Skinny Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

I love pumpkin.  I love September and October because all the little cafes and coffee shops come out with pumpkin flavored everything.  (Thankfully the closest Starbucks and Second Cup are both more than an hour away in another city otherwise I’d be poor and on a sugar high all the time.)   And because I love trying out new things I’ve been experimenting with pumpkin puree lately.

A few weeks ago I made vegan pumpkin ice cream.  I used the Healthy Vegan Ice Cream recipe from back in June and mixed in some pumpkin puree.  I also added pumpkin pie spice which may make it less vegan but it was delish so I’m not even sorry a little bit. 😉

This morning I decided to forego my eggs and make a pumpkin pie smoothie.

Because I have a long day ahead of me (work, gym then 2 fitness classes) I added a scoop of protein powder.  If you make this recipe you can choose to use the protein or not.

– One cup of milk of choice (I used almond milk)

– 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree (not pie filling*)

– 1-2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt (plain or vanilla) OR half a banana (I use these for consistency as I like a thick smoothie.  Normally I use the banana but today I used the yogurt)

– 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

(*if you choose to use pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree, simply omit the pumpkin pie spice.  Also, the filling will likely make your smoothie less skinny.)

Put all ingredients in a blender.  Enjoy.

 

 

Healthy Vegan “Ice Cream”

Last week I wanted a treat so I made a small batch of vegan “ice cream.” This is so simple and so yummy and so healthy.

The main ingredient? Bananas. Yeppers. Bananas. I’m sure some of you have heard it before or have seen the Yonanas commercials on TV (I desperately wanted a Yonanas machine last year) and it’s becoming all the rage. And instead of a Yonanas machine all you need is a blender or food processor.

Here’s what you do:

Place bananas in the freezer (number of bananas depends on desired size and portions – 2 medium bananas will make 2 good servings). {It is best to peel them prior to freezing. I made the mistake of not doing this the first time around and the icky insides of the peel went everywhere…It was gross. Slicing prior to is optional – if you forget to slice before hand, it’s not a big deal.}

Once frozen, remove from freezer and place slices in food processor or blender. Blend banana well…until they’re creamy and smooth.

THIS IS NOW YOUR ICE CREAM. However you can add additional ingredients. The first batch I made I added natural peanut butter and blended. It was so good.

The second time I made it I added cocoa. But the possibilities are endless: Strawberries, peaches, blueberries, pineapple. Or you can add flavored protein powder or chocolate chips (some of your ingredients will make your dessert not-so-vegan).

See? Simple. And Cheap. And healthy. Well, healthy as long as you don’t go throwing a lot of extra junk in it. This is definitely something I’m going to be making more of and trying different variations. My goal is to make a bigger batch to store in a container in the freezer so that I won’t have to go thru the process (which is really only like 2 minutes {once bananas are frozen}) everytime I want some.

Try it and enjoy.

~Fit Bitch