Cheap Expensive Coffee

I decided I’d start this week with a little indulgence. Since we are now on only one income, the habit 

of shelling out $4 for a cup of coffee from Starbucks was quickly out of the question. However, lately 

I’ve been hearing all the hoopla about the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte that I haven’t even tried 

yet. So I ran to Starbucks to partake and decided that it was definitely worth trying to repeat at home! 

What’s a girl on a budget to do???

   So here is the recipe I used for a Pumpkin Spice Latte - IN A CROCKPOT! Basically, this recipe is 

equivalent to a little more than a Grande at Starbucks (I’m estimating here).  I programmed a pot of 

coffee to be brewed at 6 this morning so my coffee would be ready by 8.

Here is the recipe I stole: 

-2 cups milk

-2 T canned pumpkin

-2 T white sugar

-2 T vanilla

-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don’t have this on hand, you can easily make it by combining 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a tiny pinch of ground ginger)

-3/4 cup strong brewed coffee

Put coffee & milk into crockpot. Whisk in everything else. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours and you’re done!!

It was definitely sweet, but all in all definitely comparable to my much missed Starbucks and definitely cheaper!

The only problem I had this morning was, What am I going to do with all this left over pumpkin? 

I only used 2 T out of the whole can for the latte! (as pictured below)

So while my coffee was “cooking”, I decided to bake some pumpkin bread using a recipe courtesy of my friend, Alissa, to finish off the left overs!

Here’s the recipe for one 9x5 loaf:

-1 cup pure pumpkin

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-1 1/3 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-1 1/2 cup flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp nutmeg

-1/2 tsp ground cloves

          1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour one 9x5 inch loaf pan.

1. 2.Mix the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs together in a large bowl.
 

1. 3.Combine everything else together and then stir that into the pumpkin mixture. Stir well.

    

             

    

1.        4. Spread batter into loaf pan.
   
   5. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour. (I have a convectional oven for baking and it took the whole hour for it to completely bake through for me.)
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   It was a successful morning. I got my coveted coffee, Clark got some fresh baked pumpkin bread for breakfast, and I felt somewhat productive...which doesn't always happen as often as I would like for some reason...