pumpkintime is here

...so I spent last week using up a can of pumpkin 😋:

First up, this Pumpkin Cheesecake Protein Smoothie. Usually by this time of year it's too cold for me to enjoy a smoothie so I thought I'd better sneak this one in now. And it is everything you could want in a pumpkin smoothie. Like drinking a slice of pie. 😍 those Fall spices!

Next...okay, wait, I'll leave that for last. Third, Creamy Pumpkin Oats with Blueberries and Toasted Almonds. I've never really liked blueberries in my oatmeal but after eating several iterations of blueberry overnight oats I think I'm finally coming around. I'm also a big fan of Minimalist Baker, so if she says serve your oatmeal over blueberries, I'm trying it. I would've liked the texture of the oats to be a little bit creamier but otherwise it was good.

After that I made this Healthy Pumpkin Bread from another one of my go-to blogs, Cookie+Kate. I needed a pumpkin bread recipe that took only 1 cup of pumpkin, since that was all I had left over. And this one, well, received the highest compliment I could give a pumpkin bread: it tastes just like the Pillsbury quick bread mix in a box. Texture-wise, too. Bonus: it didn't come from a box.

Last, but not least--and technically made second--these. Pumpkin. Spice. Chocolate chip. Cookies. From Chelsea's Messy Apron. You know sometimes when you work with extra moist ingredients like pumpkin, applesauce, etc. your cookies get either gummy or dry-cakey? Not these. It's worth all the extra steps, the chilling, the stacked dough balls. These are so good😁. Remember Soft Batch cookies? (Also, they still make Soft Batch cookies?) I loved that red-bagged cookie as a kid, weird aftertaste and all. These are like the 1-million-times better pumpkin version. Needless to say, you should try these. 👍