Forking Up

Disclaimer: I received free product for the purpose of this post, and an incentive of a potential cash prize if my recipe is chosen as a winner. As usual, I would never share a product I didn't support or highlight a company I did not agree with.

Hello all and welcome to my contribution to the Steviva Blogger Challenge! Bloggers were challenged to make either a sweet or savory dish using a Steviva product. I actually really like Stevia, it's my sweetener of choice when I'm trying to avoid sugar. Unlike other artificial sweeteners, stevia comes from a plant, and therefore is less chemical-laden.

For these mini low carb pumpkin pies, I used the Nectivia syrup. It's half stevia, half agave, so it has 1/4th of the carbs and calories of sugar or agave.

Friends sampled these for me, and they were definitely a win. Especially with an extra drizzle or two of syrup and a dollop of coconut cream on top!

You can find the Steviva brand on their social media below:

Website: https://www.steviva.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steviva
Twitter: https://twitter.com/steviva
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevivabrands/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/stevivabrands/


Let me know what you think of these low carb, low sugar mini pumpkin pies!


Low Carb Low Sugar Mini Pumpkin Pies for the Steviva Blogger Challenge
for the crust

• 2 cups almond meal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp coconult milk
• 2 tbsp nectivia

For the filling

• 1 can pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 can coconut cream (reserve the rest of the can for the topping!)
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/3 cup nectivia

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper wrappers and spray with cooking oil of choice.

-Prepare the crust by putting all ingredients into a food processor and pulsing until it forms a dough. Use a bit extra coconut milk or almond meal until the desired consistency is reached.

-Roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness and cut out circles that are slightly larger than your muffin tin wells. Press the dough into the tins and smooth out any wrinkles.

-Prepare the filling by whipping all the ingredients together until they are a uniform color. Spoon into the crusts until nearly full, just enough to ensure the filling won't spill out during transport.

-Bake for 40 minutes, or until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is set.

-Top with extra coconut cream and a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice.

Hey guys, and welcome to Monster Mash Monday! Need some inspiration for Halloween food? Here you'll find all my recipes to have a kick ass Halloween Party! HALLOWEEN IS NEXT WEEK! Now that we're only a week away, I'll be posting like a madwoman trying to get all my recipes out. So keep checking back! Missed the last ones in the series?? Check them out here: Eerie Alien Eggs, Candy Corn Marshmallow Treats, redRUM cocktail, Pumpkin Muffins, and Caramel Apple Martini.

Okay so, these aren't really spooky, I just called them poop because if pumpkins could poop maybe it'd look like this? I dunno. They're just fall-themed. Aka pumpkin spice. Because I'm basic as hell and if you've been around a while you should know this.


Fill a ceramic pumpkin with these bad boys and watch them magically disappear!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Mallomars

• 24 ginger snap cookies
• 1 jar marshmallow creme
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp pumpkin spice
• 12 oz white chocolate
• 2-5 drops orange food coloring
• ~2 cups confectioner's sugar

-Line up the ginger snaps on a baking sheet lined with wax paper for easy removal

-Gently fold together the marshmallow creme, pumpkin spice, and pumpkin puree. Add confectioner's sugar until the mixture holds its shape (I used about 1.5 cups). Spoon or pipe marshmallow onto the ginger snaps. Let set in the fridge for 10 minutes, until the marshmallow is just barely tacky when touched.

-Melt the white chocolate (I did this in a microwave in 30 second intervals, but follow the instructions on the package!) and stir in the food coloring.

-Dip the marshmallow cookies into the white chocolate. Replace on cookie tray, and refrigerate until firm.

The drink handed to me tasted EXACTLY like a caramel apple--my favorite fair treat. At the next party I requested this drink again, but it didn't come out quite the same (though he did create a cotton-candy drink that tasted DIVINE so that helped). For years, I've been searching for the perfect caramel apple martini recipe. And I think I finally found it.

The secret ingredient? Apple cider. It helps tone down the apple pucker and bump up the real apple taste. With the vanilla and butterscotch flavors, it gives the unmistakable flavor of biting into a caramel apple. One that may get you drunk if you continue to indulge.


While this cocktail is perfect for Halloween, it's equally great all autumn long.

Caramel Apple Martini

• 2 oz Sour Apple Pucker
• 2 oz Buttershots
• 2 oz vanilla vodka
• splash of apple cider
• caramel sauce, for the rim

-Dip a chilled martini glass in caramel sauce, set aside.

-In a shaker filled with ice, shake together the rest of the ingredients.

-Serve cold.

Do these pictures look familiar? This post originally appeared on my old blog, Quarter Life (Crisis) Cuisine, which I unfortunately let expire. I'm posting some of my favorites on this blog so that I don't lose them forever.

Hey guys, and welcome to Monster Mash Monday! It's 3-ish weeks until Halloween and I am re-posting my favorite Halloween recipes from my old blog! From now until my favorite holiday arrives, check back every Monday for a new Halloween recipe. Missed the last ones? Check them out here: Eerie Alien Eggs, Candy Corn Marshmallow Treats, redRUM cocktail.

These aren't as scary as my alien eggs, but they're pretty tasty and definitely fall.

October is here! And while the air in Texas is still a balmy 70-80 degrees, it's still my favorite time of year. And knowing a harsh winter is unlikely this far south, I can actually enjoy it! --even if the impending hurricanes are freaking me out a little, heh. I do miss the pretty colors of the New England fall, though. Sigh. But I am coping by eating all the apple spice and pumpkin things I can get my hands on.


This is a recipe re-do of the pumpkin muffins my old roommate in Boston used to make. Someone reminded me that this was TEN YEARS AGO and I freaked out just a little. Anyway, I was hankering for a batch recently and was shocked to find the original recipe required THREE CUPS of sugar. That's a flour-to-sugar ratio of ALMOST 1:1.


As my nearing-30 butt (literally, Wednesday) is ever-increasing (and I want to save some calories for a post-Halloween candy binge, don't judge) I figured these needed some lightening up. I added some more nutritious flours and cut the sugar down by two thirds.

The result? Not bad! My coworkers loved them, and an online calorie counter clocks them in at just 144 calories per muffin. Enjoy!



Lightened Up Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

-In a large bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

-In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, sugar, maple syrup, eggs and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; beat until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.

-Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I really need everyone to appreciate the placemats in the background here. I searched for them at FOUR DIFFERENT TARGETS. I saw them at a Target back in mid-September, then thought I could get better placemats online, quickly learned I could NOT, and searched the city for cheap, cute, Halloweeny placemats.



Like LOLWUT why are placemats and THROW PILLOWS SO EXPENSIVE??

Anyway, this ice cream is bomb, it's super super duper easy, and so tasty and fall-like. Do it. Do it now.



Also check out the rest of the awesome pumpkin recipes today!

Savory Pumpkin Recipes:

Sweet Pumpkin Recipes:

Here are today's #PumpkinWeek recipes:

Pumpkin Drink Recipes:

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup from The Nifty Foodie

Savory Pumpkin Recipes:

Sweet Pumpkin Recipes:

The Shining is my favorite horror book, by my favorite horror writer (duh) Stephen King. I actually read it for the first time when I was just 11, after telling my dad "Goosebumps just aren't scary to me anymore" he handed me a worn out copy he'd read a handful of times. (I guess he was forgetting King's penchant for awkward sex scenes? yikes...) I lost that one, but later bought this one for my personal collection--


A year later, he let me rent the movie during a sleepover. I loved it, all of it. It was creepy and captivating and a true work of horror. It began my long-held love of Stephen King that continues to this day. I agree that the book and movie are very different works, and that the book is worlds better, OBVIOUSLY, but both are solid in their own right.



What's better than watching one of your favorite horror movies--it's SO different than the book, so it's not my absolute favorite, just close--while drinking a drink inspired by it? Not much, especially when you're a horror/Halloween nut like me!



Since this was one of my favorite childhood books (as weird as that sounds, hah!) I based on another childhood favorite, a Shirley Temple, with a spicy kick. Something dark, something innocent, it works thematically. Stay with me here.




RedRUM Cocktail

• 1 oz spiced rum
• 1/2 oz triple sec
• 1/2 oz grenedine
• 1/4 oz lime juice
• 2 cocktail cherries

-In a cocktail glass (martini preferred) pour in the grenedine and then the rum, being careful not to disturb the grenedine.

-In a cocktail shaker, shake together the remaining ingredients. Carefully pour on top of the rum.

-With a small spoon, spoon more grenedine around the edge of the glass for a bloody effect. Garnish with cherries.