I LOVE FALL!

I have many reasons why I love fall:

the sound of crunching leaves
smell of the crisp autum air
the beautiful colors of fall: oranges, yellows, golds, browns, cinnamon, reds etc.
kids excitement for halloween (kids including my older sister Angela...you would have thought SHE was born on Halloween and not my Dad!)
the taste of pumpkin

My roommate made a pumpkin soup that I still need to get the recipe for. I did make pumpkin bars the other day that turned out really tasty. Try these out:

Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares

1 pckg yellow cake mix
1/2 c butter melted
3 C pumpkin
2/3 c milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 t. ginger and 1/2 t. cloves)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c butter softened

Grease bottom 13"x9" pan. Preheat oven to 350. Remove 1 cup of cake mix and set aside. Combine rest of cake mix, 1/2 c melted butter and 1 egg. Press into bottom of pan. Combine pumpkin pie filling, pumpkin pie spice, 2 eggs, and milk in bowl and mix. Pour over crust in bottom of pan. Combine the cake mix that you set aside, 1/4 c. softened butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle over filling. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Cut into squares. Top with whipped cream, ice cream or plain.

I had to cook mine closer to an hour because the pumpkin wasn't done. One way to avoid this is to warm the pumpkin in a sauce pan before putting it in the crust. It's amazing!!