Some Pumpkin recipes for your enjoyment :)

Yesterday I made quite the fall meal! A roast in the crock pot, pumpkin mac & cheese (yes you read that right), creamed corn, and pumpkin, bacon, carmelized onion muffins. Now, before you say eww or gross to any of these, let me tell you about them!!! Oh and I made homemade pumpkin puree, which is waht I used in these recipes.

The Pumpkin Mac & Cheese was a recipe I found off of Food Gawkers. It looked so good and Murray loves mac & cheese so much I just had to try it!! The recipe came from THIS blog. Lauren is the name of the girl at this blog and she has some great recipes. Her recipe called for nutmeg and cayenne pepper, but I can't stand nutmeg and I didn't want the pepper so Murray could eat it. I added cinnamon instead, and it was amazing. Here is my slightly altered version of her recipe that I used:

8oz penne (or whatever you prefer) pasta, cooked according to box
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup whole milk
2 oz cream cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
3/4 cup colby jack cheese
a few dashes of cinnamon

-Whisk together milk and pumpkin over medium heat.
-Add in cheese and whisk until all melted. reduce heat to low.
-Stir in cinnamon until mixed.
-Add pasta, stir. Let stand if not thick enough. Serve and enjoy! :)

Now for the muffins, oh man. They were delicious! It smelled so good cooking! They came from THIS blog. Now, it's in French and it has a translator on the site. BUT, just to make to make it easy on you, I'll post the recipe right here! :)

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp dried thyme ( I omitted this)
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• Pinch of salt
• 2 medium onions, chopped (I used half on one, but it could have used more)
• 1 tsp tablespoons butter
• 3 slices bacon, chopped
• ⅔ cup milk
• 1 tsp table vinegar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 cup pumpkin
• Pumpkin seeds 'sweet' n spicy "(optional)

In a small bowl, pour the milk and vinegar and let stand for at least 30 minutes, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and herbs and set aside.
In a skillet, heat butter over medium heat and will break down the onion and bacon together, for about fifteen minutes.
Transfer into a large bowl.
Add the reserved milk curd, oil, maple syrup and pumpkin puree and mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until moistened (do not overmix!).
Complete all 12 holes of a muffin pan lined with boxes of previously paper or lightly buttered, this unit each muffin and sprinkle a few pumpkin seeds 'sweet' n spicy "if desired.
Bake on center rack at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.
* Makes a dozen large muffins.

And today, I made Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with a cream cheese icing, but they are from an old Betty crocker recipe book so I'll have to type it out when I get a chance! Enjoy!!!! :)