Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

An MS’er acknowledges autumn, again

 

******This blog was first published last year.  But the sentiment is so relevant, I had to post it again.  Plus, it was a busy week.******

I have said it before and I will say it again, I love fall!  And again, I really, really love fall!  It is my absolute favorite season by far!  When I tell grouchy people this they say, “ya, well, fall means winter is coming soon.”

To me that is ok; winter is my second favorite season!

I love fall so much that, MS fatigue aside, I don’t even bother to sweep up the dead leaves that blow into my front doorway every time I go in or out- they are just awesome fall decorations!

Here are some reasons why I love fall- cooler weather, cool breezes, barely any humidity, cooler weather, no bathing suits, cooler weather, and pumpkins.  Pumpkins are definitely a great part of fall.

 

I am not very artistic, so carving pumpkins has never been my thing.  But I like looking at carved pumpkins.

Mostly, I love the essence of pumpkins.   So much so, that I have pumpkin room deodorizer and a vanilla pumpkin scented candle.

I thought pumpkin was a vegetable but it turns out it is actually a fruit.  The confusion comes from the fact that it is in the squash family but it is still just a fruit.  That’s ok.  It is a healthy thing I actually like.

Come fall I seek out pumpkin everything.  Do you know that Dunkin Donuts makes pumpkin coffee, pumpkin munchkins, and pumpkin donuts?  I don’t even like coffee but throw some pumpkin in it and it is yummy!

 

Recently I discovered that Dunkin’s also offers pumpkin cream cheese.  It is beyond describable in its deliciousness. Then I learned that you can buy pumpkin cream cheese in the grocery store and have it at home whenever you like!  I considered this but reasoned that the nutritional benefits of the pumpkin paled in relation to the calories in the cream cheese and thus, didn’t buy it.

The grocery store also had pumpkin ice cream but the container was huge and that was just a bizarre mix.  Pumpkin is a fall food and does not belong in combination with ice cream, a summer food for when it is super hot out.   Pumpkin belongs with hot things, like my beloved tea.

I learned from Facebook about Hersheys Pumpkin Spice Kisses but told they were hard to find.  I went on a quest to find them that took me two and one half hours away from home and employed the assistance of a friend.  We didn’t find them.

 

Truth be told, I was in the area anyway and didn’t make the long drive just for the kisses.   Lucky for me, two weeks before Halloween, they appeared in a local pharmacy and they were scrumptious.

I have heard that Pringles will be releasing Pumpkin Spice potato chips soon and if the Pringles factory were nearby, I’d be waiting at the door!  I wonder if the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory has any direct links to the Pringles factory?

Reese’s even makes chocolate peanut butter pumpkins but I must admit, I’m not sure how much real pumpkin is in them.

 

Please don’t think I have fallen off my ‘get fit’ plan, I am just trying to incorporate my favorite fall flavor into it.   I hadn’t used my Montel Williams Healthmaster Elite in a bit and thought maybe I should see if Montel had a recipe for a Pumpkin Smoothie in the recipe book.

He did not.  BUT, he did have a recipe for Pumpkin Yogurt Pancakes and Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins.  I was in!

First up, the pancakes.   I think they might have been super delicious except for the one fact I forgot- I totally stink at making pancakes.   Is that an MS thing?  If not, it should be because part of the problem was flipping the floppy things.   Usually I am a good flipper (see prior post- Flipnastics) but the problem is, I can’t flip on demand.  Plus it was hard to know when to flip.

 

The bottom line was that while I sampled the few bits of cooked pieces I came up with, and they tasted pretty good, mostly I had a mess of burnt cakes on the outside, raw pumpkin yogurt batter on the inside.

Next up were the Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins.  I was able to use many of the same ingredients so I only needed to go back to the store for zucchini which was puzzlinging as all I could find was something called green squash. I asked a healthy looking person in the store for help and she informed that green squash was the same as zucchini.  So why the two different names?  Is it just to confuse the already confused like me?

 

Whatever it is called, I brought it home and made the muffins and score- they were awesome and healthy!!!  They were easy to make and each muffin was filling and had a vegetable and a fruit in it!  I have got the healthy eating thing down friends!

Fall is here and everything pumpkin is good for you.   The world is a happy, smiley pumpkin face, place!

 

*Note #1   This year my local Dunkin Donuts is not carrying pumpkin cream cheese.   Thought I would warn you in case you don’t find it at your local Dunkin’s either.  Why do they take away something amazing?  I had no choice- I was forced to double my order of pumpkin munchkins.

 

*Note #2  Our guy Jack danced a sexy rhumba (yes, rhumba is a dance, not a vacuum cleaning robot,)  to make it to round 3 on DWTS!  His family was there to cheer him on although I am not sure Ozzy knew where he was.  Does Ozzy ever know where he is??  Don’t worry Ozzy, I can relate!

 

MS ironic comment of the night came from Head Judge Len Goodman, “you do weird things with your hands.”

Please keep voting.  Interestingly, I heard from cyberspace that some clueless person has actually challenged an MS’er with the expected “if Jack Osborne can do DWTS then you must be fine.”  The MS’er responded.  I don’t think I can legally print her response here but I say hey, at least they were talking about MS!

(Somewhere in between the bleeps and $%&&$#@@’s of course.)

Talking is awareness friends so let’s keep Jack in.  Turns out, the guy is not only one of us, but a pretty darn good dancer!

Vote for Jack and his partner Cheryl Burke by calling 1-800-868-3402 up to 60 minutes after the show on Monday nights or by logging onto ABC.com or Facebook.com/votedwts up to 24 hours after.