504 Main by Holly Lefevre: pumpkin

Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Let's Make Some Pumpkin Soup!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

I love pumpkin and I regularly shop at Save Mart Supermarket, so this is a perfect match!

*****

I adore pumpkins.

I love their shape - all crazy and round and perfectly imperfect.

I love their color - shades of orange like a magnificent sunset.

I love their flavor, rich and hearty and so perfect for Fall.

I typically use pumpkin in sweeter items,
(cookies, cakes, bread, pancakes, souffles)
but I was really wanting to try my hand at creating a savory pumpkin dish.

When I head to Save Mart Supermarket (which I do almost daily)
this time of the year, I just love it!
It feels like a field trip to a pumpkin patch.
They have pumpkins everywhere!
Big ones, little ones, and my favorite - pie pumpkins (sometimes called sugar pumpkins)!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice (too good to not share again)

I gotta tell you...I flip for pumpkin anything!

Pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie...

Carved pumpkins,tattooed pumpkins...

Big pumpkins, small pumpkins...

I {heart} pumpkins!

I also love that pumpkin pie flavor. So much so that in the Fall (and summer, and spring and winter) I often use pumpkin pie spice in my recipes when it calls for cinnamon (and I think the flavor profiles fit).

What I do not like is the price of pumpkin pie spice. I got a teeny tiny bottle of it at the store yesterday...almost $6.00. All of the other spices were on sale...so I had a flash of brilliance (or at least I think so).

Why don't I just make my own?

In fact, I already had all of the spices I needs at home. I use cinnamon a lot and ginger too, but nutmeg and allspice, well I do not use them all that much.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Fall Dessert: Oatmeal Cookie Apple Pie Bake

This Apple and Oatmeal Cookie Fall dessert is brought to you by Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community and Smart and Final.

Fall is coming!

To me that means crisp sunny days...

pumpkins...warm sweaters...colorful leaves...

apples...and baking!

Yes, Fall makes me want to bake...and bake...and bake.

Oatmeal Cookie Apple Pie Bake by 504 Main #ChooseSmart #shop

Sometimes there is too much happening in my life to bake a treat completely from scratch, but yet I still want to make something with that special homemade feel. For that reason, I challenged myself to create a go-to Fall dessert that was totally yummy, but also super easy to make. I purchased First Street Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, one of Smart and Final's pre-made bakery items!

I have made dessert with cookie crusts before...but man oh man it takes time.

By using the First Street Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, I was able to skip quite a few steps, and save on time and ingredients!

Perfecto!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Feelin' FALL: Pumpkin Spice Latte (Hot or Blended!)

I confess...

I had never tasted a pumpkin spice latte until 2 weeks ago.

For Real!

I am a mocha girl through and through,

but I just had to do it...

that chalkboard at Starbucks was calling my name

and I was "Feelin' Fall."

I LOVE pumpkin and loved my first Pumpkin Spice Latte experience.

But alas, we are jobless in this house, so buying coffee out is a pure treat right now,

so no heading to the local coffee house for coffee any time I want...

and then I saw this recipe for Homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Savvy Sassy Me.

(and you can google pumpkin Spice Latte and find a million recipes too)

I made a Latte right away, and thought that it tasted great.

My hubby liked it too, but to satisfy our taste buds we wanted to make a few changes. I wanted something a little less sweet - or that I or whoever I was serving it to could sweeten to their liking and also something a bit less pumpkin-y.

So, I experimented and experimented - all of the concoctions were delicious, but I finally found a "formula" that made us all happy and a few taste testers happy too! I also used my DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice too!

Ingredients

3 Cups (Plain) Coconut Milk (you can also use nonfat/lowfat/regular milk)

1 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee (or espresso)

1 Tablespoon organic pumpkin puree (freeze the rest or put it in the frig so you can make lattes any time...or try another pumpkin recipe!)

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup or Honey (or sweetener of choice)

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoon homemade vanilla syrup (or store bought syrup)

1-2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional - depends on the flavor you want!

Make It HOT!

You can make this one of two ways.

You can cook it on low on the stove top or as

Savvy Sassy Me did, use the crockpot/slowcooker.

1. Brew coffee. Make it extra strong...I ran mine through The Scoop two times.

2. Place the coconut milk and coffee in the crockpot.

3. Turn crockpot onto low.

4. Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, vanilla, vanilla syrup, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon*.

5. Whisk to blend.

6. Cook for about 2 hours in the crockpot or 30-45 minutes on the stovetop.

*Note: You can taste test as you cook to adjust sugar/sweetness and spices. I suggest going easy on both until you find a combination that pleases your palate.

To store, let cool and store in the frig. I used a 1/2 gallon mason jar for storage.

Make It Blended!

I love a blended coffee beverage...so I took a shot at blending this Pumpkin Spice Latte. I do realize it is kind of contradictory - Fall makes you think warm and cozy and here I am adding ice to it!