Mallory while Dan and I were in Lexington last weekend for a wedding. There were many items on the menu that sounded wonderful, including the apple cinnamon pancake that Mal ended up getting, but once I spotted the chocolate chip pancakes on the menu my my was made up. We split a farmer's market quiche and each got a pancake of our choice. Many of you are probably thinking "pumpkin pancake....eww." But the pumpkin taste was just subtle enough to give the pancake an extra something special, not overpowering at all. And the chocolate chips added the right amount of sweetness.


Stay tuned for more pumpkiny treats!