The Flavors of Fall by Merri Maywether

 

As the leaves change color and a crisp breeze fills the air, autumn brings us new opportunities for fun. Everyone is sharing the bounty from their gardens, which means zucchini breads, muffins, and cakes. People are canning and jarring. It’s the start of Friday Night Football games, trips to the apple orchard, and visits to the pumpkin patch.

It is also the season of pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice is one of those like-it or no-way seasonings. Last year, I wanted to have fun with the pumpkin spice debate. So I wrote a character who didn’t like the flavor but made an award-winning recipe. To add to the fun I named her….Ginger.  

For the longest time, like Ginger, I shuddered at the thought of pumpkin spice. Then I made a pumpkin pie cheesecake for my uncle. Now I know it was the nutmeg and allspice ratios.

Once I knew the why behind my hesitance to try anything pumpkin spice, like Ginger, I made my own recipe. Here it is: 

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• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Now, I love autumn because it’s the season of pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins….(you get the idea) 

What is your favorite thing about autumn?

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Ginger has always been the small-town girl with a big heart and a healthy dose of sass to go along with it. A weekend of family fun has her considering leaving the comforts of a life of blue-ribbon recipes and a home where everyone sees her simply as Sally and Joe’s sweetheart of a niece.

When Owen left Hope Springs, he thought he shook off the dust of his small town beginnings. However, his rags-to-riches life brings him back to, of all places, the pumpkin patch with the woman who believed in him all those years ago.

A weekend together brings Ginger and Owen together. The two childhood friends may need a map to navigate the maze of events to find the happily ever after everyone in Hope Springs knows they deserve. That is, if they’ll slow down and read the directions.

For the week of September 19th -September 23rd, Hope Springs Harvest Days is a part of the Kindle Countdown 99¢ deal. 

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