COST PLUS!!!

Tonight, the Mister and I went to Cost Plus for our quarterly Cost Plus snackie run, and to see if I could find Pumpkin Spice syrup. Disappointed by the lack of Pumpkin Torani syrups, I consoled myself with an entire cart filled to the brim with foreign/gourmet soda, chocolate, cookies, sauces, noodles, and general food stuffs.

On the way to pay, I spotted the Autumn display. Because I knew I already had $100+ in my cart, I had to be very selective about my pumpkin purchasing, so I didn't get the gourmet frosted cookies, pumpkin bark, or ceramic pumpkin shaped soup tureen, but I did get my precious when it comes to pumpkin snacks:

I bought two bags of Pumpkin Crunch. No, I won't share.

PUMPKIN CRUNCH POPCORN and Pumpkin Pie Torani Syrup (sugar free).

I am a little disappointed that the Pumpkin Pie syrup is made with Splenda and not cane sugar like the other syrups, but I couldn't leave without it.

As for the Pumpkin Crunch, if you've never had it, you have to try it despite the $7 price tag (seems high for a bag of popcorn; it's worth it). It's spiced caramel corn with chocolate covered almonds, and then there are orange-colored white chocolate-covered popcorn. The orange pieces have a strong pumpkin spice flavor to them.

The point, lone reader, is that I wanted the Pumpkin Pie syrup to make soda with my new SodaStream. I don't have a picture of it because it's an ugly drink. I can live with the Splenda taste, but I feel that if they're going to use an artificial sweetener they might as well throw some orange coloring in to make it prettier. It's a very light honey color, so mixed with milk and soda, it's a fug drink.

Pumpkin Pie Italian Cream Soda

1 oz Pumpkin Pie syrup

2-3 oz whole milk or half-and-half

4-6 oz very fizzy soda water

Mix, drink

It's delicious. If you like cream soda, I would describe it as a cream soda with pumpkin spices. Obviously, it's my favorite new thing on earth.

If you build your drink correctly, the milk, syrup, and soda will settle into beautiful layers. With the light color of the Pumpkin Pie syrup, it doesn't matter.

Hearty pumpkin soup with bacon

Weeks ago the craving for pumpkin soup with bacon entered my head, and I finally couldn't yearn for it anymore. Here is worked-all-day, nothing-measured pumpkin soup with bacon.

Sort of looks like baby food, but it was delicious served with buttery toast

Ingredients (nothing was measured. I guarantee no accuracy!)

1 medium onion - finely diced (I used sweet onion)

3 strips bacon - chopped

1-1.5 ish cups pumpkin puree

1 medium sweet potato, cooked, peeled, and mashed (the microwave is easiest)

1.5 ish tablespoons honey

chicken stock (until the puree is thinned, but not runny)

sea salt

freshly cracked pepper

thyme

cinnamon

ginger

(all herbs/spices dried)

Parmesan cheese (for topping)

- Cook the bacon until it is crispy, remove the bacon pieces, but leave the drippings

- Sauté onion in the drippings until it is translucent and the edges brown

- Add mashed pumpkin and sweet potato and a little salt; cook until everything browns

- Add some stock and dried or fresh herbs, honey, and more salt

- Simmer and taste until you can't wait to eat it

- Stir in bacon, serve, and top with reserved bacon crumbles and Parmesan cheese

I used this pumpkin blossom honey. It probably won't make any significant difference over clover honey, but I like to use it with my pumpkin dishes anyway to cram as much pumpkiny-goodness as possible into every dish.