Individual Pumpkin Pie Trifles

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Hi friends.

I had a difficult week last week. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I'm like still grieving over this silly kitten (or Cat, as we called her; our attempt to not get attached to her. #FAIL). We found a fantastic home for her and she left us on Saturday :(  ---->me

Many of you have asked the simple question of why we couldn't just keep her. The truth is that though we totally fell in love with her, the logistics of having a cat for the next 15 years is just not something we were willing to commit to. And that's really what it came down to (the thought of a litter box in our small home especially once babies are in the picture, scratching at the furniture, leaving a kitten home alone all day while we're at work, etc); we just didn't think it would work for us in the long run. But we still love Cat, and even now I tear up thinking about her and her cute little face, leathery kisses and her overall sweet disposition. Oh and the non-stop purring. Love that.

Ok, I'm done with kitten talk now.

So obviously, I've been a silly emotional wreck.

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday cooking and baking, if only to keep my mind busy and my tears at bay (I may or may not have hid in the bathroom when Susan came to pick up Cat). I'm a lot better with bottling my feelings until I'm ready to talk about them ;) And then I unload them all on you.

So of course with cooking and baking in mind, it was beyond time to break out some pumpkin, an ultimate comfort food in my opinion. I whipped up this super easy pumpkin pie trifle in no time.

There's no baking, no cooking, no muss no fuss. It's the perfect dessert for a pumpkin emergency. It's basic enough for a Sunday night on the couch, but chic enough for a small dinner party. I just love individual desserts...I have a feeling that you and your future guests will too!

Individual Pumpkin Pie Trifles
1 pkg sugar free, fat free vanilla pudding mix
2 C skim milk
1 C pumpkin puree
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
6 low fat graham crackers
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 C whipped cream or Cool Whip

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes. While it soft sets, stir in the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Refrigerate for 5 minutes (at least; longer is ok too). Meanwhile, place the graham crackers in a food processor and pulverize. Add the melted butter, which will just slightly moisten the grahams.

In 4 glasses, layer a spoonful of graham crackers followed by a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin pie pudding and whipped cream. Repeat the layers.

Serve it up and enjoy! These can also be made in advance; simply cover each trifle with plastic wrap and refrigerate. In fact, these are even better when they sit in the fridge for a few hours since the graham cracker crumbs soften.

Delish.

Grab a spoon and dig in. Fall is here!

So that's what's going on with me. This trifle is so easy and really tastes like delicious, comforting, decadent pumpkin pie with whipped cream...except it's with a fraction of the calories or baking time! Please try it. I know you'll love it.

Questions of the Day:

What's your go to comfort food?

What's the easiest dessert you've ever whipped up?

psst...I'm blogging all about motivating myself to get back to the gym over on The Peach & The Pit today!

Fall Flavor + Chanandeler Bong

Last night I arrived home with sopping wet feet, frizzy hair and pants that had to be peeled off of me.

Oh and a broken umbrella to boot.

Shaun spent the night doing one of his fantasy football drafts.

I made a butternut squash mac & cheese for dinner. It was so warm and creamy and salty and comforting. A perfect, guilt-free dinner on a stormy night. It was enjoyed while sitting on the couch in sweatpants and watching Friends reruns (--->still the best show of all time, in my opinion, and here's one of my favorite clips).

All of the above means only one thing. Fall, though maybe not completely here just yet (I'm sure there's a few sweltering days up Mother Nature's sleeve yet), is undoubtedly on the horizon. And although it's early, I can't help but be super excited about all the flavors that I've been missing all year. My mind started reeling at all the goodies that I could start concocting. And all the ones I concocted since I started blogging.

You see, I'm what you might call a pumpkin and apple freak. I love anything and everything that features these ingredients. And somehow, I never get sick of them either. Here's a few of my favorites from years passed. I can't wait to get cooking and baking these again this year!

Apple Cupcakes + Cinnamon Frosting

Pumpkin Coffee Syrup

 

Pumpkin Spice Cake + Honey Frosting

Ginger Snap Crusted Pumpkin Pie

 

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins + Sweet Spiced Glaze

Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges

 

Pumpkin Butter

Apple Pie (4 ways!)

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Maple Syrup Cupcakes

So there you have it. All the flavors of the season that I just cannot wait to dig into!

Questions of the Day:

What's your favorite comfort food on a rainy day? I love mac & cheese, tomato soup & grilled cheese, breakfast foods (like pancakes) and cake...lots of cake.

What fall flavors are you looking forward to? I love apple, pumpkin, cranberry, and sweet potato!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

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It’s Friday and it makes me oh-so-happy for a number of reasons. First, because it’s almost the weekend, which always deserves and automatic hooray! Second, because next week will be a very short week since it’s Thanksgiving. After today, it feels like it’s officially the holiday season, and I love every minute of it!

So today I’m wrapping up our fun Thanksgiving roundup with another very important piece of the puzzle - dessert! Since there was only 4 of us, we decided to skip the table full of desserts thing, and only serve one dish. I have to admit, while I am a sampler at heart, having one dessert to share and enjoy by all was a really nice change. Especially since it was light, airy and pumpkiny to boot.

Hold the phone. You’re probably thinking, Light? Airy? I thought we were talking about cheesecake here. Yup, you heard me right.

Since Lindsey isn’t huge on the traditional pumpkin pie, and I’m always looking to change it up, we decided on pumpkin cheesecake. And after gathering all my ingredients on the morning of the dinner party, I realized that the recipe we planned to use called for a 3 hour baking time (Now I felt like Ross from Friends when someone steals his sandwich, as I ranted 3 hours? 3 HOURS?!). Anyhow, we needed a back up plan and fast. After a quick search, I came across Paula Deen’s version.

And though you can judge all you want for her obsession with butter and generally all things terrible for your body, the lady knows what she’s doing. Her cheesecake seemed simple and quick to boot - 1 hour cook time, no pre-baking the crust, mixing everything together in one giant bowl. So we went with it. And the result? An airy whipped cheesecake set in a graham cracker crust that had just a hint of pumpkin flavor. Can we say perfect dessert for post-huge dinner? Though there were a few flaws (like a giant crack down the middle of mine!), I’d make this recipe again for its ease of use, quick baking time, and delectable outcome, despite its final aesthetics. Plus, what do you think they invented whipped cream for?

Pumpkin Cheesecake
*Adapted from Paula Deen
For the crust:
1 3/4 C graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter
For the filling:
3 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Special equipment:
9-inch spring form pan (I got one as a Christmas gift 2 years ago!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar and cinnamon. Press into the pan. (Note: I found pre-crumbed graham crackers in the grocery store, which eliminated the extra step of processing them myself! Though I normally would not have a problem with this, the point is that even if you don’t have a food processor, you can snap these up. Oh and did I mention that they were cheaper than a box of whole graham crackers? Well they were.)

In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth (it’s best if you leave it out of the fridge the night before...I didn’t do this and it took longer for mine to come together, not to mention that it still had tiny lumps in it!).  Add in the pumpkin, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and spices and mix until combined. Add the flour and vanilla, beating until it’s all combined and smooth. Pour the filling into the crust - mine filled almost up to the top of the pan. Doesn't that look delightful?

Bake for one hour. Remove and let sit for 15 minutes. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours. (Note: I made this first, before anything else, so that it would have plenty of time to cool!) Serve with lots of whipped cream if ya like! And I do like. 

So there you have it. A light, easy pumpkin cheesecake of which, admittedly, I'm still polishing off the remnants. So what do you think? What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?

In case you missed it, check out how we brined a turkey at 3AM, made hearty turkey sausage stuffing and mashed up the perfect potato! And for even more Thanksgiving food ideas, check out our Recipes page, under Thanksgiving!