Being thankful with Pumpkin Ice-cream

Just because I'm Australian, it doesn't mean I can't partake in a day about being thankful (and a day dedicated to having me some pumpkin!!).

I have so much to be thankful for I don't know where to start. 

We spend a lot of our lives working towards future goals that we seem to let the present fly by and quickly become the past. I have a bit of the opposite problem and relate far too much with this old Cup of Jo article about worrying. Some nights I just peep into Maddie's room to hear her heavy breathing, climb back into bed next to a snoring bear of husband and burst into tears. I feel so incredibly lucky that I am terrified. But with the worry comes thanks. Every day I am thankful for the amount of love I have in my life,  and even though I miss so many of them being all around the world, I am thankful that I have so many special people to miss. I am thankful that I said yes to the nervous Senior who asked me to dance 14  years ago, and thankful for the life that we have forged for ourselves ever since. And words just can't describe how thankful I feel for my healthy and happy little girl who every day melts my forever swelling heart.

I need to stop there before I go on all night long and dissolve into a puddle of emotion! The other part of Thanksgiving that I love is the overuse of Pumpkin!! I have always loved pumpkin soup, roast pumpkin and pumpkin scones. A bowl of comforting pumpkin soup was always my request when I wasn't feeling well, it just seemed to have healing powers for me. 

I was introduced to the concept of canned pumpkin by my friends in Oxford and it still confuses me a little! I have had some and its great and all, but I guess what I don't understand is why you wouldn't just use the real thing?! I guess I think of pumpkin too traditionally, so can't conceive of a world where you'd make an entire pot of soup from canned/sweetened/spiced pumpkin. 

We had a very pumpkin-filled meal tonight. It was kind of by accident, kind of on purpose! I wanted to make pumpkin ice-cream and pumpkin risotto, so cooked up two big butternut pumpkins. 

The risotto was creamy and delicious and not dissimilar to my SuperPumpkin Soup from yesteryear! 

And onto dessert...

Once the pumpkin was cooked and had cooled, I added in cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice. I then mixed it together well with regular vanilla ice-cream and put it back in the freezer to reset. 

Then I got to work on the meringues! I made mini-pavlova's I guess you could say, but then added in the traditional pumpkin spices too, to really compliment the pumpkin ice-cream. 

It could be said that these were "indescribable" but yet "the goodness of a ice-cream with the greatness of pavlova and the amazingness of a pumpkin waffle". Thanks husband. 

Wishing a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American family and friends. And happy and thankful thoughts to all of my non-American family and friends, may the pumpkin be with you all.