Fall is here, time for meat in the oven...

Last week the weather began to turn here in Seattle. I pulled out the flannet sheets, made some hot chocolate, and broke out the long sleeved tshirts. Of course, as soon as I did that, we are back in 70 degree weather. You're welcome Seattle.

While it was cold, I decided it was time for a big, warm meal. I just happened to have a lovely Living Social Whole Foods deal and was going to be near a Whole Foods, so I decided to look for a brisket. They had 1. It was fate telling me to make a brisket! I actually didn't take the whole brisket, it was more than my family needed, and the lovely people at Whole Foods will give you a smaller piece if that's what you want.
This recipe calls for a big brisket. This recipe is a party recipe. Or you have a family of serious carnivores. I've made it with as small a brisket as 1-1/4 lb. I generally do a 2-3 pound brisket. I don't reduce the sauce. The sauce is my favorite part! Especially as it drips down your chin! So don't be put off by the chunk of meat it says in the recipe, use whatever size you're comfortable using.

This wonderful recipe is from an old friend in Ohio. She got it from someone when she lived in Louisianna. I have lost this recipe a couple times and she has kindly shared it again.

30 seconds too late

Someone asked me if I would help them out by providing some muffins for an event. We chatted about what to make and settled on some pumpkin muffins. I happened to have some canned pumpkin guts in the pantry (doesn't everyone?) I pulled it out and opened it. I like to make sure everything from the pantry looks good after it is open before doing mise en place for all the known (daily used) baking ingredients. I opened the can, it looked good, and 30 seconds later I get a message, never mind, I don't need them.

Blargh!

So now I have an open can of pumpkin guts and I'm wondering what to do. I had scanned recipes for pumpkin chip muffins, so I decided half the can would go to that endeavor and half would go to a pumpkin pie. The pie will make the hubby very happy as it is one of his favs. So I looked at a few different recipes and came up with this. I might add some buttermilk next time to up the moisture. But I wanted to avoid the huge amounts of oil that are in many pumpkin bread/muffin recipes. It was a huge success. And when I asked my son for a nibble of his he replied, no, you can get your own.

And in case you can't tell, I'm not really a pumpkin fan, hence pumpkin guts. I gave it a proper name in the recipe.