Pumpkin Punch (non-alcoholic)

In my previous post the other day, I mentioned making a Pumpkin Punch and looking for a recipe but all the ones I got were either alcoholic or were just for drinks like lemonade- but I was never able to find a true ice-cream baby/bridal shower/holiday type (you know the good kind).  I am going to bring this to our work's Thanksgiving Lunch and for Thanksgiving with with the family ;)

So after some searching, I added a mixture of things I found from drinks and etc and came up with my own for you pumpkin lovers.

If you have someone allergic to cinnamon, this is not the drink for them.


Recipe for Pumpkin Punch:

1 Can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 (1.5 qt) of Eddy's Pumpkin Pie Edition Icecream
3 tsp of Vanilla Extract
3 tbsp of Cinnamon Sugar
1 pkg of pumpkin spice seasoning
2 tsp of Ginger,  1tsp of Nutmeg, and 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1-2 liter of Ginger ale or bottle of Sparkling cider (your choice)
1-2 qts of chilled milk


Now, I am giving you measurements but if you are a picky pumpkin eater, you should adjust as needed according to your taste...you may not like as much cinnamon as I do or may like it sweeter with more cinnamon sugar, or less pumpkin filling, nutmeg or ginger..etc. The key is TASTE TASTE TASTE as you add and add a little at a time until it tastes right.


I found my mixture to be a little bland when I added my previous posts's measurements on it and decided to amp up the cinnamon and sugar.

It will froth because of the reaction with the ice cream and ginger ale, so it will sort of be like a float.


Take a big punch-sized bowl, add the milk, softened icecream, gingerale, mix.
Add a little bit of Libby's Pumpkin Pie filling and taste as you go.

Add your pumpkin spice, ginger (taste), nutmeg, (taste) cinnamon (taste) and cinnamon sugar (taste)

Add your vanilla, mixing the whole time. If you get a bunch of seasoning stuck on the top, it may initially taste stronger for your first taste.  (Did I mention taste?)

And there you have it, a lovely orange, pumpkin punch! Add some Cinnamon sticks to your punch or glass for extra garnish.

Another thought if you want to keep the punch cool, is to add ice cubes that you made from cider or apple juice so when it melts it just adds flavor to the punch!  I know someone who liked it very much!

Hope you enjoy!

-Daph

Pumpkin Milk Punch

 Going to try this conglomeration for work and Thanksgiving- Looking desperately for a Pumpkin Pie/Spice Punch that can be used with Icecream. This looks like this might be tasty and I might experiment and substitute with Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix!

Contributed By: Michele From Meals Matter

Pumpkin Milk Punch

Total Preparation Time: Less than 15 minutes

Actual Cooking Time: No Cooking Required

Number of Servings: More than 10

Origin: American

Special Features: Quick to Prepare (under 30 minutes)

Simple (6 ingredients or less)

Kids can help make it

Nutrition Content: Low Calorie

Good Source of Calcium

Low Fat

Low Sodium

Holiday: Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Meal Type: Beverages



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Ingredients

2 pints Pumpkin ice cream*

2 Tablespoons of Canned Pumpkin

2 quarts Milk, chilled

2 Tbsp of Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)


2 quarts Ginger ale, chilled/ Sparkling Apple Juice or Cider

Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste

Orange food coloring

Add Whip Cream and Spice to Garnish



Preparation

Put semi-soft ice cream in punch bowl. Add milk, ginger ale, spices, and a few drops of food coloring. Cut ice cream into mixture until it floats in small pieces. Serves about 32.



Cook's Notes



*Can usually be found at local grocery stores around the holidays. Otherwise, ice cream parlors sometimes carry it seasonally. Divide recipe quantities in half or by four for smaller groups of guys and ghouls.





Nutrition Information

Calories: 96 ; Total Fat: 3g ; Saturated Fat: 2g ; Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g ; Carbohydrates: 13g ; Protein: 3g ; Vitamin A: 34 RE ; Vitamin C: 0.5 mg ; Calcium: 105mg ; Sodium: 50mg ; Iron: 0mg ; Fiber: 0

Food Log Day 1

So I tried to track everything down today, did well.

Of course, logging food is not 100% accurate but it keeps me focused on how many calories I am absorbing or rather (empty calories) and what I am lacking in the nutrients I actually need.

I found out today I actually stayed within my calorie goal (  I absorbed 1245 out of 1275 calories required) and was pleased but was still off on nutrients. I was low in Fiber, Calcium, Vitamin C, Iron, Potassium, and too high in sodium.

The funny thing is, you can't also just go below your calories and try and hardly eat your saturated fats. You would think that would help you lose weight, but I learned today if you do that, your body will start to crave and get hungry more and you will get bored with the foods you are eating and start to diet crash early to get the saturated fats it needs.

Crazy huh?

Anyway, I am going to work on portion control for dinner, watch my snacking through the day and substitute it with foods I need to meet my goals.


By the way, if you would like to track yourself, you can go on caloriecount.about.com. If you do, look me up, my profile name is caloriecountingcaldwell. Maybe we can help each other!

Food Log

Meals

Recipes

Cal

Create a meal

Breakfast

310

Breakfast On The Go! Trail Mix - S'mores Blend

140

Original Yogurt - Lowfat, Strawberry, Fridge Pack

170

Lunch

410

Coke Zero 

0

Bagels - 100% Whole Wheat

250

American Singles - Sandwich Cheese

70

Green Leaf Lettuce 

15

Classic Yellow - Mustard 

0

Apples - Gala 

75

Dinner

365

Current meal (change)

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - Lemon Pepper

110

Broccoli and Cheese Sauce - Frozen Steamers

45

Butter Beans ' Large - Other Varieties of Beans

100

Bananas - Fresh Fruit 

110

Snack

160

Sugar cookie 

160

Other

0

 

- 

TOTAL

1,245

Learn more about mark complete

Daily caloric intake: 1,245 of 1,275 cals

6

You are off target in 6 key nutrients. See more

Low

Goal

High

Nutrient/Vitamin

Amount

Trend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carbohydrates

206 g

Good

Protein

56 g

Good

Fats

24 g

Good

Saturated Fat

8.5 g

Good

Cholesterol

90 mg

Good

Sodium

1,897 mg

Too High

Fiber

25 g

Too Low

Vitamin A

8,252 IU

Good

Vitamin C

48 mg

Too Low

Calcium

978 mg

Too Low

Iron

8.6 mg

Too Low

Potassium

729 mg

Too Low

Back on the Weight Loss Bandwagon

After going through a week of someone calling me "thick" jokingly and another person inadvertently saying once you have a child your life is over, I finally decided I was going to do something to improve my low self esteem. I totally disagree with the the latter comment but I know I could improve my self-image by feeling good about my weight. It's not like I don't need to lose weight or I would be going beyond what I do- in fact I need this to improve my back problems and to get to what my ideal weight should be for my age and height.

So my goal is to get from 180lbs to 140lbs by my birthday (June 23rd~wink) next year. I think this is a relatively good and achievable goal to have considering that is about 8 months away and I would be able to wear some cute new clothes for my b-day :)


So I'm excited with that goal. I think I'm going to take a picture of my love handles and post them on my exercise bike for motivation.

I started back on Calorie Counter and I think this could be a good thing to track and for motivation for others who keep desiring to lose weight but can never encourage theirselves enough to actually get it done while the Reese Cups beckon so sweetly.

So, I will log my foods and findings later tonight and get this thing on the road!

Good luck to anyone who is starting this venture with me. Let's encourage each other!

-Love, Daph

Homemade Birthday Gift Idea: Bath Salts

After my rather busy day of cleaning up the church from a girl's lock-in that I hosted the night before and making up for lost sleep, watching Madeline, and trying not to over-do it on my back, I realized in a frantic scramble that my boss's birthday was the following day. Due to medical bills with going to the chiropractor for a slipped disc, and what seems like a mounting eternal sea of bills from utilities and credit cards we are trying to pay off, as always, I have found myself a week before payday and nonetheless broke. Anyone ever feel me on that one? Pretty sure I'm not the only one.

Regardless of my financial situation, I felt compelled to at least try to come up with something, because this lady has been THE best boss I have ever had in my 11 + years in the career force. That means something when you feel like all you have done your whole life is job hop to avoid drama in low-paying jobs.

I decided it was going to have to be something homemade, and in my language, that means crafty. Something not thrown together and cheap either. 

So after some countless meanderings through Pinterest, website browsing and my reflections of our spa-pedicure theme from the sleepover at church, I decided to do something that would be relaxing and from the heart since she works very hard. 

I happened to come across a simple recipe for bath salts- and low and behold....I had all the items! 

So, if you are somewhat of a baker and a stressed-out person, you will probably have these items on hand if you ever come in a bind and would like to make something for a gift:

Bath Salts recipe-

Materials:

• Bottle or Jar
• Epsom Salts
• Food Coloring
• Perfume or Essential Oil

Instructions:
Combine the desired amount of Epsom salts (enough to fit in your bottle or jar) with food coloring. Mix well so color is even. Add your perfume or essential oil and mix again. Spread the mixture out on a sheet of wax paper to dry for a couple of hours and then put it in the bottle or jar.

While the salts can be used right away, the perfume or essential oil will blend better with the salt if it is allowed to set in the jar for a few weeks.

My resourceful husband finally became of some good use, all the random pickle and tomato paste jars he stored away could be used for the bath salts container.  I peeled off the labels, used a rubber cement picker upper to take off the sticker goo, and used some of my craft items to decorate the jar. You could leave plain, print a label or use anything of your own imagination to decorate. I used some crocheted headbands I had leftover from a previous project, ribbon and fabric. But before I show the pictures, I will show my bath salts.

I had some perfume oil that you can buy from Hobby Lobby in the candle aisle. I used Lavender scent. I took the Epsom Salts, mixed with the lavender, and then mixed red and blue food dye to create violet. 

I mixed this all together, and laid out on wax paper on a baking sheet for about an hour and a half. 

  

If you are impatient or want to give it longer, you can be decorating your jar in the process. I am always one for multi-tasking!  (You have to when you are a youth pastor, wife and mother, part-time worker, and full-time school student.)  It seemed relatively dry after this, so I funneled the salts into the jar and Voila!

What a nice touch. I loved that I could make this for her and she could enjoy. I'm anxious about her reaction tomorrow. I also didn't have any gift bags, so I took an empty zipper package that contained a set of curtains and filled with a brand new vinyl table cloth from the dollar store that I already had, hot glued to line the inside, punched holes in the sides and knotted with yarn for a handle. It actually looks pretty good.   The envelope doesn't look too classy, but that's because I have a special picture I took of her with my old 35 mm film camera and her birthday card in it. So I figured I could get away with that!

Anyway, I am pretty tired. Been playing too much on this new MacBook Pro I got for school and can't seem to part with it until I am overly tired. 

Good night, and Best Wishes on your Homemade Bath Salts Gift!

-Daphne C.

Speed Cleaning..Company's Coming!

I adore Pinterest. It is my escape from reality, which in reality, is probably very sad. However, it really helps when you are like me and have 90 million things to do and it helps me to have neat ideas for organizing my life.

Speaking of which- because I have so much to do, I often let

my home clean

ing sit on the back burner. If you can relate, then you find yourself living in a post-Hurricane Katrina living zone and can become very stressed when unexpected (or expected !) company pops up.

Here are some speed-cleaning tips I learned from several blogs and Pinterest that is starting to make my life (and hopefully yours!) easier:

1. Start with the area you usually entertain in..(ex. livingroom). Allocate bins or even a laundry basket to make a wide sweep of the area and toss mail, toys and any other unwanted items into and store in a closet or room that will not be visited until you can sort through later.

To further this- I have a large basket on the coffee table and bins on my shelves to throw things in for better organizing. Run a quick vacuum, dust buster, broom, swiffer or put down a large rug over dirty areas.

2. Hit the bathrooms. Spritz a shower cleaner/bleach (go easy!) on your tub/shower and let sit. Pour some toilet cleaner in your toilet, swish, clean toilet seat and let sit, wipe all counter surfaces, cover dirty laundry or hampers with a towel or pretty pillow/quilt.

After this, go back and rinse your tub/shower and flush your toilet.

3. Put dirty dishes in dishwasher or fill up sink with soapy water and put in dishes. If you can't do this, find a large cutting board and cover up compartment of sink with dirty dishes until company leaves. Wipe down surfaces and tables.

4. Light candles, spray a fabric/room spray or even if you have time, fill a pot with water, cinnamon, cloves, and lemon slices and as it warms will leave a welcoming scent for visitors

5. Close doors to any places you don't want visitors going- simple enough.

6. If you like to entertain, try to use your remainder time to scrounge for a

hor dourve (keep crackers, olives, tomato past, olive oil and cheese in handy)

Follow these tips and you will have a presentable house for unexpected visitors. Usually this takes about 10 min or less!