Pumpkin Chili & Cornbread

With lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s, we finally are having some fall weather and it felt right to finally make some of my must-try pumpkin recipes.  I thought pumpkin chili was the perfect way to celebrate our cooler temps!
I'm not sure what it is--maybe the "scientist" in me who likes to experiment--but I don't follow a lot of recipes exactly.  Instead, I seem to like to use a recipe as a starting point and then experiment with my own concoction.  
For the pumpkin chili, I combined the one from my must-try list, my mom's & a friends.  This is what I came up with:


Pumpkin Chili
  - 1lb. ground beef
  - half a medium onion (chopped)
  - 2 15oz. cans kidney beans (drained)
  - 2 15oz. cans stewed or diced tomatoes (with juice)
  - 1 8oz. can tomato sauce
  - 1 cup pumpkin
  - chili powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, brown sugar (all "to taste")
In a large pot, brown onions and ground beef.  Once brown, add the pumpkin, kidney beans, tomatoes & sauce.  For the spices, I added everything "to taste"--starting with (about) 2 tsp. chili powder and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, a sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar.  Let simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour (stirring occasionally).  I ended up adding a little more chili powder & pumpkin pie spice.

To go with, Pumpkin Cornbread muffins sounded delish!  Between the baby & toddler, I wasn't up to making it from scratch though (although I'm sure the original recipe I found for the pumpkin list is fantastic).  Instead, I used this cornbread muffin mix packet:

To the mix, I added just under a 1/2 C milk, 1 beaten egg, 1/2 C pumpkin, 2 tsp. brown sugar, 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, and a little extra sprinkle of cinnamon.  

Verdict on both?...

...SO GOOD!  

Neither the chili nor the muffins had an overwhelming pumpkin taste, but just a slight hint of those yummy fall spices & flavors.  They were both great ways to use some of my mass quantities of pureed pumpkin from Halloween. Another huge plus--the house smelled wonderful!!

Not only will I make these both again, but will do big batches to freeze.  These will both be great to have on hand in the freezer for quick meals this fall & winter!