It's the Great Pumpkin!

Among the many reasons I love fall is the fact that it miraculously becomes socially acceptable to integrate pumpkin (or any squash, for that matter), into every meal and baking adventure. I LOVE pumpkin in a really unreasonable way, so the falling of the leaves signal at least a couple of months of squash-laden meals in my house.

Fall took a long time to get to Indiana this year. Until just this week, we were still having days in the 90s, so it didn't feel very pumpkin-y outside. When the weather took a turn for the cool this week, I knew it would finally be time.

I decided to start the season with some pumpkin bread. I found a recipe online, and though I don't usually trust random recipes, this one had some signs that it would be worth a shot. First of all, it came from Epicurious and is out of an issue of Bon Appetite. That's some pretty good cred right there. But to top it off, the recipe was submitted by someone named Vern who lives in West Frankfort, Illinois. I mean, come on. How can you not trust Vern? Plus, it includes walnuts. Sold.

It came together really quickly and made the house smell like Thanksgiving. It has cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, so the spice smells heavenly.

We're heading to Turkey Run tomorrow with my siblings to do some hiking, and I'm going to pack the pumpkin bread and a gallon of apple cider to help us recover. It should be the perfect fall day. I'll let you know if the recipe ends up being a total failure, but if the bread tastes anything like it smells, it'll become a seasonal staple.