If you give a person a pumpkin (or a few), they can use it to make the perfect autumn-themed dishes.

Pumpkins can be used in so many different ways, so why stick with the basic pumpkin pie? Here are recipes to incorporate pumpkin into breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert!

Pumpkin French Toast

For breakfast, we all love French toast. But why not spice it up a little? Literally. Adding in some pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla and pumpkin puree to your French toast batter gives your classic French toast that perfect fall vibe. To get more of that pumpkin taste, feel free to add more puree. Top it with butter and syrup, or try some confectionary sugar to make it even better!

Here's the full recipe!

Pumpkin Grilled Cheese

For lunch, grilled cheese is one of my absolute favorites. Adding pumpkin is a little time consuming, but TOTALLY worth it. You’ll need to roast the pumpkin, since a runny puree doesn’t stay on a sandwich very well. The good news is you don’t have to do anything but cut the pumpkin in half, clean out the seeds, and put the pumpkin in the oven. Then you just need to flip it halfway through.

Once it’s done roasting, scoop out the pumpkin, put it on the buttered bread as you grill it, add the quick spice mix and cheese and voila! Pumpkin grilled cheese. Tip for those of you who don’t want to pay for fancy cheese (like me), Swiss cheese works as a good substitute for expensive Gruyere. I used it, and it was wonderful.

Check out the full recipe and directions here.

Savory Pumpkin Pizza

For dinner, if you don’t like pizza, then you’re probably just wrong. But wait, what if it was a PUMPKIN pizza? Even better! It’s the perfect blend of your favorite food and autumn. Basically, you make a sauce with pumpkin puree, garlic, shallot, thyme, Parmesan, and some onion, and use that as your pizza sauce on premade or homemade dough. Top it with arugula and Havarti cheese, and you have one incredible fall-infused pizza. Here’s everything you’ll need.

Pumpkin Swirl Chocolate Brownies

For dessert, brownies are the perfect fudgy chocolate-y treat. So, why not make it even better and add pumpkin? For this delicious fall extravagance, you start with your basic brownie box mix with the necessary eggs, oil and water. Mix according to the directions, and pour into your baking pan.

To add the perfect amount of pumpkin-y goodness, just mix cream cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, egg and pumpkin puree, and swirl it all over the top of your brownie batter. Bake and you’re done! Your reward? The most autumn-tastic brownie you’ll ever have!

Like these recipes? Have any of your own that you'd like us to feature? Comment below or tag us on social media @AuburnCampusRec and let us know. And as always,

Be well, Auburn.

Photography: Julia B.