It’s fall. Officially.

Which means pinning pumpkin flavored desserts is in full swing. I suppose it means other things too. Like people are going to be spending their life savings on pumpkin spice lattes, and burning cinnamon scented candles, and wearing Uggs with mini skirts. Dear goodness, whoever thought that was a good choice in fashion should be put on time out in the corner, sitting on their hands, with a dunce cap on.

I have a rule in my house: you CAN NOT play Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving.

New rule I added this year: I will NOT cook/bake with pumpkin until it is ‘officially’ fall.

Both of those rules are in addition to my ‘no Ugg an mini skirt policy’ by the way.

I like to enjoy each season and bask in it as long as I can before the next one overtakes our life. I was at Costco on Monday, SHOCKING, and their Christmas stuff is already up. In a personal protest, I refuse to even look at it. As if Costco cares, they don’t, it’s just my weird thing.

But now that Fall is officially here, bring.it.on. Pumpkin, butternut squash, apple pie. And chai. I think Chai might be my little obsession this fall. I’ve been craving chai tea for months…I can’t get enough. Good thing it isn’t seasonal… I am so excited to finally start eating fresh pumpkin, I don’t even know how to contain myself. Hopefully I’ll post some epic pumpkin recipes this year. Which really means Ill be eating lots of epic pumpkin recipes, as quality control.

Notes on the Chai Ice Cream:
* I used fat free sweetened condensed milk and fat free evaporated milk, but full fat would work fine.
* The amount of spices really depends on your taste preferences. I like mine really spiced, so start with about half the spices, and add from there.
*I used fall fat cream cheese, but next time I’ll try low fat and I’m sure the results will be just as great!
* You can not really taste the cream cheese flavor, it just adds a smooth, creamy texture.
*You can make a SUPER simple ice cream base of just 1 can evaporated milk and 1 can sweetened condensed milk. It’s going to be a little bit soft, even if you freeze it for a few days. That’s why I added the additional 1/2 cup nonfat milk, to add a little extra firmness.

Chai Spice Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart
time: 10 hours (9 1/2 hours are inactive)

Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup non fat milk
4 tbsp cream cheese
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground all spice
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Directions
Mix all the ingredients in a blender for about 1 minute. Pour into a plastic container and freeze for 5 hours. Mix with a spoon, then put back in the freezer until it’s firm enough to scoop (about 5 more hours).
*The spices tend to sink to the bottom a little, which is why I mixed it up when it started to freeze.

Scoop and enjoy.

Why not add some whip cream to my ice cream?

Aaaaand, that’s why not. Because it will spray everywhere except where you want it, on the top. Yes, my eyebrows even had whip cream on them.