I love summer…the food, cookouts, ice cream, warm weather, beach trips, pool days…all of it. Given the choice, I will always choose sweating over freezing. I swear, I am like a reptile and I need to soak warm sun into my body.
So it’s a little surprising that I’ve kind of been getting into the idea of fall in the last week. I bought pumpkin beer, enjoyed a short streak where temps were in the low 60s at night, have been baking and cooking with apples and two cans of pumpkin made it home with me from the grocery today. I blame it on the start of football season!
What better way to welcome fall and football season than with a pumpkin beer? I had my first one of the season last night and it was so tasty. I feel like all I’ve been hearing about the past couple of days is the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. I’ll take a pumpkin beer over the latte any day! 😉
My friend Sarah challenged me to come up with a recipe featuring pumpkin beer. I’m thinking pumpkin beer bread, pumpkin beer chili or some kind of pumpkin beer braised chicken. I’ll let y’all know what I come up with. If you have suggestions, please share!
I bypassed the bananas this morning in favor of apple cinnamon oatmeal. It was gray and rainy out and it seemed like a great breakfast option. I sauteed half of a diced apple with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and a pat of butter and then added in a mix of quick cooking steel cut oats, oat bran and quick oats, ground flax, almond milk, water, golden raisins and a pinch of salt. I topped it with a swirl of apple butter and salted creamy peanut butter.
I am in a very, very bad habit of picking up salads from the specialty market across the street. They do built-to-order salads for $7.99/lb and that includes unlimited toppings and proteins. They also have the most addictive honey balsamic dressing and candied pecans. Today’s salad included mixed greens, spinach, artichoke hearts, beets, candied pecans, dried cranberries, salmon and goat cheese.
I wasn’t especially tired, sore or busy today but I took a rest day and walked with Sullie when I got home from work and listened to an audio book. It was relaxing and felt good to my body. I have a hard time counting walks as exercise but we did walk for about 45 minutes and I definitely broke a sweat so at least it was something and Sullie loves it!
I have been craving Thai food lately so I made my own not so authentic Pad Thai for dinner. I started with Harris Teeter’s Peanut Noodle box that has rice noodles and a peanut seasoning and added in tofu, a scrambled egg, some Asian stir fry veggies, a spoonful of peanut butter, Trader Joe’s Soyaki sauce and Sriracha. It hit the spot!
I was flipping through Cooking with Paula Deen while I was at my grandmother’s house last weekend and was shocked to find that I wanted to make everything in the magazine. I took a picture of the recipe for Applesauce Bundt Cake with my iPhone and I’m so excited to report that it’s in the oven now. It was so easy – no mixer required! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
How are you getting into the idea of Fall?
Ooh I bet pumpkin beer bread would be amazing! Definitely going to try that myself. =)
it’s so weird to me that it’s already almost fall because i still haven’t left for school yet (2 more weeks! ahh!). but after hearing about pumpkin spice lattes all over the place the past few days i ended up picking up one for myself today. it was pretty good but a little sweet for my taste! i’ll stick to my regular coffee, thanks 😉
your oatmeal bowl looks absolutely delicious! definitely craving oatmeal now!
Love fall, and love pumpkin! Ever had a Guinness cheesecake? I’m thinking pumpkin cheesecake with chocolate-pumpkin beer swirls! That would be a must share recipe 🙂
Football season, sweaters, and pumpkin coffee is definitely helping me wrap my head around the idea that fall is coming 🙂
Beer bread, yum, yes please!
Fall, love football, sweaters, and apples not the cold!
I’m a sun shiny girl all the way!
Your blog has such a happy upbeat pulse! That I love!
I am the opposite- I LOVE fall!! The cooler weather, leaves changing, and of course the seasonal flavors. Pumpkin, yum!
Speaking of pumpkin, I vote pumpkin beer bread!!
Football! I moved to App State for Grad school and football is big-I hadn’t been to a game since high school and this weekend it will be two weekends in a row
I busted out the pumpkin candles this week and I’m going to surprise the bf today by picking up some pumpkin ale and apple cider for him after work!
If you’re into pumpkin beers, try Southern Tier’s Pumking. It is phenomenal. As far as I know, it’s only available on tap or in large bottles (22 oz), not 6 packs.
I’m like you, Jen–I’m always freezing, so I love the warm weather, but I am ready for fall. I attempted to bake a protein-packed pumpkin loaf this weekend, but it wasn’t moist enough. 🙁 Pumpkin beer sounds delicious–and very festive! 🙂
I LIVE for fall weather. The fresh, crisp, air, leaves on the ground, football, and the over all coziness makes me long for fall as early as July. Not to mention cute boots, sweaters.. which I have been stocking up on… thus getting me into the idea of fall 🙂
DC had a very hot and humid summer, which aggetated my allergies. I am more than ready for it to cool off, but the highs are still in the upper 80s! I’d rather be cold than hot any day.
SO ready for fall. It’s probably my favorite season, though I love them all for different reasons. I am completely over the heat in Dallas, though. Unfortunately, I think we have at least another month of summer-like temps here. But I love the idea of cooler, crisp days/nights, sweaters & jeans, boots, football, Thanksgiving (favorite holiday!), and being able to be outside without sweating. I would rather be cold any day.
I love that period between summer and fall…the light is amazing, and the temperatures are perfect day and night! Getting ready for fall makes me think of changing the blankets on the bed to slightly heavier ones, getting out the fall-colored candles and knick-knacks for around the house, and having friends over for a late-night firepit.
How about a cornbread, with a pumpkin beer glaze?
I love Pumpkin beer and everything Fall actually! It’s my favorite season and I cannot wait for it to be cooler outside, not cold, just sweatshirt and boots weather :).
I am so happy it’s football season as well, best time of the year 🙂
some kind of pumpkin beer chili would be amazing. I think I saw a pumpkin chili recipe on the FastPaleo app so maybe you could use that as a foundation. 🙂
not sure if you can find it but if they carry Southern Tier Brewery beer down there, see if you can find Pumking. It’s soooo good.
I had my starbuck’s pumpkin latte yesterday. And now I can remember why I haven’t had one in over 3 years. I prefer the gas station version better. how sad is that?? I guess it’s not too sad since it’s like $2 cheaper.
Summer is my favorite, much for the same reasons you mentioned. I would never survive if I lived somewhere that had a “real” winter, that’s for sure. The only thing I look forward to when it comes to Fall is football and soups. And really, “fall” here isn’t that cool, which I love.
Interested in seeing what you come up with for the beer recipe!
I really like all the fall pumpkiny things (beer especially!) but I’m just NOT ready to let go of summer yet! I’m clinging to it for dear life 🙂
I definitely love the summer months, but I also LOVE fall!
I think I’d take the beer over the latte as well. Even though I don’t even like beer ha ha.
The pumpkin beer chilli sounds pretty darn good to me!
beer beats latte anyday in my life! I am excited to see what recipe you come up with! Beer Bakin’ …I like it.
The closest I’ve come to getting fall-ish so far is oatmeal pancakes. I refuse to give up summer until I absolutely have to!
Ooooh I second that challenge! Maybe some kind of chili? Mmmm now I’m craving chili…. ha.
How about a pumpkin soup made with pumpkin beer? Should be awesome!
Boiling some brats in pumpkin beer with sauteed onions before you cook/grill them would be pretty tasty. But I’m a beer purist, I’d rather just drink it alongside a meal. 😉
The start of football season is what officially gets me in the Fall mood!
Make pumpkin beer chili! Then send me the recipe so I can make it the day the temperature decides to dip down in the 70s 🙂
I haven’t had a pumpkin beer this season… yet. I’m sure it’ll happen sooner than later.
I made a fantastic pumpkin beer pork chilli a year or two ago. It was a can of pumpkin and a can of beer (among quite a few other things), not a bottle of “pumpkin beer,” ya know? Anyway – I’m sure it’d be good with pumpkin beer.
Ah! I am the same way…summer over winter, hot over cold…ALWAYS! But, I am finding myself really craving crisp fall weather ever since Labor Day…maybe I just want the wardrobe change 😉 All of your fall recipes look absolutely delicious, and I can’t wait to start making hot oats, things with pumpkin, and “comfort” foods again! I do have to say, I would choose the Pumpkin Latte over the beer! 🙂
I just found a beer bread recipe on AllRecipes.com. It’s in the oven right now. Couldn’t be easier. 3 cups self rising flour, 1 bottle of beer, 3Tbsp sugar. You could use pumpkin beer and add some pumpkin pie spices I’m sure. Like I said, it’s still in the oven but it smells WONDERFUL!!!!