Thanksgiving 2022 (with a Lesson in Baking: Pumpkin Cornbread)

We had Thanksgiving 2022 over at my mom's and because of the cornmeal I still had from the cornbread I made earlier this month, I offered to bring cornbread. I think it's the first real fail I've had lately. I wasn't super impressed with the previous recipe I used so in looking for another, I found a pumpkin cornbread recipe, and since we had a pumpkin from the farm, I figured I'd give that a shot.

Well, first I had to make the pumpkin purée. (It sure was depressing to see how much purée you end up with from that whole giant pumpkin in the end)!

Jarred pumpkin purée

I was a little nervous about the cornbread because, with the purée added, it would be a lot of extra moist liquidity, and wasn't sure how evenly it would bake. And I did kinda have issues with the edges looking okay but the middle still being pretty moist, but I think it turned out okay in the end, baking-wise.

I thought I was so clever garnishing
it with the roasted pumpkin seeds

The real problem ended up being the flavor and taste - it was pretty bland. I guess it was fine for cornbread, but I couldn't taste the pumpkin flavor at all. Turns out just puréeing a pumpkin isn't enough, my mother informed me you're also supposed to add spices and cinnamon. That's right, I didn't pick up on that and the recipe didn't inform me to do it and it was my first time so I had no clue what I was doing. Sorry for the guinea pigs who had to be subjected to that on Thanksgiving!

Sophie seemed to have a decent time although she didn't want to eat much other than the cornbread (ironically, and maybe the only one) and we played a lot of Yahtzee.

We followed with the tradition of dedicating the Friday after Thanksgiving to setting up for Christmas, which Sophie mostly loved. She's obsessed with the Hogwarts Express train that we got as a gift from AJ's sister (I mean who wouldn't be?) but we're definitely going to wear out those batteries soon, I can tell.

Sophie's Cocomelon characters on
their way to Hogwarts

AJ also had friends over on Sunday and ended up ordering wings and fries, of which Sophie had some. She enjoyed dipping the fries into the ranch dressing so much that she started dipping everything into it, including her orange slices. And she must have really loved it too cause she didn't just do it once, she repeated it several times.

Happy Christmastime officially!