Last night I got home after a fun, loud, talkative girls’ night and just wanted to curl up on my brand-new couch with a magazine and a warm mug of something cozy to wind down. So I opened my fridge, and spotted a half-used can of pumpkin, a half-used can of coconut milk, and my brain started running.
Well, let me tell you. What started by throwing a handful of things into a saucepan wound up being such an absolutely incredible treat that I woke up and had to make it again. I threw almond milk, coconut milk, canned pumpkin, my home-made chai spice, and a splash of maple syrup into a saucepan. Gotta say, I was pretty proud.
This was the perfect late-night cozy fall drink, and I am so in love with it. Had to share.
First off, a chai spice blend! You can buy these pre-made, but if you have a well-stocked spice cabinet, it’s fantastic to make your own. It’s a simple ratio of one part each ground ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves to four parts ground cinnamon.
chai spice blend:
2 T + 2 t ground cinnamon
2 t ground cloves
2 t ground ginger
2 t ground allspice
2 t freshly ground nutmeg
tiny bit of black pepper (like 3 spins on a grinder)
Mix ’em all together, and you’ve got a chai spice blend ready to go. Sooo you’re wondering what you would do with a chai spice blend other than this recipe? Well, I’ve got plenty of ideas for you! Throw it into pancake/waffle/donut/or muffin batter, stir it into your morning soy latte, sprinkle on top of ice cream, mix into mashed sweet potatoes, use it in my coconut almond chai smoothie, or coat some squash in olive oil and this chai blend and roast em! Basically, don’t underestimate the number of things that chai flavors go well with!
OK, steamer time!
steamer:
1/2 t chai spice blend
1/4 C canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/3 C light coconut milk
2/3 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 T pure maple syrup
Mix everything into a small saucepan and heat it up! Simple as that. If you want to, you could steam the milk and then mix everything else into that for a more authentic steamer, and then you’ll have a little foam on top! Yum!
What a nice little late night treat! And I had really earned a little peaceful time on my new couch. It was quite the pain! I found this couch that I wanted, measured my living room and it easily would fit in three different places. My mom and I decided we could move the couch ourselves! Granted, she’s 5 feet flat, I’m 5’1″. We’re pretty small ladies. But it started well. Men from the store loaded it up for us, we (and by “we” I mean my mom) successfully tied it into my parents’ truck, and we headed off to go unload it.
Fortunately, my parents’ house was in between couch pickup and my new apartment, so we stopped by and picked up my dad, thinking we’d go unload a couch and head out to dinner. Turns out, even though my living room is plenty big enough for this couch, my hallway is not. We could not get it into the apartment. It sat in its plastic wrap blocking my hallway while we figured out if there was any way this was going to happen. The result?
My dad took apart this window. Removed the sliding glass door, removed the center metal thinger, and removed the other piece of glass. What luck that he used to work for a window company! We carried my couch in the dark evening around to the street and carried it through my dining room. Yup.
So this relaxing moment alone on my new couch with a comforting mug of pumpkin-y goodness was rewarding in oh-so-many ways.
We did make it out to a later dinner after our fiasco, and we hit up another Vegan Chef Challenge restaurant, Evan’s Kitchen! It. was. wonderful.
Warm watermelon salad (a big slab of warm watermelon topped with chopped tomatoes, pistachios, and a balsamic glaze). Corn cakes with a delicious spicy remoulade-like sauce. Pot pie filled with sweet potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes! Charred corn ravioli with tons of corn and pesto on top. Sooo good. I think I have to return for their brunch menu before the VCC ends!
Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 160; Calories from Fat: 37.5; Total Fat: 4.2g; Saturated Fat: 3g; Sodium: 218mg; Total Carbohydrate: 34g; Dietary Fiber: 3.8g; Sugars: 13g; Protein: 1.7g
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