"The belly rules the mind" -Spanish Proverb

It is finally fall in Northern California. Well, let me take that back. It feels like fall about 80 percent of the time with the occasionally sunny San Francisco day slipping in time to time. Anyways, fall means one thing to me: Pumpkin EVERYTHING. Yep, pumpkin pancakes, cupcakes, pie, bread, butter, waffles, ice cream, lattes, cookies....the list goes on and on. Why is it that whenever I have pumpkin, I want to curl up with a nice book in bed under a nice warm blanket? That my friends, is the magic of fall. I have been searching and searching for a killer pumpkin bread recipe. Most end up dry or are just so-so with the seasonings. But alas, I have found a fantastic recipe.

*Taken from Foodfit.com

Ingredients:

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup nonfat, plain yogurt

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (although you can add nutmeg if you don't have any allspice on hand)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bread pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on high speed until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and combine. Add the pumpkin, yogurt, honey and vanilla and combine until smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger and allspice. Fold this mixture into the pumpkin mixture and combine until smooth.

4. Pour into the prepared pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Voila! It makes your house smell super good and isn't too bad for your waistline. It also tastes sinfully good if you add chocolate chips to it, you know, maybe a cup or two.....or the whole bag ;)

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes? The other day I was enjoying some pumpkin ice cream and thought that it would go great with gingerbread. I'm thinking gingerbread ice cream sandwiches with pumpkin ice cream filling. Thoughts?