A little Coffee Trick

Want some more pumpkin love? Let me tell you another little secret of how to add more pumpkin to your drinks. When I was in Philadelphia for Wedding Tour 2011 (Adam and I had 3, yes 3! weddings for our best friends in PA in September) I learned a little coffee trick from my bff's sister. If you love brewed coffee, and you lo-ove pumpkin, then you'll really lo-o-ove this trick.

Ok, just add pumpkin spice, the seasoning, to your coffee grounds before brewing. Ta-da! That's it! Easy, smells like fall, and tastes delicious.

For anyone who doesn't have pumpkin spice on hand, like us, you can make your own with other spices you're likely to have. I found a recipe online here, but I typed it out below too:

Here's what you'll need:
1/2 t of cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger.
1/8 t ground allspice or ground cloves.
1/8 t ground nutmeg.

Stir to blend.
Makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
(I used between 3/4- 1 full teaspoon for a full pot of coffee depending on how fall-ish I feel.)

Then just add it to your coffee filter where your grounds should already be.

Top with a little whipped cream and drizzle with some chocolate sauce (or caramel sauce) to make it an even more special coffee day.

Yu-um!

Double the Chocolate (Double the Fun) Pumpkin Smoothie

Yesterday, Kedron kicked off our Pumpkin Week with a little twist on our favorite pumpkin spice latte and a DIY version for making it at home. YES!

Today, we wanted to keep talking pumpkin with you. So,what better fall combo is there than pumpkin and chocolate? We couldn't think of one. Which is why when we were thinking of what pumpkin drink to share with you guys we figured it had to include chocolate--even better, dark chocolate.

So what do you think about a Double Chocolate Pumpkin Smoothie? Did you say it sounds like a dream? Good, we hoped you'd feel that way.

Here's what you need:
1/3 c canned pumpkin
2/3 milk (we used skim)
2 T chocolate syrup (here's where we added the Hershey's Special Dark instead of just the regular. This step leaves lots of room for creativity.)
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t cinnamon
4-6 ice cubes

Here's what you do:

Add all of these ingredients into your blender.

Blend until smooth.
Makes 1-2 servings.

Be sure to check back because the rest of this week is all.about.pumpkins.

barista banter- pumpkin spice lattes (to order and to make at home!)

*We've invited our favorite barista (our sister/sister-in-law, Kedron) to do a monthly column about all things COFFEE! This month she has the 411 on pumpkin spice lattes- yum! Without further ado, here's Kedron-

Fall to me is synonymous with things like the rollout of Caramel Apple Spice, Salted Caramel Mochas, and yes- Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Let's just have a moment of silence for the yummyness I just listed off................pausing...........reflecting.........mouth is starting to water........

 

image via lunacafe

Ok, now that I have that behind me I would love to share my own personalized favorite of the Pumpkin Spice world of drinks. This is my go-to fall order when I am in a Pumpkin Spice kind of mood.

Two disclaimers- I am not a HUGE latte person so most of my drinks I convert into americanos (meaning that instead of the drink being made with milk you just make the drink with hot water instead). And before I write out my drink, do know I  realize it makes me sound ridiculous and high maintenance,  but I blame that on working at Starbucks for six years- This is what it will do to a person :)

So without further ado- here is the best drink in town when it comes to Pumpkin Spice drinks (seriously, order it, you'll see):  
A Single Grande (or 16 oz.) 2 pump Pumpkin Spice 2 pump White Mocha with half and half, whipped cream, and pumpkin spice sprinkles Americano. 
*NOTE- I had to cut back on my coffee intake since becoming a mom but you can add shots here if you like more of a coffee taste. Same with the pumps- I don't have a real sweet tooth so these are half the amount of pumps in a grande but if you love sweet things this amount can easily be increased as well.

The glorious part of this drink is it can easily be made at home as well. I personally, being a Starbucks barista and all, love our instant coffee called Via. One packet will be enough for this drink.

DIRECTIONS for doing this at home instead of getting it at a coffee shop:

1. Boil 16 oz of hot water and combine 1 packet of Colombia Via in your 16 oz mug. *Make sure before you add anything else the coffee is fully dissolved. The easiest way to do this is add about 2 tbsp of the hot water then your packet and swirl in your coffee mug before adding the rest of the water. 

2.  In the world of syrups you can buy at stores I personally like the Monin brand of syrups because they last longer and have more a of a raw sugar taste versus an artificial sweetener taste. You can usually find these at most grocery stores- if yours doesn't have Monin, Torrani works too. I use the Monin Pumpkin Spice and Monin White Mocha when recreating my drink at home. 2 pumps equals about 2 oz ,which most shot glasses are measured out to, so I put 2 oz of each the white mocha and the pumpkin spice and stir my drink.

3. Add desired amount of half and half.

4. Although I prefer real whipped cream and would LOVE a whipped creme dispenser- (you know the ones I am talking about? They sell them at William Sonoma I think...well I do not own one of those...yet! [Christmas present?!?]). So I just use regular Reddi Whip and top the drink with Pumpkin spice seasoning- I found this at our local whole foods store! If you can't find any using a little nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon will suffice as well!

5. Now this is my favorite step- ENJOY!

See you next month for more Barista Banter!

*Kedron

happy birthday tricia (and a birthday cake martini recipe!)

The start of this little blog just so happens to coincide with the birthday of one of my favorite people in the whole world. You guessed it- Tricia Joy is celebrating her birthday this very weekend.

Since you don't know all of the things to celebrate about my lovely sister-in-law, I thought I'd share a few of them with you!

1. She has great taste in clothes (and shoes and accessories). Side note- I directly benefit from the fabulousness of her closet!

2. She is great with kids- like ohmygoodness great. She can get my three-year-old picky eater to chow down his entire lunch, and my baby girl cries whenever Tricia holds someone else. They adore her. But all kids adore her so that's no surprise.

3. Tricia has a great eye for decorating. Even though her degree is in marketing, she once did an internship at Crate and Barrel, and I would not be surprised if she ends up in the interior design field at some point.

4. She's funny. Really funny.

5. Tricia loves their puppy, Stetson, so much. She's hilarious about it- she worries that Stetson will be scared of thunderstorms, gives him special food, checks in on him about twenty times a day- Stetson is one spoiled dog!

Now a birthday just wouldn't be a birthday without a fabulous drink recipe. So, in addition to getting to know Miss Tricia better, today I'm also going to share a Birthday Cake Martini recipe!

Here's what you'll need:
Pineapple juice
Cranberry juice
Vanilla rum
Ice
Vanilla frosting
Sprinkles

Here's what to do:
In a shaker, mix one part vanilla rum, two parts pineapple juice, two parts cranberry juice, and ice. Shake vigorously. My sister, Jordan, swears that if you skip this part of wimp out on your shaking duties, that it won't turn out right. Heed her advice and shake well.

Strain into a glass rimmed with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. In case you're thinking about skipping the frosting-sprinkle-rimming, I would strongly urge you not to. The sprinkle-adorned rim makes this drink twice as festive. Maybe three times as festive.

And that's it! ENJOY!

Happy birthday Tricia!

If you're visiting us from TasteSpotting.com, Welcome! You can learn a bit about us here, and be sure to check our monthly Barista Banter column, and our weekly Beer column with TheAdams. 

We're so glad to have you!

welcome to sips etc.

Hello! 

Welcome to Sips Etc! 

We're Kirstin and Tricia, the sister-in-laws behind this blog. You should know something from the start- we. love. drinks. Almost as much as food, really. Which makes us good candidates to host a blog dedicated to all sorts of drinks, now doesn't it.

Before you dismiss us as mere collectors of beverage recipes, know that we're as interested in drink presentation, vessels for holding drinks (those awesome cups pictured above are from Anthropologie), food (to accompany those drinks), and originality as we are in the drinks themselves. Yep, we're girls of many interests.

We might even throw in a post or two about Denver (our stomping ground), toddlers (there will be a whole "Sippy Cup" column, actually), or St. Bernards (Stetson is Adam and Tricia's puppy and our mascot).

And we've somehow convinced wrangled our husbands (hereafter referred to as "TheAdams" since, you guessed it, they're both named Adam) into penning a weekly beer column.

All in all, it should be a blast. In a glass (ha!). 

Can't wait to share it with you!

*Trust me, you don't want to miss a single post. 
So why don't you become a follower of Sips Etc. before you go?