Apples, Pumpkins, and Smoothies

Perusing the Pumpkin Patch

September 28th

My, it took us forever to get to the apple orchard! I usually like to make several trips through the summer and fall. Not so, this year. We made our first (and potentially only) trip just this past Tuesday afternoon. It is harder to work around schedules these days, what with Hubs working through the week and having classes, and Giraffe working on the weekends and having classes, her own appointments, and activities. Add the extra child and pet appointments that seem to be all week long in the evenings now, and there you have it. A busier year and less access to family time to run around. :) 

Even so, we had the loveliest time! The kids and I were ready as soon as Hubs came home from work. We piled ourselves and both doggos into the vehicle, and off we went! :) This was our puppy's first time at the orchard, which was exciting. Our little old lady has been here many times. She mosied around the apple trees like it was old hat. You could see the joy all over her chubby little face. <3 :) I was hoping to get a full bushel of apples. In the end, we found four such fabulous pumpkins that we couldn't choose just two for the girls. I opted for a half bushel of apples and all four of us each had a pumpkin instead. :) The kids also had cider, courtesy of Giraffe. She's such a generous soul. <3

We had no sooner gotten home than Koala grabbed her newest pumpkin, a small white pumpkin we already had at home, and some of her winter things and propped them into a scarf-clad pumpkin child on the floor. I was in the other room, at the time. She came rushing in and asked for my phone "to take a picture". I assumed she meant a shot of the pumpkins altogether, but nope. She showed back up with the biggest grin on her face and the picture to my right. lol Clever child! I never know what to expect with her or her sister, either one! It is one of my all-time favorite things about having children. There simply is no guessing what is in their mind or heart at any given time. They are such a complete and utter joy to nurture along for this part of their (hopefully lengthy) lives. God is so good to us. <3

September 30th

Somewhere around a week ago, I saw a graphic on Facebook that had the ingredients for an autumnal pumpkin spice smoothie. I was sure that I had saved it. By the time I was ready to try making it, I couldn't find it anywhere. The recipes I looked at online didn't seem exactly right. They called for ice, for one. I remembered that the recipe called for bananas, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin puree. 

I gave it my best shot, sort of combining a few recipes I saw online. Instead of milk and ice, I used vanilla ice cream (roughly six scoops). I added the suggested 4 tablespoons of maple syrup from another recipe. Two teaspoons of vanilla were next, followed closely by four bananas (previously frozen for an hour-ish). Giraffe sliced up two tablespoons of butter and dropped them in a pat at a time. We were really dubious about that one. I'm still not sure why the other online recipe called for them. They were completely unnecessary. I digress. Two cups of pure pumpkin puree lent color to the mix. (Must not use pie filling, every recipe cautioned!) Finally, the teaspoon of cinnamon and the two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice rounded out the fall flavor-fest. 

Results: The flavor was okay. It wasn't anything I would drink, personally. The kids absolutely loved it. Mom win! It tasted mostly like overripe banana, pumpkin, and a bit of seasoning. Oh... and my Koala broke out in hives. Big ones. I dosed her with allergy meds and then took a picture of two of the patches of hives, for the record. So, mom-win-turned-mom-fail. The child loved it but can never drink this kind of smoothie again. Oof! I froze the rest of the batch in a large mason jar. Giraffe is slowly eating that as an ice cream treat. :)