By September. Megan is back in the classroom. Seventh year teaching. New kids, new energy, the same Megan. She came home on the first day and told me about a girl named Iris who brought a book to read during lunch because she said the cafeteria was "too much." Megan set up a quiet reading corner in the classroom the next day. This is what good teachers do: they see a kid and they build a world around what that kid needs. I married a world-builder.
The Packers are back. Tom and I watched the opener at the Cape Cod. Brats, beer, opinions. Megan was there, laptop open, grading papers between plays. She now has opinions about the offensive line. She expressed these opinions loudly during the fourth quarter. Tom looked at me and nodded. The nod said: she's one of us.
Six months of trying. Still nothing. The patience is harder now — not because we're less patient but because the hope is heavier. Every month is a small grief followed by a small reset. Megan handles it by being busy. I handle it by making soup. This week: mushroom barley, the fall version, earthy and thick. Soup as therapy. Soup as prayer. Soup as the thing I can control when the things I can't control are all I think about.
At the brewery, the Oktoberfest is on tap. The cherry sour is aging beautifully. The barrel room smells like a tart orchard. The head brewer walked through it this week and said, "This room is yours." Not the brewery. The room. But the room is where my heart is. The room is where the weird, risky, beautiful experiments happen. The room is mine. That's enough.
I mentioned the mushroom barley soup, but I didn’t mention what was in the oven while it simmered. When I’m in that mode—soup as therapy, soup as prayer—I tend to keep going. The barrel room is where I do my risky experiments; the kitchen is where I do the safe ones. This pumpkin cornbread is as safe and solid as it gets: a little sweet, a little earthy, the color of October. It sat on the counter next to the pot and made the whole house smell like a thing worth coming home to. Megan graded three papers and ate two pieces before dinner was even on the table.
Pumpkin Cornbread
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 9
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Heat your oven to 400°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan or spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until evenly combined.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, milk, melted butter, and honey until smooth.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined. Do not overmix — a few lumps are fine. Overmixing will make the cornbread tough.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool and serve. Let the cornbread cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, ideally alongside a bowl of soup.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 188 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 218mg