Friday, October 10, 2014

It's Pumpkin Time!

It's Pumpkin Time!
Missy Tippens

This past week was my turn to take refreshments for our United Methodist Women's circle. I paired up with my friend Jan (who decorated those beautiful tables I shared last Christmas). I told her I'd do the food if she would decorate. (I'm terrible at decorating anything.)

She graciously agreed to decorate AND bring fruit. She also showed up with sugared pecans.

I told her I would do pumpkin bread and cheese straws. But when I went to look at mixes (I know, I should have tried the recipe I said I was going to try), I spotted the cranberry bread mix. And my mouth started watering. Cranberries feel like fall to me as well, and I LOVE this particular mix.

So I grabbed two boxes.


These are amazing with actual berries to add to the mix. I made a double batch, then folded in the cranberries.


I decided to take mini-muffins to my meeting. And to make a loaf to keep at home.


While one pan of mini-muffins baked (I only have 1 pan), I put batter into the next set of papers to wait for the pan to come out. I was afraid they might collapse, but the didn't!



**Also, a tip from the box: spray the paper cups with baking spray to make peeling it off easier.

Here's my bread loaf that went in the oven with the first batch of muffins and finished with the second batch.



My reward for baking! (That's butter melting on the hot bread.) :)


And here is our table at our meeting. Jan brought some beautiful glass pumpkins, one sitting on a ring of fall flowers. We had coffee and juice and a lovely time!



So…now you're wondering why I said it's pumpkin time, and then baked cranberry muffins. Well, that's because it truly IS pumpkin time at our church, for the Youth Group fundraiser the kids and adult helpers do each year.

We get the pumpkins on consignment and sell them through the month of October.


It's a beautiful, orange sight!


 NOW, I'm ready to make pumpkin bread. That'll be next on my agenda...

12 comments:

  1. WOW. Lots of pumpkins! (And smiling at the cheese straws.)

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  2. Virginia, I need to get a good recipe for cheese straws to share. I LOVE them! (For this event, I bought them.)

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  3. I love this time of year. I love pumpkins. I saw pumpkin yogurt at the store!

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    1. Now that would be interesting, Tina. Not sure I'd like that! LOL

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  4. I love that cranberry-orange bread mix. It's a go-to for our family if we need a quick snack or breakfast to take somewhere.

    And that is a BUNCH of pumpkins! When we lived in Kansas, a church near us sold pumpkins as a fund-raiser every year, and their front lawn always looked like that at the beginning of October. But by the end of the month there would always be very few left. I hope your youth group has the same kind of success!

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    1. Thanks, Jan! Yes, they usually sell most of them. I'm determined to buy mine early this year. We also have gourds and pie pumpkins and little mini pumpkins. I think they bring them in from New Mexico. They come on a big semi truck. And all those pumpkins have to be turned daily so they don't rot! That's one big job for the kids.

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  5. looks yummy! I had their blueberry muffins a long time ago and they were good. wonder how a can of pumpkin would taste mixed in with the other stuff?

    not sure if my church is doing pumpkins...usually the Methodist churches seem to do that fundraiser- my friends kiddo's preschool was at a Methodist church and they did it (I bought a lot that year!)
    Susanna

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    1. Susanna, I'm not sure if I've even had pumpkin and cranberry together. How about you try it and let us know! ;)

      Yeah, we usually buy several pumpkins. Since we "fight" over favorite shapes, I usually just get one for each of us. :) I like short, squat, bumpy (warty) ones with a large stem. :)

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    2. this one looks good! (and I'm not a huge pumpkin fan...) but think I'll do like someone suggested and use whole cranberries. I've made the cranberry raisin bread that Mary shared here a few years ago - made it 3x! (no yeast involved!) this looks do-able ...hmm...thinkng maybe next Tues night when I'm off then I can take it to the quilt thingy Friday night..should last that long right (I mean staying fresh not me refraining from eating it!) http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Cranberry-Bread/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i7
      Susanna

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    3. LOL, Susanna! If it were me, it would be hard to make it that long. :)

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  6. I'm having missing Missy pangs. Glad to see your pumpkiny post!

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    1. Miss you too! Wish I was in Atlanta this weekend at M&M.

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