I was in a pumpkin cooking mood today. First I made pumpkin muffins. Using my beloved Susan B. Komen KitchenAid mixer being that it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all. I love this mixer. Well anyone that has a KitchenAid loves it but this one is PINK. Utter, lovely pinkness. Rick gave it to me "not for Christmas!!" – he knew I really wanted one but didn’t want to be pegged as that guy that gives his wife appliances for gifts so even though he gave it to me on Dec. 25th – it wasn’t a Christmas present. Okay – got it.
My grandmother was a breast cancer survivor. I say was because she has since passed away. Of old age. She was 93 when she died. She was also diagnosed in her 80’s. It’s never too late to get checked. It’s never too late to get treatment. It’s never too late to get past it. You know the drill ladies, Get Checked.
I wish I could say the muffins turned out fabulously but they were rather bland and not as pumpkin-y or spicy as I was hoping.
Because I only used a small amount out of the large can of pumpkin puree I decided to make my favorite pumpkin soup with the rest. I used the recipe out of the Susan Branch Vineyard Seasons cookbook. I can make this soup in my sleep. You are really supposed to cook a fresh pumpkin but in a hurry you can use canned puree. Works for me anyway. I sure wish Susan Branch would come out with a new cookbook. I have all of her books and love her drawings and handwritten recipes. And that she is so unabashedly not low cal or low fat.
So soup was lovely. Muffins not so much.
Love the table setting! I am about to do a post for BC Awareness Month, too. My husband’s first wife died of it — it is her old Kitchen Aid mixer that I use — she one of the many spirits in my kitchen.