Saturday, October 26, 2013

National Pumpkin Day Smoothie

Today is National Pumpkin Day! In honor of this beloved Jack-O-Lantern of all trades (sorry, I couldn't resist...), I present you with:

Fist-Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
(So good your brain will scramble and reduce you to a state of uncontrollable fist-pumping)


Makes 4 - 12 oz. servings

1 - 16 oz. can of pumpkin puree (just plain old puree!)
2-3 medium (5-6" long) bananas, frozen
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup fat-free or low-fat milk (substitute with almond milk for vegan option)
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey (optional, but I like things sweet)
1 cup ice

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy! I used Trader Joe's cinnamon sugar grinder to add a little topping to mine :)

This delicious smoothie packs in about 250% of your daily recommended amount of Vitamin A. Your eyes will thank you, as will your waistline, since each serving (WITH sweetener) has only about 190 calories. Leaving out the sweetener, since ripe bananas are sweet enough to pass as ice cream all on their own, makes this treat only 144 calories.

Compare that with 350 calories in a slice of pumpkin pie, without whipped cream! Not to mention that 350 calorie slice is only a little bit more than 1" wide.

Compare THAT with Jamba Juice's (which, I'll be honest, inspired me to make my own home-made pumpkin smoothie) Pumpkin Smash: 390 calories, and only 40% vitamin A!

So, yeah. Make this instead.
Or you can fist-pump away all of the holiday weight you put on eating all manner of pumpkin-spice-latte-soup-accino-smoothie pies.
Or, you know, just enjoy all those things anyways...in moderation!
;)