Pumpkin Ginger Date Breakfast Muffins (Backyard Fall Colors Emerge and My Garden Sage)

These muffins were my first attempt ever at baking with "fresh pumpkin" (sorry Libby's). I'm officially a fresh pumpkin convert from here on out. "Oven, meet Mr. Pumpkin!" Nothing could have been easier--and my house smelled divine! I hate to think of all the pumpkins I let go to "rot" just because I didn't have a clue about the merits of roasting one's own pumpkins. So don't let the idea of "roasting your own pumpkin" for these muffins deter you--trust me--it is totally worth the little effort it takes. We've had these pumpkin ginger date muffins for breakfast every day this week. They were moist and tasty all week long! They also made the perfect little pairing with my pick-me-up-snap-me-out-of-my-coma cup of coffee.

Today is the calm before the storm. Sunday is our 10th Annual Sweat-4-Pets here in St. Louis (more on this in a bit). I have had literally no appetite for a month now--well, that's a lie. Except chocolate. I eat it Every. Single. Day. With the fundraiser right around the corner, I'm a bundle of nerves when I wake up, another bundle of nerves when I go to sleep. (Which was at eight o'clock last night! That's what happens when you are Almost Fifty!) Without much of a craving for anything because my stress level is running at about a ten, one craving I did have (aside from chocolate) was for pumpkin! I know, "Enough already with the pumpkin!"--but I had six little guys left over from my garden club's pumpkin festival--using them as both indoor and outdoor festive decorations! I hate to see them wither away in the almost eighty degree fall weather we're having in mid-November. (Which--in keeping with my disdain of warm or hot anything weather--I am officially "OVER" this warm spell and demand some snow!)

About Sweat-4-Pets: Whoa. We already have over three hundred folks pre-registered! That is amazing--largest number EVER! Hooray for all the animals we will be able to spay and neuter! Hooray for all the support St. Louis has for our little place in the world. Hooray for the over forty volunteers we will have on hand. Hooray for all the corporate sponsors we have this year--including Dr. Thyme's office people!

I hope to have my wits more about me next week, after all the "hoo-haa" has subsided. Meantime, there is a TV interview in the morning (I've already done one radio interview). The TV thing happens every year (we have a local TV news personality who is an animal champion and has a HUGE heart). She is a godsend and has always been generous with both her time and support of promoting Sweat-4-Pets. She has her own "rescues" at home as well--so big heart all around. But. . . no matter how many times I step into the studio and face that little mechanical camera (there isn't even a camera "man" per se any more--just a robot camera)--I still feel like I might pass out. The trick is to take really deep breaths, smile, deep breath, smile--usually doing all of this while my legs are turning to noodles. Good thing we are seated, too. I always try to take one of my kids with me--as both emotional support and as camera shot distraction--keep the lens off me and my friend Lizzie, more on the one with four legs and a big fuzzy face! 

The weather report for Sunday says it will be in the fifties--perfect running temps. Absolutely perfect! I usually try to participate in the 5k myself. After all the pent up energy I have going into the day--a good thirty minute tear down the park helps level me out a bit, calms the jitters and gets me through the rest of the morning! Plus there is nothing cooler than getting out with the people and hearing the comments and knowing that all of us here have come together for one common cause: The animals.

This year our fall colors weren't what we usually see in late October (which was when this shot of my backyard was taken). But then as the month of November wore on and the rain stayed away (the dry conditions certainly have not helped)--something began to change--albeit very slowly. And one evening I looked out back and was just blown away by the color--so I grabbed my camera an took this second shot.

All of the gold and browns were popping this week. It's beautiful!

I have four sage plants. Why so many? First, I love sage. Second, because my sage plants become this gorgeous cluster of purple flowers in the spring and again in summer, then become an irrisistable cooking herb throughout winter. I think sage is one of the prettiest herbs out there. Sage is a perennial around here--surviving our winters and returning in spring. I just adore this herb. My sage plants are knee high and about four feet wide--almost like a small shrub in its growth habit. But so worth the time and investment and little care required--very little in fact. Sage sort of takes on a life of its own. But right now sage is at its peak and I find myself out there snipping at it nearly everyday--if for no other reason than to take in its intense aroma, toss it in everything from potato, sauces or sprinkled over veggies--it really is a kitchen must have herb.

Pumpkin Ginger Date Breakfast Muffins

(Adapted from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book)

1 cup mashed up roasted pumpkin pulp

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1/2 cup unsalted vegetable margerine

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/3 cup crytallized ginger diced into small pieces

1/2 cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 425. Using a pumpkin pie pumpkin (these are the small produce-section sized pumpkins you can get at the grocery stores now), cut pumpkin in half. Place cut sides down on a foil-lined, lightly sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow pumpkin to cool. Once pumpkin has cooled, scrape out desired amount. Lower oven temperature to 400. Lightly spray regular-sized cupcake tins. Cream together the mashed pumpkin, sugar, molasses, margerine and oil until creamy and light. Next, sift together all the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in thirds--mixing just until all dry parts of the dough are moist after each addition. Don't over mix after last addition of flour--just until all dry clumps are moist. Now, fold in the dates and crytallized ginger. Fill each cupcake holder about 2/3s full. Bake cupcakes for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. *If you find you only have enough batter to fill only ten or so cups, fill the remaining empty cups with water. After cupcakes are done, remove from oven and allow to cool for about fifteen minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan, and allow to cool completely on wire wrack. Store in an airtight container. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.