Pumpkin day 8

Back to burritos!  To add to the normal fixings, I sautéed some pumpkin cubes with onion and corn.  I shall call it the pumpkin burrito.  No photo because I was starving and forgot to take a picture before I scarfed down two of them.

Pumpkin Day 7

I didn't make anything pumpkin at home but I did try the Pumpkin Spice latte at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf today. I was skeptical after my disappointing experience at Peets a couple weeks ago, but after one sip I knew I had at last found a pumpkin spice winner!  This one is delicious!  The sweetness is subtle, the spiciness is just right and I swear I actually tasted pumpkin.  You just have to order it without the vanilla powder and it's totally dairy free.  Basically it's just an almond milk latte with pumpkin syrup.  And it just made my day.  Let's all say "ahhhhhhh...."

Thank you Coffee Bean for getting it right.

Pumpkin Day 6

Pumpkin chia pudding. Hmm that's interesting.  Usually I make my chia pudding with fresh strawberries.  This definitely tastes more like fall and fulfills my pumpkin quota for the day.  Now chia pudding is not for everyone.  I happen to love it, but it is a bit "strange."  I don't think I've ever had tapioca pudding, but I've heard that's what it's like in consistency.  Chia pudding is full of nutritious stuff and when made with almond or coconut milk is just a whole bowl of healthy delicious goodness.

Here's a picture of my pumpkin version.  By the way, I'm not super impressed with how my photos are turning out lately, but taking them and blogging on my phone is so fast and easy.

Recipe is from PaleOMG.

http://paleomg.com/protein-pumpkin-pie-chia-pudding/

I didn't add protein powder and I used maple syrup instead of honey.

Pumpkin Day 5

Even though it was still close to 100 degrees again today I had this giant pumpkin sitting on my counter and I just had to use it.  So I roasted it for the soup.  And it made a ton of soup.  I'll be eating it for lunch all week thats how much it made.  But that's fine!  It's pumpkin time!

By the way, I should just point out that I finally downloaded the blogger app for my phone and that's how I've been posting the past 4 times and today.  Just FYI.

Okay so back to this roasted pumpkin soup. I had envisioned something totally different than what actually turned out.  But it was still pretty good.  The pumpkin was not orange at all, which kind of threw me off, and it tasted more like potato.  In essence, this was pretty much a potato, vegetable soup reminiscent of cold winter nights with my moms cooking growing up. That's not a bad thing.

No recipe here, just a bunch of veggies and spices thrown in a big pot with some roasted pumpkin.  (Is it supposed to be yellow?  I'm so confused.  I feel like I've made pumpkin stuff before from fresh pumpkin and it hasn't been so yellow.)

Oh and I made my pumpkin spice coffee again this morning.  Yummy.

31 Days of Pumpkin, Day 4

It was a busy day visiting family in another town, so not much time for making anything pumpkin.  That's what Trader Joes is good for!  I absolutely LOVE all the pumpkin stuff at Trader Joes right now.  I stocked up yesterday, and this morning I was able to have Pumpkin O's for breakfast.  They were not what I was expecting, they were better!!  They taste like a pumpkin spice latte in the form of cereal.  Very pumpkiny and gingery.  Yum.

Also, since I had opened a can of pumpkin purée yesterday for the zucchini bread, I decided to mix a spoonful of it into the applesauce for R.  I tried some and it is delicious!  I then served myself a bowl. Thankyouverymuch.

31 Days of Pumpkin, Day 3

I was going to make a roasted pumpkin soup today but does everyone realize how ridiculously hot it is here?  The temperature thing on my car said 97 degrees today.  At 10:45am.  No matter how many little pumpkins and gourds and scarecrow things and chrysanthemums I bring into the house, it still feels like the middle of July.  And I do not feel like roasting a pumpkin in the oven in the middle of July.  

So I made banana zucchini bread instead.  Pretty simple.  Most recipes are the same-- grated zucchini, ripe bananas, and applesauce, etc. Except instead of applesauce I used puréed pumpkin of course.  

I actually followed this recipe from Post Punk Kitchen.  Swap out the applesauce for pumpkin like I did for a festive fall treat!  (I made muffins instead of a loaf.) I also used coconut oil instead of canola and coconut sugar.

http://www.theppk.com/2013/07/zucchini-banana-bread/

31 Days of Pumpkin, Day 2

Second attempt at a homemade pumpkin spice latte was a success.

It's not so much a latte, as it is flavored milk to pour into my coffee.  But I think I figured it out!  Here is my recipe for pumpkin spice coffee.

1/2 unsweetened coconut milk (or any non-dairy milk of your choice)

1 tablespoon pumpkin purée 

1 teaspoon pure maple syrup

2 dashes of pumpkin spice seasoning

While the coffe is brewing, mix the above ingredients for the pumpkin spice milk in a small pot on the stove over low heat.  Use a whisk to gently froth the milk as it heats.  

When coffee is ready, pour pumpkin spice milk into coffee, stir and enjoy!

Serves 1