Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

So, I'm meeting myself coming and going these days, but I HAD to share this recipe! To celebrate Fall and all things pumpkin, I made a Pumpkin Pie Smoothie for lunch today, and it did not disappoint.

1 Cup Plain Kefir

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Purée

1/2 Banana, frozen

1 Tbsp Pecans (I mash mine before I put them in)

2 Tbsp Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Mix it and blend it.

This fits perfectly in my single serve blender cup.

I used this as a post workout, meal replacement smoothie. It's approximately 410 calories with about 20 grams of protein. Using the sweetened condensed milk adds 22 grams of sugar. I'm sure I could lighten this up if I wanted to, just by replacing that with something lower in sugar, but like I said, this was post workout and lunch for me. And, I'm not eating pumpkin without a sweetener. :-)

For the pumpkin, I used canned purée, (not the pie filling, just the pumpkin), and I froze it in mini muffin tins so I had little blocks for the smoothie machine. You could do the same with ice cube trays. If you've ever made your own baby food, you know all about this technique. You'll use about 4-5 cubes per smoothie. I'm planning to try a sweet potato version of this, and I'll cook and mash them myself. Pumpkins are tough, and the canned stuff is just easy. I'm all about easy. Also, I freeze my bananas in halves so I have them for smoothies, and they help make it nice and thick.

If you like pumpkin, I think you'll like this smoothie.

Happy Fall, Y'all!