Starbucks Fake Out: Pumpkin Spice Syrup

To quote my friend James:

“I feel like all of America is shouting at top of their lungs “GIVE ME PUMPKIN EVERYTHING!!!”

True story. The weather in New York is sitting at a pleasant 60 degrees and everyone has pumpkin spice lattes, scones, bread, and anything with the essential flavor of fall on their minds. As many of you know I used to work for Starbucks and fell in love with their pumpkin spice syrup. Now that taste officially ushers in the fall season for me. Last fall I posted a Fake-Out recipe for chai tea concentrate that was so popular that I decided to figure out a Pumpkin Spice syrup recipe this year. Through a little trial & error I’ve made a sugar free version to add into my morning coffee and chai. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

3 cups water
1 1/2 cup Splenda
6 tbs pumpkin purée
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp chai tea seasoning

In a medium saucepan heat water and sugar until dissolved. Whisk spices and pumpkin purée into the warm mixture and cook for five minutes on low heat. Don’t bring the mixture to a boil, just keep it warm. Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh or cheesecloth. Refrigerate and enjoy in your morning coffee!

 

Happy Fall!

~Charlie

 

Dirt Cake….yup that dirt cake from your childhood

Alright friends- today’s recipe has the potential to be a gut bomb. I remember having this tasty dessert when I was little around halloween time. Tom and I had some friends over for scary movie night and decided this classic old school dessert would be the perfect ending to our evening. I’ll admit that I was slightly horrified at all of the typically southern fatty ingredients in it but managed to cut it down using mostly non fat options.

Dirt Cake
8 oz softened nonfat cream cheese
1 container nonfat cool whip
2 packets sugar free vanilla pudding
1 bag low fat Oreos
3 1/2 cups nonfat milk
2 tbs smart balance butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 bag of gummy worms

Using a hand mixer combine pudding mix and milk. Blend for about five minutes until it is starting to set. Add cool whip to the mixture until it is smooth. In a separate bowl, blend together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and butter. Stir cream cheese mixture into cool whip mixture. Meanwhile the fun part: crush up the entire bag of Oreos until it is basically crumbs. Stir about 3/4 of the crumbs into mixture and reserve the rest for topping. Pour mixture into pan, top with remaining crumbs, and cover with worms!

Enjoy!
-Charlie

Blueberry Crisp for Two

Happy October and fall everyone! I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love everything about this season. It has already cooled off here in NYC and I’ve pulled out my fall clothing and started cooking everything with pumpkin. It’s the foodies dream season and I plan on pretending that calories don’t matter when it comes to fall treats. Starting off this month is a simple blueberry crisp- perfect for taking advantage of the last bit of summer fruits and transitioning them to fall!

Blueberry Crisp for two
1 pint blueberries
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup instant oats
1 1/2 tbs butter
1/4 cup bisquick
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

In a small bowl combine brown sugar, bisquick, instant oats, and spices. Using a fork, incorporate butter until mix is crumbly. Split a pint of blueberries between two ramekins. Spoon oats mixture over the top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Thrifty Tip: Making your own ‘cream of’ soup

Any good southern lady will tell you that many many casseroles are based on some sort of ‘cream of’ mystery goo..errr soup. Well as a sensible southerner myself, sometimes I’m watching food network and miss the motherland of Georgia. While watching Paula Deen deep fry a stick of butter, I began to figure out a homemade cheaper alternative to store bought creamed soup-

3 tbs smart balance butter
1 tbs whole wheat flour
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup veggie broth

In a small sauce pan over low heat melt butter. Sprinkle flour into butter and whisk together until it starts to cook and bubble. It’ll start to look like wet sand from the beach. Microwave the wet ingredients for 30 seconds–just enough that they’re warmed. I found they mix together better if it’s a warm mixture. Slowly whisk wet ingredients into flour butter mixture. Continually whisk while bringing to a slow boil. Cook for another 6 minutes while the sauce thickens. Remove from heat, season with salt/pepper/Italian seasoning. At this point you can turn the heat off and prep whatever you’d like it to be cream of. Sauté mushrooms or other veggies then combine with soup in blender and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

Mulled Wine(in the crockpot of course…)

Lets be real for a second- holidays always end up revolving around drinking. There is nothing more lovely and seasonal than curling up with a very large glass of mulled wine. I found this recipe a few months ago on 365 Crockpot and fell in love with it. It makes the whole apartment smell amazing and is a fun different way to drink your $3 bottles of Trader Joes wine. I ended up messing with the ingredients a little so it tasted more like wine and less like warm sangria. The next time you’re going out to buy a sensible six pack of wine for your holiday party(if you had to travel 100 blocks to get 2 buck chuck you’d get 6 bottles too…) grab a few oranges and make this drink for your guests!

Crockpot Mulled Wine

2 Bottles of not so great cheap wine

3 oranges 

3/4 cup white sugar

1/3 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

5 cinnamon sticks

Fill your crockpot with the wine, sugar, and spices. Zest one of the oranges and add it into the wine mix. Juice two of the oranges into the wine and slice up the other orange. Add the sliced orange pieces and cinnamon sticks. Cook on low for 4 hours then switch it to warm. 

Be careful not to leave it on so long that it boils- Boiling removes the alcohol content and thats totally not the point of drinking during the holidays 🙂

Cheers!

~Charlie

Spaghetti Squash made Simple!

A few years ago, I saw a strange vegetable in the grocery store near my beloved yellow squash and zucchini…spaghetti squash. Being a somewhat cautious cook when it comes to new ingredients, I left my curiosity aside and grabbed my butternut squash for some fall soup, and continued on. Fast forward to present day, and I have thrown my culinary caution to the wind; curiosity got the best of me, and I purchased a spaghetti squash!

Let me assure the masses, if you have not already tried spaghetti squash, do not fear! It is a simple and delicious ingredient that is not only very versatile, but also a wonderful, healthy substitute for the empty carbs of traditional noodles. For the recipe below, I compromised the health of the squash with a bit of fried chicken (frying intimidates me as well…so I conquered all kinds of fears with this recipe!). I truly just threw something together for an inexpensive and delicious meal using ingredients I already had in my home. This squash can be treated exactly like pasta…it has slightly more crunch, but I think you’ll find that giving it a quick toss with whatever sauce you decide to use will help the squash be more tender!

Let’s start with the squash:
Pierce the squash with a sharp knife or kitchen fork. Place on a pan and put into a preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour. When the squash is finished,  allow it to cool slightly before cutting it lengthwise in half. Scoop out the seeds (just like a pumpkin). Now, using a fork, scrap the inside of the squash lengthwise…this will make spaghetti-like strands that can be used just like pasta!

Take these strands of squash and toss with the following ingredients in a pan over medium heat:

2 cups store bought pasta sauce
1 Tbsp EVOO
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Once the sauce has warmed and the squash has been tossed until tender over the stove, add 1/2 cup parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella and allow to melt.  Keep over a low heat until ready to serve! (Easy, right?)

Easy Fried Chicken

1/2 chicken breast cut into small pieces
2 cups flower (divided)
1 egg
pinch salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning blend
3/4 cup EVOO

This fried chicken is simple. You’ll need three bowls and a plate. Put one cup flower in a bowl, beat the egg and put it in another bowl, and in the last bowl combine the last cup of flower, parmesan, and seasonings. Start by covering the chicken on both sides with flower, dip in the egg, and cover with the flower/parmesan blend. Place completed chicken on a plate and allow to rest. You’ll want your chicken to rest for at least 10 minutes. Head oil (I used EVOO, but you can use vegetable oil) over a medium heat. When you flick a bit of water in the oil and it sizzles, you’re ready to fry! (You do not, however, want your oil to smoke. Make sure that you keep the heat low enough that the oil does not smoke.) Place the rested pieces of chicken in the oil and allow to cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oil and place on a new plate with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Top the spaghetti squash with your fried chicken and enjoy!

Pumpkin Hummus

Here we are halfway through October and I feel like I’m on a race to see how many recipes I can make involving Pumpkin Puree. Yesterday I had the best surprise: a short day of work. What was looking to be a long 15 hour day slumming it in the background for Pan Am turned out to be a quick 3 hour super short day. With the whole day ahead of me and no show at the opera, I was finally going to make it to my play reading group.  I decided I would make a treat to make up for being absent for the past three weeks while I worked on Anna Bolena at the Met Opera.  I had a half a cup of Pumpkin Puree left over from the Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies I made for the dressing room last week so I decided on trying my hand at Pumpkin Hummus. In all honesty I’ve tried making this a few times from a whole bunch versions I found online and it never quite turned out right.  This time around- I found 8 versions, wrote down what spices they used(but not how much), and experimented until it fit my tastes.

Everyone seemed to love its sweet and savory flavor mixed with the garlic spicy hummus texture.

Pumpkin Hummus
1 can chickpeas with 1/4 cup juice reserved
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spices
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

a few grinds of fresh Sea Salt/Pepper

Honey for drizzling on top
Warm pita for dipping

Combine chickpeas, chickpea juice, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice in food processor and blend until smooth.  Add Pumpkin puree and all of the spices and blend for about 2-3 minutes until everything is well incorporated. Scoop out into your serving dish and crisscross honey over the top of it with a sprinkle of the pumpkin pie spices.

To make simple pita chips- cut pita into triangles, place on cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until you get the desired crispiness.

I was so pleased with how it turned out i plan on making it a few more times this season. Don’t skip out on the honey on top- it was what really pulled all of the flavors together. The best thing about it is that it really should only cost around $2 to but the pita and chickpeas because you should already have everything else in your kitchen 🙂

~Charlie

Stuffed Delicata Squash

As I am sure you have noticed, we are very into fall recipes at Thrifty Foodie right now.  Fall is my absolute favorite season! I love seeing the leaves change, drinking a pumpkin spice latte, and pulling out all of my scarves and sweaters.  One of the foods that I love to cook the most during the fall is squash.  I tried this recipe for the first time, and thought I would share it here.  You could use pretty much any squash for this recipe, as long as it has space to be stuffed. Butternut, acorn…basically anything. Delicata is just what I had on hand. This recipe made me feel fancy (stuffed things!).  I hope you enjoy!

Stuffed Delicata Squash

• 1 large delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup uncooked couscous (cooked according to package directions. I use chicken or veggie broth instead of water. Much more flavor! Quinoa would also work here.)
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 1 zuchini, sliced
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Arrange the squash halves cut side up in a baking dish. Fill dish with about 1/4 inch of water. Place 1 tablespoon butter on each half, and season halves with salt and pepper. Cover dish, and bake squash 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until very tender.

Cook couscous according to directions on the package.  They all seem a little different, so make sure you read them (not that this has backfired on me before or anything.)

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in shallots, zucchini, and garlic, and cook until tender. Stir in pine nuts, and cook until golden. Gently mix into the pot with the cooked couscous. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When the squash is done, remove from the oven and fill with the couscous mixture. Return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. Serve on top of the left over couscous mixture. Be impressed with how fancy you are.

I know this recipe has quite a few steps, but it will also make you feel very good about yourself, so maybe that makes up for it? yes.

Happy Fall, y’all.

Rachel

 

 

 

Pumpkin & Blueberry Pie Inspired Cookies

Living in New York and being borderline poverty stricken doesn’t really give you many reasons to celebrate—except for holidays. Fall is just the beginning of my favorite trio of holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. All holidays quasi focused on food and entertaining with friends. I love throwing a good ol fashioned southern charm holiday party. This past Christmas my friend (and future roommate) Jonah brought me the most interesting cookie combination- pumpkin cookies. These little treats had a soft cake-like consistency on the inside but were almost crunchy on the outsides. Now that it’s fall (and you can find something pumpkin at every Starbucks you pass on the 5 block walk to the subway), I figured it would be a perfect backstage treat to take to the opera. These cookies were gone long before the curtain even rose!

When 30 pumpkin pecan chocolate chip cookies disappear in 10 minutes you know you’re onto something… I started to muse about what other pie fillings could work with a fusion of chocolate chip cookies. One of my favorite impulse buys from trader joes has to be the chocolate covered powerberrys… I love that strange taste of chocolate and blueberry. Naturally it was the first thing I thought about as I stood in the baking aisle looking lost at the pie fillings. Blueberry chocolate chip cookies? Why not!?  SO of course i went on an adventure, had some friends over to be my ‘test subjects’, and started to create some Pie inspired cookies.

To begin you’ll need to follow that basic cookie recipe we all remember from our childhood(or as my sister and I called them- ‘santa cookies’):

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes around 24-30 cookies)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 stick butter softened
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Vanilla 

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk chocolate chips

 

For your “pie variations”:

Pecan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup pumpkin puree 

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

Blueberry Pie Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1/2 cup Blueberry Pie Filling

1/2 cup Trader Joes Powerberrys

 

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Assemble the dough like normal. Using a hand mixer beat the butter until it is smooth. Add in the sugars until everything is crumbly and incorporated.  Add in the egg, vanilla, and you’re choice of pie filling and blend. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, and any remaining spices. Slowly incorporate them to your batter making sure you don’t go too quickly or you will have flour ALL over the kitchen. Stir in your chocolate chips and whichever additions you have chosen(pecans or powerberrys).

Bake for 16-20 minutes or until things are looking crispy. They will have almost a muffin like consistency in the middle. Cool for 2 minutes and enjoy!

 

 

I was so pleased with how each version turned out that I may experiment with cherry filling next time—-or figure out how to make strawberry pie filling? But for now 2 batches of cookies within a week is way too much for my planet fitness membership to handle! 

~Charlie

 

 

 

Fall Balls!

Fall is without doubt my favorite season, especially in North Carolina where the weather is absolute perfection and the air is crisp and cool. It’s so wonderful, in fact, that we haven’t bothered to turn on our air or heat all month…we ‘ve just opened the windows and the door to the porch and enjoyed! Thanks to my favorite channel, The Food Network, I was feeling festive, and decided to make some simple, classic fall treats! These recipes are staples from my childhood that are easy and quick. (And great to take to any fall or Halloween party!)

Pumpkin Surprise Balls

3 Tbsp Butter
1 Package Marshmallows
Orange Food Coloring (Or yellow and red mixed…4 parts yellow for every 1 part red)
6 Cups Rice Crispy Cereal
12 Bite sized candy (I got a mixed bag of Halloween mini’s…snickers, twix, milky way, and 3 musketeers)
Green frosting (The cupcake kind with the decorating tips included)
12 Green gummy bears

Directions:
Melt the butter over a low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until entirely melted. Add orange food coloring then stir in rice crispy cereal. Using a greased measuring cup and greased hands, roll the mixture into calls around the individual candies. Keeping your hands greased is crucial! When you’ve made 10-12 pumpkin balls with the candy surprise in the middle, decorate the tops of the balls with green frosting and a gummy bear stem. (You can use gumdrops, but I prefer the taste of gummy bears.) Allow to cool and enjoy!

Peanut Butter, Reese’s Pieces Popcorn Balls

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
2/3 cups peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
5- 5 1/2 cups plain popcorn
1 cup Reese’s pieces

Directions:

Bring the sugar and the corn syrup to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the peanut butter and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the popcorn and stir until all of the popcorn is coated. Stir for an additional 15-30 seconds before adding the Reese’s pieces  so they do not melt. Form this into 2 inch balls and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall!