pumpkin spice coffee syrup

Today really felt like fall is right around the corner so I decided to whip up some pumpkin spice coffee syrup. Pumpkin spice is my favorite flavor to add to my lattes. I found this recipe and decided to tweak it a bit to make mine. 

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup

adapted from Two Red Bowls.

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup pumpkin

1. Combine water and sugars in sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil until sugars are dissolved then reduce heat to low.

2. Add in cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin. Whisk vigorously to combine and let simmer 5-10 minutes stirring constantly. Do not let come to a boil.

3. Let cool on stove about 10 minutes then pour through a fine mesh strainer into jar or container. When I was straining the mixture I had to clean the mesh off a few times.

Keep stored in refrigerator. I used about 3 tablespoons of syrup for each mug of coffee.

This tastes so much better than any store bought pumpkin syrup I have tried. So delicious and pumpkiny. It also made my whole house smell like cinnamon! Always a plus!

It's that time again...

Guess what!!! It's time for Whipped again! I am so exciting to be able to participate in this and to work with the lovely Leti of Becoming Lola again. We are also working on a little something else but that's a secret for now. You are all going to love it though!

Anyway, let's get back to Whipped. It's week 1 and the secret ingredient list had some pretty good choices on it. 

Here they are:

sprigs of asparagus

apple sauce

self-raising flour

porridge oats

greek yogurt

I chose apple sauce. I wanted to be ambitious and use greek yogurt as well but that didn't quite work out. This week was rather hectic so I didn't have time to research as much as I wanted to for recipes. So, since I was in a time crunch I opted to find a simple recipe that included a cake mix. I love using cake mixes and adding a little something special to them. I found this recipe on the Duncan Hines website. 

Old Fashioned Applesauce Spice Cake

via Duncan Hines

1 pkg spice cake mix

3 large eggs

1 1/4 c apple sauce

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Spray cake pan and set aside.

Combine cake mix, eggs, apple sauce and oil in large bowl. Stir until well combined. If using nuts then mix in now. Pour into cake pan.

Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly.

For the frosting I used a pre-made cream cheese frosting and mixed in 1/2 tsp cinnamon. I would have much rather made this icing but like I said it just wasn't in the cards this week.

Check out Whipped and join us! It's so much fun!

snap, crackle, pop!

Rice krispies have been on of my favorites for a very long time. Yesterday, we were going to get to hang out with some friends we very rarely get to see so I decided to whip up some yummy treats for them. I decided on original rice krispies, peanut butter rice krispies and homemade almond joys (recipe coming soon)! Everything turned out great and everyone loved them! Here's the recipe I used for the rice krispies.

Rice Krispies

adapted from the Kellog's Rice Krispie cereal box

6 cups puffed rice cereal

1 pkg or 10 oz., marshmallows

3 tbsp. butter or margarine

1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)

Melt butter in large saucepan, then add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. If using peanut butter add with the marshmallows. When this is completely melted take pan off heat and add cereal. Then, spread onto greased baking sheet with wax paper or buttered spatula. Let cool, cut into squares or use cookie cutters to make shapes and enjoy!

inspirations

I read blogs like there's no tomorrow. I usually wake up to 40-50 blog updates on my GoogleReader every morning. Some of them I just skim through and save the recipes and some I love to read. One of my favorites is The Kitchy Kitchen. One of my favorite things about this blog is the videos! Check this out...

Blueberry Muffin Ice Cream from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Does that not make you just want to go out and buy some blueberries and get to cookin'!?

Check out the recipe here.

red velvet cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting

I love red velvet cake and I have never been able to make one myself that doesn't just taste like food coloring. That's the most difficult part of this cake. I finally decided to try once again. I always start my recipe search on Joy the Baker's site. So, I searched red velvet on her site and came across a recipe called "My Favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes." The icing was the kicker with these cupcakes. Cinnamon cream cheese frosting, yeah, does that not sounds absolutely heavenly. It is, believe me. If it's not the best icing ever then I don't know what is. If you have a different favorite please let me know so I can try it!

 Here's what I ended up with.

It never fails, the hubs always wants to lick the bowl. He's cute. 

I highly recommend these cupcakes. They are absolutely amazing! Joy never lets me down! 

spazagna aka baked spaghetti

This is one of our favorite meals. I can make this on, let's say, a Monday and it can last the hubs and I 4 or 5 days if we just eat it for dinner. I usually have leftovers for lunch as well. I would almost dare say I like this better as leftovers than when it's first baked! I highly recommend that everyone try this recipe! I want to explain the name a little bit as well. Since this recipe is very similar to lasagna but you use spaghetti noodles we combined the two and made spazagna! Pretty clever if I do say so myself :)

Baked Spaghetti (Spazagna)

• 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
• 1 pound ground beef (optional)
• 1 (26 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook spaghetti according to package. Drain and set aside. If using beef then brown and drain and combine with spaghetti sauce. Whisk the eggs, parmesan cheese and butter then toss with spaghetti. Grease your 13x9 inch casserole dish with cooking spray then spread a small amount of the spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the dish. Add about half of the spaghetti noodles to the dish and then spread half of the ricotta on top of the noodles. Next add about half of the sauce on top of that then add 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers then bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes covered then uncover and bake for 20-25 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

strawberry pie (tart)

I found this recipe a couple of years ago and it is amazing! One of the few that I've added to my personal recipe collection. You can substitute the strawberries for any other fruit you would like. I have tried peaches and it's so yummy! 

Fruit pie (tart)

adapted from here.

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
• 3 cups sliced fresh fruit
• about 1/4 cup sugar if using strawberries (optional)
• 
  
• In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and milk until smooth. Spread over the bottom and up the sides of the crust.
• Dice fruit of choice and if using strawberries you can use 1/4 cup of sugar to sprinkle over the strawberries and toss to make a glaze. If using other fruit just dice and spread on top of cream cheese mixture.
• Chill for up to 4 hours then serve. 
• *Best served same day as prepared.

For graham cracker crust

1 1/2 c. crushed graham crackers

1/4 c. sugar

1/3 c. butter, melted

Crush graham crackers, combine with sugar and melted butter and press into 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool then add filling for pie. 

• 
  

perfect summer side

Up until about a year and a half ago I did not like potato salad. I wouldn't even try it! For some reason I just "knew" I didn't like it. Obviously, I was wrong. Two of our lovely friends that we were having weekly movie nights with would grill every week and make us dinner. I, of course, was in charge of desserts. So, each week we would go to their house and they always grilled something delicious and the girls would make some yummy sides while the boys did the grilling. One week we went over there and they had made potato salad and being a guest I decided to try it. I loved it! Fletcher did too which is weird because he hadn't liked it before either. I had to have the recipe and now we make it all the time! So, here's the recipe for the best potato salad I've ever had!

Courtesy of our lovely friends Johnny and Mekisha.

Mashed Potato Salad

This recipe is so easy, it's really just a recipe that you don't need measurement for.

4-5 large potatoes

Mustard, to taste

Mayo, to taste

Relish, to taste

1 hard boiled egg for every 2 potatoes

Onion, optional

Wash, cut and boil potatoes until soft enough to mash with a fork. Boil eggs and then peel off the shell. Drain potatoes and put in large bowl, mix in mustard, mayo and relish to taste. Dice onion and eggs. Add eggs and then onion if you like and stir up and mash potatoes while stirring. Then viola! You have a yummy side for a picnic or barbecue!