Fall is Here

And by here I mean that it just arrived in a box   :)

Thanks mom!

While it definitely is not the same “Autumn” here as I cherish back home, the weather is nice.  And my mom has helped us experience this wonderful time of year by sending us a few pieces of fall.

Last fall, my mom picked some pretty fall leaves from her yard back home, pressed them, preserved them in paraffin (?I think?), and then mailed them to me!

I framed the leaves and put them up behind our couch so that we can at least enjoy some pretty fall colors

Not only that, but she also sent me a 2 cans of organic pumpkin because I was having so much trouble finding it last year (I still haven’t found any plain pumpkin this year, only pumpkin pie mix.  I’ve used it for 3 different things so far with mixed results.)

And just this week I got a surprise package in the mail that was filled with acorns placed in orange tissue paper.   Thanks, mom, for being so thoughtful and helping me to celebrate my favorite time of the year from so far away!

She also sent me a recipe for pumpkin pancakes which I’ve made twice now. They’re PERFECT for fall, taste wonderful, and are super simple. What more could you want?

Pumpkin pancakes…yummmm!

Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe
Prepare 1 cup dry pancake mix according to package directions
Add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. ground cloves to the batter.  
Continue to cook as directed.
*PS:  I made these with the pumpkin pie mix so I left out the sugar and just sprinkled a random amount of pumpkin pie spice in the batter…I guess it was good because I made a second batch the next week
*PPS:  Maybe everyone knows this, but in case you don’t, you can freeze the pancakes you make and then reheat them in the toaster throughout the week just like you would Eggos.  Just make sure you put some wax paper or something between the pancakes before you freeze them so that they pull apart easily