Beautiful fall weather has finally arrived in Atlanta. Ethan and I have been soaking it in by opening the windows and letting the crisp fall air (and fall allergens) breeze into our apartment. Since I was filled with autumnal spirit, this weekend I celebrated my favorite way, in the kitchen!
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Chocolate Chip Cookies
I found a recipe for homemade pumpkin spice lattes at this great blog Elle & Blair. I didn’t follow the recipe completely but used it to get a general idea of the ingredient ratios. I have been ranting and raving for years that pumpkin spice lattes are a scam because they contain no actual pumpkin, just the spices used in pumpkin pie. However, the recipe calls for actual pumpkin puree, so I drank my latte with a cookie and slice of humble pie. The cookie recipe came from my girl Martha. They are perfectly golden and crisp on the edges but soft and chewy in the center.
Homemade Chili
I was inspired by a recent episode of my new favorite shows, Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn (not surprisingly, part of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia). I wanted to make her recipe for Butterfield Stageline Chili, but was appalled by the price of brisket at the grocery store and opted for a Martha recipe that only used ground beef. I like my chili a little sweeter so I used half ground beef and half ground pork. As mentioned in previous blog posts, Atlanta grocery stores stock a very limited selection of Mexican ingredients, so I had to substitute fresh jalapenos for the dried red chili peppers called for in the recipe. The chili is still delicious and will be even better tomorrow when the flavors are better developed.
Pumpkin Sugar Face Scrub
I recently discovered a show called The Chew with Clinton Kelly, Carla Hall (Hootie!), Michael Symon and Daphne Oz (daughter of Dr. Oz). As much as I love Clinton and Carla, the show was almost unwatchable. It was full of forced banter and lowest-common-denominator humor. However, they had a segment where Daphne gave her recipe for a homemade pumpkin and sugar face scrub. Since I still have quite a few cans of pumpkin puree (my stockpile after the great pumpkin shortage of 2010), I gave it a try. The pumpkin mix was slimy and cold, but I could feel a refreshing tingle as the pumpkin enzymes rejuvenated my skin. Overall, it was a little weird, but I must say that my skin feels quite fresh and I am eager to try other homemade beauty treatments. Warning: I made a half-recipe, and much to the chagrin of my husband, and it was still WAY too much; I only made him participate because I didn’t want to waste valuable ingredients. He has mentioned how nice his skin feels, however.
"Thing" of the Month 
I’ll take the latte, Brady wants the cookies and what have you done to your face. You look like the looser in a food fight…