Halloween Re-Cap

We bought a ton of candy and gave it all away!!! The bowel pictured is actually huge!!

I carved three Fairytale pumpkins and used these LCD flicker battery operated candles by GE(got them at Loews for $7.00) this year. I think they did the trick I just put two lights in each pumpkin.

 After my carving session Mama needed a pumpkin Latte! I was inspired by Mamapea's recipe on her blog Peas and Thank You, but since I have a frother and two types of espresso makers I made mine tailored to my taste and my equipment!

Make a couple of shots of espresso. I used my Italian espresso maker instead of my Nepresso. Make your froth. I have a frother that works great! I add about 1/4 cup of milk to my Nepresso frother just enough to make some nice thick froth. I have seen little hand held frothers that are about $20.00 if you do not want to make the a huge investment. You could also just delete the froth or try and whisk some in another small sauce pan over medium heat. I am froth crazy person so I got the best and most efficient one on the market.

 Add a cup of milk of choice, two big table spoons of pumpkin, a good pinch of clove, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, a good pinch of nutmeg(not pictured),1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. Then whisk together until smooth. Turn heat to medium low making sure it does not boil.

Add a pack of stevia(liquid stevia works best anywhere from 7 to 14 drops depending on how sweet you want it) or some raw honey like 1/2 tbsp and whisk again. Taste test it to make sure it taste like pumpkin pie. If it doesn't add more spices until you get the right taste.

Add about a teaspoon of half and half to make it extra creamy if you have it on hand.

Add your foam first, then the espresso and finally pour the pumpkin mixture and sprinkle with cinnamon. This was a bit of trail in error to get the Latte to taste like a slice of pumpkin pie, but I finally got it:) This makes one huge mug or two normal size mugs of Pumpkin Pie Latte Goodness:)

I made spicy pumpkin seeds from my pumpkin carving adventure. Ben asked about ten times when would they be ready when he got home from work. You can see in the picture almost half are gone! You have to dry them out in the oven on 250 degrees for about three hours make them dry enough to make them crunchy if they are fresh from the pumpkin. Quite a task to separate them from the stringy flesh of the pumpkin. You have to put them in a strainer and run water over them and pull the seeds away from the flesh by hand. Once they where pretty dry I toss them in grape seed oil, brown sugar, garlic powder, cinnamon and chili powder. Then turned the oven to 350 degrees and toasted them for about 30 minutes(tossing them about every 10 minutes). If you buy them already dry they take about 10 minutes and then toss them in the oven then another 10 minutes.

 I received so many complements on my pumpkins from all the Moms in the neighborhood. I had a little group of ladies huddled around them asking where I got them and the LCD lights! I think a good day had by all!