The Prudent Pantry: Halloween 2010 Quick Pumpkin Recipes

It's that time of year again--the time when I find myself wishing Halloween was a food holiday the way Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter are. I mean, sure, there's candy. But I long for sit-down holiday traditions!

Canned pumpkin is back on store shelves, which is making it easy for me to add little bits of Halloween to all our meals.

Here are a few ideas:

Pumpkin Pancakes: If you're in a hurry, Trader Joe's sells a mix. But almost as fast is this tasty variation of my pancake mix: replace the milk in Mom's Pancakes with 1 cup canned pumpkin and 1-1.5 cups milk or almond milk. You may need extra milk since the pumpkin isn't as wet.

Vegan Pumpkin Soup: Replace all or part of the butternut squash in my Autumn Squash Soup with canned or fresh pumpkin (for fresh, prepare it exactly like the squash).

Pumpkin Bread: Just replace the banana in your favorite banana bread recipe with pumpkin and add some pumpkin pie spice for extra kick.

Pumpkin Pie: I usually associate this tasty dessert with Thanksgiving, but why not start a month early? If you have a favorite pie recipe, please share it in the comments!

Pumpkin Cookies: I haven't tried this pumpkin cookie recipe yet, but it's from Martha Stewart, so you know it'll be delicious (if a bit fiddly).

Any more ideas for cooking with pumpkin?