Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!...

When I walked into the grocery store and saw the huge pallet bins full of pumpkin (calabaza) I exclaimed with glee. I'm not kidding. I really did exclaim with glee. There was a Mexican woman staring at them, and all I could say was, "Calabaza! Calabaza! Yeah! Yeah!" The translation was not lost on her. I think she got the point. I was happy!

You see, its impossible to find pumpkin puree here in good 'ol Mexico. And I do mean absolutely impossible to find canned pumpkin. You'd think with this area having such a large expat community, I'd be able to find a stash in one of the four major grocery stores. Nope. Nada. Uh uh. Ain't no way. Not gonna happen. So when I saw all those pumpkins, I knew that my fall season in the tropics was not to be empty of wonderful pumpkin dishes after all. Nope, I was going to be able to make all my favorite recipes and find some new ones to add to the list! **This is when everyone cheers with joy like complete dorks**

So of course, I picked up a pumpkin. Took it home. Told Seth he must immediately carve up my pumpkin so I could make magic in the kitchen. Because he loves me, he immediately went to chopping.  After the carving, steaming, and blending...I had wonderful pumpkin puree. (You know of course, I went back to the store for another to freeze for later just in case they ran out).

 First, I decided to make some Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting. Oh so yummy. I must apologize though because I took half of them over to a neighbor's house for a get together, and I completely forgot to snap some photos. These are from the Pioneer Woman which were the closest I could find to mine. (Honestly, I think mine looked better. But don't tell her).

After that, I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake with a chocolate crumb bottom. The best part was the salted caramel I drizzled on top with toasted pecans. Is anyone else drooling right now?

Then I waited at least a day before I embarked on my favorite of favorite pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin Bread. And wouldn't you know I just happened to have some cream cheese frosting left over from the muffins. Couldn't let it go to waste, now can we? That would just be silly!

I couldn't let Taelyn miss out on the pumpkin goodness so I made her some Baby Pumpkin Ravioli. She is definitely my child because she knew at first sight that it was going to be good. She did what any normal person would do and shoved the whole thing in her mouth in one bite. Needless to say, she didn't get very far, and we had quite a mess on our hands. But she loved it!