I shared this recipe in yesterday's post (here), but then thought it may be easier for pinners to find if it had its very own post. So if you also like pumpkin-spice everything, try this yumminess. It's perfect for fall and all winter long. It makes a great and inexpensive Christmas present for co-workers, family, and friends. Hope you like it as much as we do!
Farmer's Market Chai
allrecipes.com
1 c. dried dry, powdered milk
1 c. powdered creamer
1 c. French Vanilla powdered creamer
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. unsweetened instant regular or decaf tea (like Nestea)
1-2 tsp. ginger (or to taste)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cardamon
optional: 1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1. combine ingredients in BIG bowl
2. mix using blender/food processor 1 cup at a time
To serve: Stir 4 heaping spoons of dry mix into 1 cup hot water or milk.
More inspirational bloggers are probably already beginning the spreading of their magical Christmasy ideas, but I'm in love with this fall, and just as some soak in Christmas for as soon and long as possible, well, this is how I feel about autumn.
Created by Randy Blish, Editorial Cartoonist
And a few weeks ago, while fb friends were out pumpkin picking at patches and corn mazes across this great land, Sara and I were off to our own local pumpkin place of gathering...
Here are the six the pumpkins we "picked" with their PLU stickers still attached...
One of them rotted within the week. So we were down to five.
We narrowed those down to three for our pumpkin paintings.
And now here are our great pumpkin make-over before and afters...
(cheap and easy paint palettes for kids...oven burner covers from the dollar store)
Sara's before pumpkin:
Sara's after pumpkin:
See how she matched each tree's leaves with the fallen leaves around it on the ground? Also that is an over sized, bright yellow sun on the corner. Here is the over sized, bright yellow sun.
ahhhhhhchoooooooo....did you sneeze?
Later she painted the other side with an ocean scene. Then following my lead, she added glitter all over...look how shimmery it is! She added um LOTS of glitter. It sparkles in the sunlight and at night under the porch lights.
my favorite, the octopus. And although I'm not sure why, that fish is saying "I am a circle." circle fish? maybe.
Siri's before pumpkin:
Siri's after pumpkin:
She enjoyed helping by dabbing the leaves and tree trunk of these three fall trees onto her pumpkin, while she held onto the sponge brush.
My before pumpkin:
My after pumpkin:
My pumpkin inspiration was the giraffe from the last post here. His name is Jumbe, (prounounced JOOM-bay).. My pumpkin doesn't have a name. It's just a pumpkin.
I added glitter to my nameless pumpkin. Here's a video where I somewhat unsuccessfully demonstrate how it sparkles. The video doesn't really show how it catches and reflects the light just right.
In real life it is so pretty. Glitter makes everything better.
And since I'm choosing to use all-encompassing words like "everything"...do you like pumpkins? Do you like pumpkin spice? I think this pumpkin guy is funny.
Our neighbor friends came over to paint a few more pumpkins this week too. Here are their pumpkins...
This one says, "I'm always happy"
This one is a tulip, and it says "fall is here" but then turn it around and there's this...
that Christmas stuff sneaking in again...sneaky Christmas. Aren't these girls super sweet?! yes.
Next post (here), I'll share one of our favorite fall, pumpkin-like recipes. It's called Farmers Market Chai, and it tastes dreamy, as my brother Jason says, like pumpkin pie in a mug.
For you early Christmas lover friends, it's perfect for mixing up in a large batch, packing it up all cute and pinteresty and Christmas-like, and then gifting it to all the people you love the most. They will love you back and ask for your recipe.
Did you do a pumpkin project this fall? A jack-o-lantern, or leaf-of-some-sort project, or try a new or old pumpkin recipe? If so, will you share it with the rest of us? Please post your pumpkin spice everything ideas with us on storybook-cottage's fb page here.
I ate so much junk this week. When brother Jason comes around (my actual brother and not a member of the Sunshine Carpet Cleaners),
he comes with lots of sugary things and carbs. The things of my dreams. I could own how my self control level falls to zero when the sugar and carbs of all kinds, including the white potato, take over our counter space, or I could speak truth. That truth being that it is the fault of the singing bread, as it dances into my brain and makes me eat it. There's really very little to be done about it.
noooooooooooooo dancing bread. Why do you do this to me?????
Now Jason and Krystal and cutie niece Tessa are gone, and I am left to fight off a larger-than-elephant-sized sugar carb crash, with the leftover, generic oreos and pumpkin roll taunting me from the kitchen. noooo generic oreos and pumpkin roll.....noooooooo.
We had lots of fun gathering and throwing acorns together as grown adults. We intended to throw them around more often...but then this came up...
and this.
This needed to happen...
and lots of this...
no.
And then this little girl, who sings and pretends Frozen every day, needed a trip to The Frozen Store (Disney store) with her aunt, to bring home a little Anna, who happens to look an awfully lot like herself.
We also colored the head lice coloring pages. Although Tessa thought they were spiders and began to animatedly sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Of course when I got out the camera, she decided to be her mischievous self, and would not sing.
And then she sang it, but with her added style and words...something about a banjo.
Then she sang it very well...
so close.
But there WERE acorn games. Some more competitive than others. With all the other activities going on, brother Jason held fast to his title, left unchallenged for most of the week.
trying to tip the last cup.
The games are made up as we go, a perfect game for firstborns, since that's what they do best. We had 5 firstborns living here this week. So you can imagine. Daughter Sara came up with the initial idea of course, since she is very much a first born.
The winner makes up the next acorn game. The first one to win two games of those played wins that session of The Acorn Games, keeping the trophy until challenged by any of us.
final winner brother Jason
Post-trophy ceremony, a battle of another kind began. It went something like this: brother Jason: "I don't want it." sister me: "What do you mean you don't want it? She's awesome." brother Jason: "Where am I going to put it?" sister me: "I don't know. Anywhere. She's great." brother Jason: "I don't think we need her." sister me: "You won. Take her!" And so Lady Gnome, who at one time existed to simply sit in a fall garden and ask questions but now holds high the acorn of winning while balancing a full grown turkey in her other arm, traveled on to a new land to live with final winner Jason and his family...
.JPG)
