And they call it pumpkin love

I have a special relationship with pumpkin spice. I reserve it for the fall only. I won’t drink a pumpkin spice latte in the summer and I won’t eat a pumpkin spice whoopie pie in the spring. Nope, pumpkin = fall. Side note: I always say "fall" because "autumn" seems way too stuffy and proper.

Here is a short list of my absolute favs:

Pumpkin Spice Latte: Believe it or not, I had my very first Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte this fall. I usually order them from Moka but I happened to be at a Target with a SB and thought “What the heck”. That warm deliciousness was worth cheating on my normal coffeehouse.

Coffee-mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer: I work at home and can’t leave to buy scrumptious Starbucks or Moka every day so I need to find another way to satisfy the pumpkin craving beast.  This creamer works!

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Pancake/Waffle Mix: First of all, isn’t Trader Joe's awesome?!? I absolutely heart this store. When I first saw this mix on an end cap while standing many, many feet away I knew it would end up in my cart. And end up in my cart it did. 

I made a small batch a few days ago. One reason, I wasn’t sure how popular it would be with the fam. Second, I figured they would be a little rich.

The consensus: Boy3 loved them, Boy1 liked the first two bites, Boy2 had none and Darling liked them. Hubster had one and said they were “okay”. I had two and fell in love. The perfect combo for me is black coffee and these cakes.

Archer Farms Pumpkin White Chunk Cookies: This is a new found love. Once again, I was at Target (I kinda like the store) looking for some tasty treats to bring a friend who just had hip surgery (yikes, a kickboxing accident). Searching the bakery, I spotted these little devils. Come to mama, little cookies. These cookies are similar to an oatmeal raisin cookie except there is no oatmeal or raisins... haha! Makes sense, right? They are soft and chewy with the perfect amount of pumpkin and spice and white chocolate chunks. Another perfect combo with black coffee or tea.

Other delightful pumpkin items:

Pumpkin Bars with cream cheese frosting. My mom and mother in law would tie for the gold medal in the Olympic pumpkin bar bake off. Watch out!

Pumpkin Spice Whoppie Pies from Trader Joes

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pumpkin muffins... coffeehouses or HyVee.

For inedible items:

Check out Bath and Body Works (BBW) “Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin”(SCP). I was first introduced to it about 11/12 years ago. It was love at first sniff. BBW took it away for a few years and it left people in utter misery. A bit dramatic? Okay not misery but I was very disappointed when fall came around without SCP. Finally the scent returned and the harmony in my life returned with it.

Now get out there and shush your inner pumpkin beast!