Bertagni Pumpkin Ravioli

This the second pumpkin filled ravioli I've had. The other one was really good. This one is even better.

I've never heard of Bertagni before, but these guys make some fine ravioli. The main thing is that they stuff the pasta with pure pumpkin with some spices so you get all the pumpkin flavor without anything funking it up. Toss in a little creamy Alfredo sauce and it makes a dandy dinner dish.

Pumpkin Truffles

From Sweet Shop USA, it's a pumpkin truffle! Chocolate covered fluffy pumpkin filling... mmmmmm...

It's not bad, actually, but still a bit disappointing. The pumpkin filling is great, although it has a slightly spongy marshmallow feel. The main problem though is that the chocolate is really unimpressive. In fact, it was so unimpressive that Mrs. Pumpkinboy didn't even finish the one she tried.

Still, I found them okay although maybe not quite worth the relatively high cost.

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale

In years past, I've found this to be a truly awful. But at the same time, this is also one of the first non-pie pumpkin items I ever tried. So, in some way, this is kind of the item that started this whole obsession with pumpkin.

Now I don't know if they changed the formula, of taste buds changed, or I just got some freaky bottle, but the one I had this year was really good. I could actually taste pumpkin and spice. Stunned! I am STUNNED!!!

I shall have to try another and see if this holds up.

Pumpkin Scone

Target find from a few years back. I gotta tell ya, scones don't do much for me. They are real moist and they just kind crumble to pieces and dry out your mouth.

The pumpkin taste was okay, but there was waaaaaaaay too much icing on this. Contrary to popular opinion, icing should be used sparingly for a little blast of sweetness. It should not be the focus of the item.

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Okay, this one is actually really old... maybe 2006 or 2007. Found these at Target one year. They were pretty good, kind of like a fig newton with icing. Soft and with just the right amount of pumpkin flavor, these were a nice little pastry.

I actually intended on taking them to work to share with people but Bergkamp, the crazing beagle-terrier mix, got loose in the truck and ate them before I could pull over and separate him from the treats.

Pumpkin Pocky

Pocky... what the hell is Pocky? It's some crazy Japanese snack that seems to involve coated bread-cookie sticks. Usually it's some sort of chocolate based coating. In this instance, it claims to be a Pumpkin coated Pocky.

I found this on eBay from somebody who apparently imported it in from Japan. It's actually really good... except that the "pumpkin" tastes more like "white chocolate". So far, from the Japanese products I've sampled, they don't seem to understand what pumpkin is supposed to taste like. Still, it's a tasty treat even if it isn't pumpkiny.

Bonus points for the ever bewildering Japanese packaging. "Lovely Halloween!" it exclaims over a very happy Jack O' Lantern... yes, "Lovely Halloween!" indeed.

Little Debbie Pumpkin Muffins

Little Debbie makes some pretty tasty snacks. I find it slightly odd that a muffin is their second trip into pumpkin flavored treats (the other being the Pumpkin Delights). All the same, it's a pretty good muffin. It's not spectacular... but it is a tasty treat. My favorite part is that when you open the cellophane, it has this great aroma of cream cheese. While it doesn't taste like cream cheese, sadly, the smell alone is enough to make me completely forget the "creme" cake that Walmart claims to sell.

Nuovo Pumpkin & Sage Ravioli

Pumpkin & pasta... two of my favorites. It's Nuovo's Pumpkin & Sage Ravioli. Nuovo makes high quality specialty pastas and deals with foodservice a lot.

I was a little nervous about this, seeing as how my only other pumpkin & pasta experience was that terrible pumpkin gnocchi.
However, this turned out to be a much better than I thought.

It's a pretty simple meal. Each package has two generous portions and it takes about 10 minutes or so to boil. It works well with a creamy sauce, like Alfredo.

The ravioli itself actually tastes like... well... like a ricotta enhanced pumpkin pie. The pasta is tender with a strong pumpkin flavor. I'm not a big ricotta fan, to be honest, but it's not overpowering and adds a little sandy-like texture that is pleasant enough.

Found this at Central Market. The first time I found it was back in July so I think this may be a non-seasonal item.

Pumpkin Chocolate

Another Central Market find, this is Bissinger's Pumpkin Bark - Milk Chocolate Swirled with Real Pumpkin. All Natural no less.

It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect. It tastes like chocolate, it tastes like pumpkin... all swirled together. Verrry Tasty! It's not perfect though... it has this odd aroma and initial flavor, kinda chalky. But it's not bad and the taste of this confection more than makes up for it. It's smooth and has a creamy pumpkin flavor that isn't forced or fake. Love it!

It's also available for purchase direct from Bissinger's website if you don't have a Central Market. This one really is a can't miss.

Odwalla Pumpkin Protein Soymilk Drink

I'm not big on crazy protein drinks. I like to chew my protein, normally. But, since I am contractually obligated to try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING made with pumpkin or tasting like pumpkin, I had to give this one a shot.

Odwalla makes all sorts of crazy produce and protein liquids. I don't know how any of them taste, and I don't think I'm interested in trying any of the others. The Pumpkin Protein honestly wasn't bad, but I am not a soy person. If you do like soy, rock on.

I gave this a shot before a soccer match. Not having had a soy drink before, I didn't know what to expect. The front end wasn't very good. The weird thing is, the AFTERTASTE had a fairly nice pumpkin flavor. Once you got past the kinda chalky soy taste, there was a surprising pumpkin treat.

I don't know if it helped my soccer game or not (we lost).

Final Analysis: If you just like pumpkin, this probably isn't recommended. If you like soymilk, you'll probably enjoy far more than I did. 2 out of 5 pumpkins.

Ring the bell! It's Pumpkin season!

Welcome Fall!

Today being the first day of Autumn, I'm finally getting off my rear end and adding a new entry.

Last week, a friend of mine alerted me to the newest in pumpkin flavored tastiness:

Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses! Yum!

Lately, Hershey's has felt the need to make their signature kisses in a variety of different flavors (the neopolitan ones are better than they sound) and so this time around, they've captured the flavor of pumpkin pie in a tiny confection and wrapped it in foil.

These kisses are soft, as opposed to the solid chocolate original kiss, and Mrs. Pumpkinboy thought they were melty and so we've been storing them in the refridgerator. They have a pretty good color (a orange/tan blend... thankfully not some bright orange color that just screams "PUMPKIN" at you).

They have a lot of flavor for such a small piece of candy. They're fairly rich too, so if you aren't head over heels in love with pumpkin flavor, it might be a tad overpowering. I loved 'em, however; it's like a little pumpkin pie you can eat anywhere.

A few of us at work have decided that these would be fantastic in a shortbread or sugar thumprint cookie. It would really seem like a mini-pumpkin pie or pumpkin tart. Perhaps I will try that.

4 1/2 out of 5 pumpkins

Thanksgiving: A bountiful feast!

Now that I can actually think about food again after stuffing myself on Thursday, let's cover some pumpkin stuff that I ate recently.

Dreyer's Slow Churned Pumpkin (Limited Edition) - This stuff is awesome. It mixes two of my favorite treats together: ice cream and pumpkin. It's smooth and creamy and has a great pumpkin flavor! Plus, it's a lower fat product (Dreyer's also makes a regular pumpkin ice cream, which is quite good too, although I like the slow churned better) so you can feel a little less guilty about eating it.

Libby's Pumpkin Bread Kit and Einstein Brother's Bakery Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread - Libby's, maker of fine canned pumpkin products (and pretty much the only maker of canned pumpkin products), put out this pumpkin bread kit that I found at Target for about $5. It makes two loaves worth of pumpkin bread (I used one big 9 x 13 pan and made a big cake like loaf). Since it uses real canned pumpkin (as opposed to dried stuff in a mix), it came out pretty moist and flavorful. Plus it's really easy so most anybody could make this stuff without screwing up. I will admit, though, that I added tiny bits of some other stuff to the mix like some extra Pumpkin Pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, a shot of the Archer Farms Pumpkin Nog Milk, and a shot of amaretto. MMMMMMMM!
To top it off (literally), I gave the bread a nice frosting of the Einstein Bros. Pumpkin Cream Cheese. Normally, I get this and spread it on the Einstein Bros. Pumpkin Bagels, but I haven't actually seen any of those this year. This Cream Cheese Spread is excellent. It's very light and fluffy and is a near perfect blend of pumpkin and cream cheese. There are other pumpkin cream cheeses out there, but this on is by far my favorite.

Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts & Holes - For the record, I actually bought a box of the donut holes, but this can cover both items since they are basically the same food, just in a different shape.
Donuts are a nice treat, although I've lost some interest in them over the years. These Pumpkin Spice donuts are not bad, but not really a winner. Sure the donuts themselves are good (granted, I don't really see the big deal about KK), especially since they are cake donuts which I prefer, but they just don't pack a powerful pumpkin punch. Sure you can taste the pumpkin, but the whole thing is a just a step or two away from a regular cake donut.

On Thanksgiving, we took my family out to lunch at a Fort Worth restaurant called Ferre. I think the missus tends to enjoy this one more than me, but it's not bad (personally, I prefer Saint Emilion). There were a couple of gourmet type pumpkin items on the three-course menu, so I was forced to try them.
The first, an appetizer, was a Pumpkin Gnocchi with pancetta, brown butter and sage. First off, I am not a fan of bacon and bacon related foods. Meat should be tender and juicy and should not crunch. Pancetta, while not bacon in the strictest sense, is still a bacon-y food and so the flavor ran amuck in the bowl. The gnocchi was not bad, but failed to impress. It was chewy but lacked any real flavor of it's own (largely tasted of pancetta). This could have been better. More pumpkin, butter, and spices, less pancetta.
The other menu item, a dessert, was Pumpkin Ricotta Cheesecake with candied pecans and maple whipped cream. This was fantastic... one of the best pumpkin cheesecakes I've ever tried. I can't stand ricotta, but it was blended together so well that the entire cheesecake came out smooth and creamy and not overpoweringly rich as cheesecakes can tend to do. They maple whipped cream was a treat too. Definitely made up for the gnocchi.

Okay, that's about enough for now. Time to hit the mountain bike and work off all these calories!

We're going out for pumpkin!

Today there are a couple of pumpkin things I want to mention, both from restaurants.
One is the Pumpkin Pancakes from the International House of Pancakes, or IHOP, if you get excited about acronyms.
These were fantastic. The were light and fluffy, moist enough to not need syrup, and came topped with some whipped cream. The pumpkin flavor was better than expected. I don't know how many truck drivers, old people, or intoxicated youths but these, but if they don't, their missing out.
The other item is the Pumpkin Muffin (Seasonal selection) from Mimi's Cafe. I did not actually order this one, it came as part of Mrs. Rotten's meal, but she was gracious enough to give me a bite after I stared and drooled at it for a good two minutes. Perhaps it was because this was dinner and they had possibly baked them earlier in the day, but it was a little dry. It wasn't bad, but not the best muffin ever. A quick reheat in the microwave probably would have done wonders for this one.
Anyway, 4 pumpkins for the pancakes, 3 for the muffin.

Whataburger Fried Pumpkin Pie

Today's pumpkin entry is the Whataburger Fried Pumpkin Pie.
Whataburger makes some tasty food that will make any dietitian or nutritionist fly into an uncontrolled rage. The line of fried pies is no exception.
You can typically get apple or maybe cherry and sometimes they have lemon. For the fall season this year, they have pumpkin.
I was quite excited when a co-worker told me about them. So, we went to Whataburger for lunch, mostly to try the pie.
Well, the pie was.... okay. It was fried, it was hot, and it was not quite what I was expecting. The pumpkin pie filling was not so amazing... it was too liquid-y and didn't have a strong flavor. Plus, it was still way to hot, even after a good 15 minute cool off period while I ate the rest of lunch.
Still, if you are at Whataburger, it's worth trying. If you are driving around and need pumpkin, it'll do. Is it the greatest dessert invention ever. No.
3 out of 5 pumpkins.

Creamy Pumpkin Curry Soup

Today's pumpkin thing is actually a recipe I got from some stupid calendar they gave us at work. It's Creamy Pumpkin Curry Soup. It's not too difficult to make (other than chopping the onions and garlic... burn!). It tasted okay, but I have to admit, I really am not a soup guy. I like chili and stews, but for whatever reason, eating liquid with a spoon just doesn't appeal to me. I will say that I enjoyed it more as a Creamy Pumpkin Curry Sauce that I poured over chicken and veggies. For my taste though, I think I'd like it a little less creamy. I don't think I'm done with this one... perhaps some tweaking and experimenting is in order. I'm giving it 2 out of 5 pumpkins, but that's largely because I think the "creamy" and "soup" parts got in the way.
If anybody wants the recipe.... let me know.

Archer Farms Holiday Nog: Pumpkin Spice Milk

Today's pumpkin treat is absolutely fanamatastic! I can tell you a straight up 5 pumpkins right now.

Archer Farms Holiday Nog: Pumpkin Spice Milk. This is awesome! Smooth and creamy with a dandy pumpkin flavor. Perfect for making your Cheerios a little more exciting or just a nice treat after another stupid day at work. Buy a bunch of it and spike it with rum or some other spirit and never leave the house. Available at Target.

Archer Farms Pumpkin Tart (with side of beer)

Today's pumpkin review is for the Archer Farms 4" Pumpkin Tart. Found this one in the Target bakery for $2.99. It's 6 oz of tasty pumpkin goodness (with dollop of cream and a chocolate stick). Don't look at the Nutrition Facts (especially since this thing is supposed to serve 2).
It has a good pumpkin flavor but I can't say this is fanamatastic since it largely tastes like a mini-pumpkin pie with extra crust (not that I mind... I like crust). It was good and I'd recommend it, but it isn't the pumpkin find of the year. 4 out of 5 pumpkins.
An aside: it went quite well with the Blue Moon Winter Ale (Target was out of the BM Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale, which will be reviewed later). Both were consumed while watching another dandy episode of Reaper.

Stop! Pumpkin Time!

Well, it's pumpkin season again. This year, I fully intend on doing a better job of reporting all of the tasty pumpkin treats. So far this year, there has been a new pumpkin beer, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin tart, pumpkin milk, and pumpkin curry soup. I have a pumpkin cake recipe to try and some pumpkin cream cheese in the fridge. Reviews will follow as time allows.

If you happen to find a pumpkin flavored something, let me know so I can try it.

Blah, Blah, Pumpkin, Blah, Blah!

Pictured here are some strange treat called "Pumpkin Dreams" or some such nonsense. They are a roundish bite sized ball that has some sort of cookie type inside and covered by a powdered sugar and spice outside. These aren't too bad. They have a lot of flavor, pumpkin and other assorted spices. The problem is that they are waaaaay too rich. One is plenty. Not like in a candy corn kind of way, but it's just that one of them is so strong that you can really only eat one and then wait a week before eating another.

3 pumpkins. Good flavor, too strong to eat more than one.

Jack makes a mean milkshake!

Today's pumpkin entry is my favorite. The Jack-in-the-Box Pumpkin Pie Milkshake (not available in pubs or bars). This is fantastic. It's a thick, ice cream milkshake with pumpkin flavor and topped off with whipped cream and a cherry. There really isn't much to say except that it is mad crazy pumpkin flavor. 5 pumpkins all the way. (Sorry, I don't have a picture. This is one of those things that doesn't last long enough to have it's picture taken!)