Seasonal Beverages: Take One

It's Autumn. The perfect time for hot, spiced drinks.
Now, in times past, I've had friends comment on how excited they are that spiced pumpkin lattes will soon be available. I've never tried one before, but when I found a recipe for them online, decided it was time to try it.
I am so glad I did.

Source

Now tell me: Doesn't that just look amazing?!
I used this recipe.
It was fairly simple. The worst parts were waiting for the milk to steam (I'm very impatient) and when I accidentally unscrewed the blender wrong and leaked some of the milk out of the bottom.
The only thing I would do differently next time, aside from not being so messy, would be to use some french vanilla creamer in place of some of the milk. It wasn't very sweet at all, so I added a lot to mine before drinking it.
Of course, I'm the type that prefers coffee with her sugar, instead of the other way around.

Hope you like it!

Scout

Cold Weather Food!

It's official. I love soup. But not just any soup - I'm very particular. I like hearty, vegetable soups. I realized that it's very seldom that I like a soup with meat in it (Oh...does chili count as a soup?). My most recent favorite soup? Butternut squash soup. Specifically, butternut squash soup with apples. I saw a recipe for it in a magazine once and was inspired to check it out. It's very easy - always a good thing in the cooking world.

I used this recipe.
Some pointers:
First, start out by peeling and cutting up your squash, because that might take a while. Then cut up the onions, start them cooking, and move to the apples.
Second, I used chicken broth instead of water to give the soup a more full flavor. I imagine vegetable broth would also work well, but we didn't have any.
Last, don't be afraid to throw in some extras - I used fresh thyme and some cayenne pepper. I really like the cayenne because it adds a bite to the soup, which is more on the sweet side of things. I'm a fan of opposite flavors.

Good luck!
Scout