sweet november: spice it up

Lately it seems that fall is synonymous with pumpkin spice, not that I'm complaining but my last trip to Trader Joe's revealed more pumpkin spice goodies than you could shake a stick at. I may only be a tad bit whiny about it all as I love me some pumpkin spice but now that I am anosmic and have absolutely no sense of smell I can't help but be bummed out about missing all that goodness. I do have to tell you that I think all that pumpkin spice out there is a whole bunch of smoke and mirrors (she types as she takes a sip of her pumpkin spice chai latte) see there is no pumpkin in pumpkin spice, nope. Pumpkin spice is a lovely mashup that may contain cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg. It depends on the maker. 

I like my pumpkin spice on the fragrant spicy side and have a recipe to share with you. My recipe adds a bit of black pepper which you can leave out if you like, it also has a fair amount of ginger in it and if memory serves, I do believe Ms. Tara is not a fan of the ginger so you can leave that out as well. 

 This recipe will make a little more than you need to fill an empty spice jar, my little jar came from Cost Plus World Market. Pick up a bunch of spices in bulk and you can make a small army for holiday gifties. I use a teaspoon of the spice in my oatmeal and often add it it to my oatmeal cookies. This also works just dandy on apple dishes as well...it's what I use on my apple pie! I hope you enjoy me little recipe and project, don't forget to hop on over to the pink couch, I believe there is a lovely picnic to be looked at!