GUEST BLOGGER ALERT - Pumpkinalooza

I'm happy to have an extra-special guest blogger today: my sister!  She's magical, too! You all know how much I love her - I can't believe it's already been two years since her medical nightmare emergency when she was here visiting me (you can read about that HERE, HERE, and HERE). Happily, she's able to focus on other things now, though we're always vigilant with her health.  I've been giggling at her obsession lately with pumpkin spice and all of its various products this year; it seems like there are thousands of new pumpkin-y things out there and she's made an effort to try them all.  I would like to add that I had some pumpkin ravioli the other day, so I'm totally on board with her experiment.  I would also like to add that I would want to try all those breakfast cereals, but they all seem to be whole-grain, which I'm allergic to.  Darn.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share her test results with you.  So, without further ado, I present your guest blogger for the day.  This is a pretty thorough post, so you might want to grab a pumpkin spice latte and put up your feet... 


All Things Pumpkin Spice

Ok, I will admit it…I’m a pumpkin spice fanatic.  I so look forward to the fall season each year and not just because I love the cooler weather, wearing scarves, warmer clothes and the changing of the leaves.  Ohio is a beautiful place to live in the fall and also a state with lots of grocery stores and TONS of products that are pumpkin spice flavored. WOOHOO for me!!!  (I’m doing a happy dance and clapping my hands)

This year it felt like the stores started with the pumpkin stuff quite early but that is ok with me because then I have plenty of time to try all of the pumpkin things that I can get my hands on.  It is a tad bit early though if you ask me for all of the Halloween and some Christmas stuff to be out but oh well!  Someone else might love Halloween just as much as I love pumpkin spice.  I should probably mention that I’m a huge snacker (not too good for me but I admittedly have no willpower) so eating as many pumpkin flavored things I can get my hands on is sort of a challenge.  Then my sister asked me to write this guest blog for her about all the things pumpkin that I’ve tried so now it has been a mission to try (almost) everything pumpkin spice that I can find.  Yes, I’m officially out of control and my husband never wants to see anything pumpkin again…but I’m in heaven.

I started with a pumpkin spice latte from Dunkin' Donuts.  Now like I mentioned, it was a bit early so since it was almost 90 degrees the day I tried it, I got it as an iced coffee.  I would have to say it wasn’t as good iced as it is hot.  So not my favorite.  I had to make up for it with a pumpkin spice latte (hot) from Starbucks with whipped cream on it (OF COURSE!). Soooo much better. 

Since there were so many things that I tried (and still trying) that were pumpkin, I think I will rank them by my favorite to least favorite because if I talk about all of them, this is going to be one mighty long post.  I will say that I think all of the cereals were excellent and I would buy those the most over and over again and then maybe just a few other things added in along the way next time.  But since I love to bake as well, I would most likely just bake something pumpkin from here on out.  That way at least there will be actual pumpkin in what I’m eating!  Some of the following didn’t have pumpkin anywhere in the ingredients but I still thought they were good enough to eat.  Then again, there aren’t too many foods that I would actually spit out and throw away (hence the reason why I need to lose weight) because anything can taste better with a cup of coffee chaser.

My list of favorite to least favorite:

1. Pumpkin Spice Cheerios – these were so good that I could eat several bowls right after the other.  They tasted just like the honey nut ones but with the spice and it was oh so yummy.
2. Quaker Oatmeal (pumpkin spice) – I love oatmeal so this was right up my alley and it didn’t disappoint.  Very similar to maple and brown sugar which is my fave.
3. Special K Pumpkin Spice Crunch – again, this was a cereal that I could eat over and over and there were yummy nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cinnamon clusters.  Mmmmm…..
4. Hostess cupcakes (pumpkin spice) – these were moist and not too pumpkiny and really tasty, especially with that cup of coffee I mentioned earlier.
5. Frosted Mini Wheats (pumpkin spice) – so hard to not put this one further up on the list because they were excellent also but the others just won out by a pumpkin seed (didn’t want to say hair).
6. Pumpkin Pie Toaster Strudel – these are delicious...so glad I found them in the store the other day.  These will definitely be a go to snack at night. They don’t really taste like a pie with traditional crust but with phyllo crust instead. Either way…TAS TEE! 
7. Dairy Queen pumpkin pie blizzard – I’ve had this one before but I would get it anytime they have it because it is totally yummy with pieces of crust in it and whipped cream on top.  Oh gosh…I might need one of those again tonight after dinner.
8. Giant Eagle pumpkin doughnut/pumpkin bread/McDonald’s pumpkin spice muffin – I’m going to put these three together even though they were two separate products but they were similar.  Hello…doughnut or bread in any flavor is awesome in my book but especially when it is pumpkin.
9. Hood ice cream sandwich (pumpkin ice cream with graham cracker sandwich) – I wasn’t sure I would like this but it was REALLY tasty.  My husband even liked these!
10. Pumpkin Spice Oreos – pretty much what you would think they would taste like and totally awesome dunked in hot tea and coffee.  My son and my dad really liked these too.
11. Pumpkin Spice Hostess Twinkies – there was something a little artificial tasting in these but they were still good just the same and it didn’t make me not eat them.
12. Market District Pumpkin butter – this was so yummy and I probably would have placed it higher in my list if I had tried it more than once but since I had so many other things to try, I had a few things that I liked just a tad bit more.
13. Pumpkin & Spice Triscuit – I didn’t think I would like these but I was totally wrong!  They are really good and have that little bit of sweet and salty going on.  I think they would be even better with a little brie and cranberry sauce on top (I’m going to have to buy some of that and finish this box off this weekend).
14. Pumpkin Spice Life – this cereal was good but still my least favorite of the cereals.  I think I just like Cinnamon Life the best and couldn’t get past that.
15. Nutri-grain bars (pumpkin spice) – good but I probably wouldn’t have to run out to get these again.
16. Nabisco Fudge Striped cookies (pumpkin spice) – same as #13…good but I don’t think I need them again because they also had that tiny bit of artificial taste and they weren’t made any better by dunking them in hot tea.
17. Lindt Pumpkin Spice Truffles – these were interesting…nice to have chocolate around the house but the flavor just threw me off a bit.  Probably need to have with that coffee chaser the next time…
18. Nonni’s Dark chocolate Pumpkin Biscotti – these were tasty but I found myself not wanting to dunk them in my coffee.  I think I’ll try them in hot tea next time.
19. Pumpkin Spice Thomas’ English Muffins – they smelled so great in the package but they didn’t have much pumpkin taste.  They were still good though and I put the pumpkin butter on top and were even better.  But again, I’d probably stick with my favorite flavors of these from now on.
20. Little Debbie Pumpkin Spice Rolls – even though these are last on my list, they weren’t horrible but they just weren’t the best.  I’d much rather have a real pumpkin roll (which of course I did also get from Giant Eagle because I was too tired to bake one and it was EXCELLENT).

I decided to list the drinks separately because I couldn’t really figure out if I liked a drink better than a food item:

1. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino (in the bottle) – I could drink one of these every day…so cool, so creamy, so yummy….
2. McDonald’s Pumpkin Spice Latte – really good and not too much spice.
3. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (hot) - these are just a tad bit too strong for me so I usually tell them just one squirt of the flavoring instead of several and I always get the whipped cream on it.  Still wouldn’t turn one away though….
4. Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice Latte (cold) – as I said above…not bad but not great either.





OK, now here are the items that I also bought but have yet to try:

1. Oikos Greek Yogurt (pumpkin spice) – I’m not totally sure on this one so I keep dragging my feet.  I really like yogurt but I’m just scared.  Maybe if it were in a whipped kind then I’m pretty sure I would like it.
2. Reko Pizzelle (pumpkin caramel) – I haven’t tried these yet but my husband did and he said they had a little bit too much spice in them so I’ve been taking his word for it and eating other stuff first.


These are the other items that I wanted to find to try but didn’t (maybe next year):

Sara Lee pumpkin cheesecake
Auntie Anne’s pumpkin spice pretzel nuggets
Metropolis popcorn – pumpkin spice
Pumpkin beer (Blue Moon pumpkin ale?)
Jack-O Traveler pumpkin shandy
Philadelphia cream cheese – pumpkin spice
Pepperidge Farm swirl bread – pumpkin spice
Pumpkin spice Kahlua
Larabars (Pumpkin spice, snickerdoodle, gingerbread)
Pumpkin spice almonds
Bailey’s pumpkin spice Irish cream

Oh, and I should include the stuff that even I wouldn't try:

Extra pumpkin spice gum…yuck 
Pumpkin spice Pringles….double yuck 
Pumpkin spice Peeps…totally not sure on this one  
Pumpkin spice hummus…up in the air on this one too but didn’t see it in the store anyway…. (editor/sister note:  I made pumpkin hummus for Thanksgiving once.  It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself)

Last but by no means least, these are pumpkin spice items that I have tried in the past but didn’t feel like I needed to have again:

Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (pumpkin spice) – not bad but like regular ones better.
Gevalia pumpkin spice latte k-cups (also other k-cups) – thumbs up
Pop-tarts (pumpkin pie) – I love pop-tarts but would stick with my favorites again.
Pepperidge Farm pumpkin spice Milano cookies – not bad
Pumpkin spice eggnog – TOTALLY yummy…I would get this again but I haven’t seen it yet in the stores.
Eggo Waffles (pumpkin spice) – not bad 
Giant Eagle pumpkin pasta sauce – DISGUSTING!!!  I’m not exaggerating…I took one bite and threw this out. I’m having flashbacks and almost want to gag.
Pumpkin spice pancakes – I bought the Hungry Jack mix and it was good but I love the IHOP ones so I’d rather go there.

My final thoughts on my Pumpkinalooza for this year are this...I REALLY like pumpkin and want to try everything I can with it but my family does not so I had better be prepared to eat the whole thing of whatever I get.  I’m still ready to eat more pumpkin stuff but I think I will keep it to all of the recipes that I have pinned in Pinterest.  I also won’t be stopping having my pumpkin spice goodies but I’m getting ready to set my taste buds for peppermint mocha, gingerbread and eggnog…all flavors that remind me of winter and Christmas!!!  

But for now…Happy Fall Y’all!