P is for Pumpkin

When Sam and I were making the list of places in Utah to go one last time, one of our last stops was Nielsen's Frozen Custard. We went the night before Sam set out on the Great Trek Across the Nation, and to our delight, the flavor of the day was pumpkin. I am all about pumpkin. This is one huge reason why autumn is my second favorite season (to spring): pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin custard. Last fall, when Bria was eating her first solid foods, her first choice was always freshly baked and pureed pumpkin. In high school, I went absolutely nuts for pumpkin bagels from Einstein's. I would go after school and buy every pumpkin bagel they would give me. It bordered on obsession.
So, with pumpkins on my mind, I decided we needed to mimic Nielsen's amazing creation. I purchased the ingredients several days ago, and finally found time in the lazy Sunday afternoon yesterday to whip it together. While the custard froze in the ice cream machine, I baked my favorite brownies, and then we had something to look forward to for the rest of the day.

As I should have guessed, Bria went nuts for it. As I transferred the custard to a freezer tupperware, Bria spotted me. She ran over and demanded some. I gave her one little taste, and that was it. She was signing "more" before she even finished each bite. She ate quite her fair share before I finally managed to distract her and stash the custard in the freezer. And when Bria finally turned in for the night, I dished up some bowls of custard and brownies, which we devoured while watching old episodes of 30 Rock. It was the perfect way to end the weekend and gear ourselves up for Monday.