Harvest Pumpkin Ale

The oven is still broken and I've been quite the workaholic this week. But my family and friends have been bringing me pumpkin stuff left and right to help me out. They are so supportive. So that is why this week I bring you Samuel Adam's Harvest Pumpkin Ale!

It was a little rough to drink at first and I couldn't taste the Pumpkin at all. Then it slowly got smoother but I still couldn't taste the pumpkin. So all in all it's not a bad beer. Its just not very pumpkiny.(But maybe I've had so much pumpkin lately its hard to taste it) I personally will stick to Oktoberfest.

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

And the oven is still broken. Yay! So in light of that I bring you the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

This Picture is from the Starbucks web page. No way could I take a picture that good.

If you have not heard of or tried this delectable treat I must ask you were you have been? Because many say that it is not fall until these are available at Starbucks. Now I'm not that crazed of a PSL fan but I can see why people get that way about them. They are delightful!

See not nearly as good of a picture.

I do enjoy them with a croissant or a cookie. Whichever strikes me that day. What do you enjoy your PSL with or do you like it by itself?

Fall Mantle 2013

And my oven in broken... So the pumpkin challenge recipe that I was to make will be delayed till Thursday. Because I can not make half the things I was planning to without a working oven. So I will have to figure something out to keep the challenge going without needing an oven. Sigh.

So instead I will go ahead and show you my fall mantle decorations for this year. Sorry in advance for the bad photography I only have the camera on my smartphone. Sometimes its great, others not so much.

When I was trying to figure out what to do I knew I needed to use mostly stuff I had and just make it look fall. So the best part about this mantle is that the candles with the brown ribbons were already there! All I did was remove the blue candles my mother had out. And half the project was done. Yay!
The next thing I had to do was fill in the rest. Which for some reason turned out to be a harder task then expected. I had to find the right vase fillers and the right thing to to fill the void of a missing candle on one of the pedestal.  I thought I was just going to waltz into Hobby Lobby and find everything I needed as usual. Not so much this year. It was only September and they already had their fall decor on a discount and was putting out their Christmas stuff. Seemed strange to me because the fall months haven't even officially hit us. But I managed to find this wonderful leaf garland, these beaded twig things (I don't know how else to describe them), and some other things for my outside decor.

Next thing we found was this adorable pumpkin at Twigs. I love that store for inspiration. But they can be a little pricey so I rarely purchase anything. But the glitzy pumpkin was too cute to pass up. And it fit perfectly on the pedestal and brought balance to the mantle (Almost typed the force. Haha)

So then the hardest part! Filling these vases that used to hold candles! Who knew it would be such a daunting task. I had seen vases filled with cranberries all over Pintrest and I loved the look. And cranberry vase fillers should be so easy to find right? Nope. I looked at four different craft stores with no luck. I didn't want to use real ones because I like to cook with those and the only ones I could find were at Pottery Barn for $14.95 and it would have filled only one vase. So that was not going to happen. Then I was in Old Time Pottery and I found these apples and some dried, red and orange babies breath. All together it worked great and brought a fall harvest feel with a touch of Halloween whimsy that will be great through Thanksgiving.

Let me know what you think or show me your fall decorations. I love to see other peoples ideas.

Pumpkin Butter

The first day of Pumpkin everything has begun! And the the first recipe is Pumpkin Butter!

This was so easy to make and very tasty. I've been enjoying it on my toast this morning and I might put it in my oatmeal sometime.

Ing.

• 29oz can pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup apple juice
• 2 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground nutmeg

Directions 

1. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan: stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 30 min until thickened. Stir frequently.
2. Transfer to sterile containers and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. It's great for a gift or a snack.

Fall Housewarming Gift

Our good friends Colleen and Joey just moved in to their first home so we put together a basket with fall smelly good stuff.

Glade has that awesome fall fragrance collection so I just went with that theme.

I also designed my first gift tag! I made the template and then glued it to orange card stock. Then I used a pair of scrapbook scissors for the scalloped edge. You can download the template here. ( Ahhh! I just posted my first printable! So excited!) You can edit it to take out the congrats and make this basket just a lovely fall gift for a friend.

Pumpkin Spice Dougnuts at Krispy Kreme!

I know I said I was not going to start till the 23rd, but I was in the Krispy Kreme drive through and there they were on the menu! I just had to get one.

It was pretty good. Tasted like a dense version of pumpkin bread. Would I just have to buy it again...no. I think I will stick to original glazed.

Pumpkin Everything!

That's right Pumpkin Flavored Everything! I love pumpkin as much as everyone. And for the sake of the pumpkin loving masses my family and I will be taking a potential hit to our love of pumpkin.

Starting the week of September 23rd and going through Thanksgiving I will be testing, creating, and reviewing all things pumpkin flavored. I know its a challenge and probably near the end I will be the only one eating the stuff. (I just know they will abandon me) To make thing easier on my stomach I will only be doing one thing a week. And probably one or two weeks I'll be rolling through a coffee shop or ice cream parlor to save myself. Some recipes will be more challenging then others but I am totally committed to bringing you the very best of pumpkin flavored.

Wish me luck!

Fall Inspiration

I've been trying to come up with some ideas for our fall decor. We don't really do specific Halloween or Thanksgiving decorations so I like to put together something that lasts longer. I'm feeling like a lot of pumpkins, candles, and mums. And I'm hoping I can find stuff around the house we already have. Here's some ideas that I've been looking at while I try to get a cohesive look in my head.