Fall Fun Recipes!!

Pumpkin ROCKS!!! This time of year there are so many pumpkin recipes out there. I don't know if it's pregnancy or just the fun pumpkin time of year, but I've been trying them all! haha! It doesn't feel like fall here (in the 90s today), and they don't celebrate the same fall holidays here that we do in the US, so it's a fun way to make it feel more like fall here :)

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes

2 cups milk

1 cup strong coffee (I used 3 T of grounds to make 1 cup)

2 T canned pumpkin or fresh

2 t vanilla

Sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to taste

Mix all ingredients in pot, co

ok over low heat until steaming.

YUM!

I'm more of a decaf girl - this is good with decaf too!

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A lot of pumpkin recipes call for pumpkin pie spice. I haven't seen it here in South Asia Land, so I made up my own batch :)

PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (dal chini)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (jaiphal)

1/4 tsp ground cloves (laung/lavang)

1/2 tsp ground ginger (soonth)

If you make this in South Asia, use a little less ginger - it's much stronger here (at least the kind I've used :))

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OK, so I found this recipe below on www.ourbestbites.com - it's AWESOME!!!! REALLY GOOD!!

PUMPKIN PIE MILKSHAKE

1/3 C pumpkin, canned or homemade
1/4 - 1/2 C milk
1/4 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/16 t cloves (just use a 1/8 t measure and fill it half way, or do a pinch)
1/16 t nutmeg

(or instead of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, you can do about a 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice)
2 T brown sugar
2 C vanilla ice cream
a few graham crackers (or digestive biscuits - to sprinkle on top)

Pop it all in a blender. Start with 1/4 C milk and then slowly add more if needed to make the blender process it all.

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My friend posted this recipe on her blog it is sooooo good!! I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but I love pumpkin stuff. These bars are so good!

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BARS

2 sticks of butter, softened (or one cup) {yes, I know that's a lot of butter, but its good!}

1¼ cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned or homemade pumpkin puree {not pie filling}
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

6-12oz semisweet chocolate chips {I use half a bag}

Prepare a 9x13 dish with cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350°.
With an electric mixer on medium high speed, cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and cream until combined. Beat in the pumpkin {the mixture may look a little curdled...it's ok}. Reduce your mixer speed to low and add the flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt. Mix thoroughly. Mixture should be light

and fluffy. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake until top is golden and toothpick comes out clean in the center. Approximately 30-40 minutes. Cool completely {or just go ahead and sneak a little while it's warm}

Well, for those of you that needed a fall pumpkin fix, I hope this helped! Happy Fall!! :)