Feast of the Great Pumpkiin

With Halloween and Thanksgiving in the air, I found myself obsessed with Pumpkin.  Pumpkin recipes were everywhere: pancakes, cookies, pies, chili, sauces...the selection was endless and I had to try them all!

As I felt that I needed a goal for the pumpkin exploratory, I decided to host "The Feast of the Great Pumpkin".  Every dish, from start to finish would contain pumpkin in some form.  As I embarked on my research,  I must say, the hardest part was culling the menu down to a manageable amount of food and making sure there was something even the least adventurous diner would find appealing.
 
The feast began with pumpkin hummus, pumpkin seed guacamole, pumpkin tartlets and of course, the key to every great gathering, martini's...in this case, pumpkin spice martini's.   

Now for the true test, could pumpkin carry off the main even?  Rich and hearty pumpkin chili, the ultimate comfort food - pumpkin mac and cheese, my favorite - pumpkin chickpea fritters and salad with pumpkin seed and pomegranate vinaigrette seemed to be crowd pleasers.

And as there is ALWAYS room for dessert there were pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin jello shots...yes jello shots.

Thus a new tradition is born.  Don't tell Linus, but as he awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin every year, in our pumpkin patch, we will be feasting on that Great Pumpkin!