Pumpkin Smoothie Recipe

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Last year, I made a pretty simple change to my diet.  I began drinking smoothies twice a day.  I have to tell you this is one easy way to add fruits and veggies into your diet on a daily basis, and your body will love you for it.  I feel a noticeable difference in my overall health!   

With Fall quickly approaching, this gives me the perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite smoothie recipes, a Pumpkin Smoothie.  I don't know about you but there is just something about the cool, crispness of the Fall air that starts my taste buds craving pumpkin.

Ingredients:
1/3 can, canned pumpkin (15oz) or 5 oz homemade puree
1 Tbsp raw honey or agave nectar
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Ginger
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I recommend homemade)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 frozen banana


Directions:
Add all the ingredients into a high powered blender.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Enjoy! (makes 2 servings)



*Note:  Be sure to tweak this recipe to your own taste buds.  Add more of less of the spices or sweetener and be sure to experiment with additional spices. I think adding some nutmeg would be fantastic, too!

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Fall for me means sweaters, skinny jeans with a cute pair of boots, hoodies, Husker football games, spiced apple cider, falling leaves,  Halloween, and pumpkins.  By pumpkins, I'm talking pumpkin pie, pumpkin smoothies (recipe will be coming soon on a future post), pumpkin bars, pumpkin whoopee pies, pumpkin muffins...oh my, I'm starting to drool a bit.  In order to make all these divinely scrumptious baked goods you'll need to stock up on lots of pumpkin puree.  Normally, I would use Farmers Market Organic Pumpkin Puree, but this year, after seeing some organic pumpkins in the produce section at Natural Grocers, I decided it was about time to try making my own.  

Homemade Pumpkin Puree:
**I want to credit Organic Authority for the instructions which helped me learn how to make this puree.

Ingredients: 
1 whole Pumpkin (I used a 4 LB Sugar Pumpkin)

Directions:
1.  Preheat your oven to 350F.

2.  De-stem and cut the pumpkin in half.  Remove the seeds but don't throw them away.  Roast those babies for some good snacking later on!

3.   Place the two halves face up on a baking sheet.  Place in the oven for 45 - 60 minutes, or until a fork can pierce the flesh.  Let me tell you....Your house will smell all sorts of amazing as this pumpkin is in the oven roasting.  Mmmmm!

4.  Allow the pumpkin to cool off a bit before scraping all the flesh off the skin.  Discard the skin.  Place the pumpkin in a blender, and blend until smooth and creamy. Note: A food processor may work better then a blender on this step.  I struggled a bit with my blender blending the pumpkin very well. I had to keep stopping and stirring it around a bit.  It may be the kind of blender I have, but I'm going to try a food processor next time to see if it makes this step any easier.  ***UPDATE**** Use a food processor for this step.  It works like a charm!!!!

5.  Drain off any excess water, if needed.  (I did not need to do this step but if your pumpkin holds a lot of moisture in it, you might have to.)

6.  Store in jars or freeze for later use.  I was able to get about 38oz of pumpkin puree from a 4LB pumpkin.