Food for Fall

I love autumn. It's my favorite time of year. Brilliant foliage, crisp weather, pumpkins and a lighted fireplace, and stews and soups. Oh, my.

So for a change from The House and knitting, I want to talk about food.

This kind of weather has me dreaming about making chili and beef stew, or beef vegetable soup. Or cheese soup with plenty of potatoes and carrots and green beans. Biscuits. Cornbread in the skillet. Apple pie. Cranberry-apple crisp. Handmade cream cheese pastry crackers in the shape of leaves.

I don't know where to begin! But...DH brought home a can of pumpkin last night. Yes, fresh from a local sugar pumpkin would be better, but it's a handy start.

We talked about it last night, and I think I'm going to try a pumpkin veggie chili. Normally it would be beef or venison, but I want to create something I can serve at our Halloween party. If I make a small batch I'll still have half a can left. That's enough to make a loaf of pumpkin bread. I usually make it with rum-soaked raisins. Time to make a shopping list!

Does anyone out there have favorite pumpkin recipes? (I was also thinking of adding some puréed pumpkin to my biscuit recipe.)

Feel free to comment and make recommendations. My reach always exceeds my grasp (in terms of what I get done) but I love to get new recipes and ideas.