Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

So when you spend the weekend hosting a party and cooking up a storm, you don't really feel much like grocery shopping. Or, well, if you're me, you don't. So I spent the week eating leftovers. Leftover Trader Joe's vegan meatballs, leftover black olives from the chili toppings, and leftover tortilla chips from the gargantuan Costco bag.

I mixed in some baby spinach and dubbed it "vegan meatball nachos." Honestly? not so bad.

This morning, Stephanie and I had a running date to do ten miles. When I woke up, though, my right foot hurt. BAD. I couldn't really put weight on it when I stepped out of bed. I walked the dogs, hoping it would start to warm up and I'd be fine. No dice - I limped the whole time. So, I called Stephanie to bail on our date.

I'm hoping that a day of rest fixes things. I'm very sore on the side of my ankle/heel, and have no idea why. I'm planning to get up and run tomorrow morning. I'm not happy about this, and I'm frustrated and will probably post about this later this week.

For now, I'd like to show you how I spent my morning.

I've been giving this lil' guy quite the workout lately.

I was inspired by Heather's post earlier this week. Pumpkin cinnamon buns? Seriously? Bring it. BRING IT. Especially this morning, when I was up and chipper, and it was 7:30 and my plans for the next few hours had been kind of blown. Since I didn't have many of the ingredients on hand (spelt and whole wheat flours, etc), I googled around for an alternative recipe, and ended up with this guy.

Rolled out, after the first rise:

Filling ingredients:

Spread over the softened butter and pumpkin dough.

All rolled up.

And ready for the second rise.

Are you doubled in size? Who can tell? It's been a good amount of time, so you're going in the oven, period.

Oh. Wow. Hello there.

Yes, I think it's important to slather you with as much cream cheese frosting as humanly possible.

GAAAAAAAAH.

Now, the only problem is that I have fifteen of these suckers left. But I guess, in the grand scheme of things, it's not a bad problem to have. Who wants to come over and finish these off?