Friday, December 7, 2012

All Things Pumpkin


I don’t know if you noticed, but this seemed to be the “Year of the Pumpkin”.  I realized this on a trip to the grocery store back in October.  I was about to put a tub of pumpkin flavored cream cheese into my shopping cart when my friends with whom I was shopping intervened. That’s when I looked down in my cart and saw the pumpkin flavored coffee drinks, pumpkin spice cookie mix & a bag of pumpkin-filled raviolis.  A week later I was watching the news show “Nightline” which dedicated a segment to what seemed to be pumpkin flavored everything. Pumpkin marshmallows anyone?  Even Hershey’s Kisses® got on board by creating a seasonal pumpkin spice kiss.  Since I had a $1 off coupon for them, I thought I’d give them a try.  They were very orange & tasted as bad as they looked.  Given this year’s “pumpkin mania” I figured I should make something with pumpkin.  One afternoon, I was watching “The Chew” and Clinton Kelly concocted a pumpkin colada.  I thought this would be a good recipe to add to my holiday cocktail repertoire and if you’re like me, you may have several cans of pumpkin sitting on a shelf in the pantry. You know, for all the pumpkin pies you say you’re going to make but never do.  So this weekend while you’re trimming the Christmas tree and putting the final touches on your holiday decorations, dust off the blender and make a batch of these.  Just don’t climb any ladders. 


Clinton Kelly’s Pina Colada

This makes one serving so increase accordingly for additional servings.

 Ingredients:
 
1scoop     vanilla bean ice cream
2Tb          pumpkin pie filling
1oz          dark rum
8oz          milk

Canned whipped cream & nutmeg for garnish

Combine all ingredients in blender & pour into tall glasses.  Preferably a tulip shaped or hurricane style glass.  Top off with whipped cream & a sprinkle of nutmeg. 

Keep the blender out because you’ll probably be making a whole lot of these.

NOTE:  For a non-alcoholic treat, just leave out the rum.  But add a little more ice cream. J