Happy October!
I don’t know about all of you, but a ridiculous amount of people coming up on my Facebook news feed were posting pumpkin statuses and pictures left and right – pumpkin coffee, lattes, muffins, cookies, BEER….in the first week of September!! Too early for the pumpkin craze.
Now that’s it’s officially October (and the right time to get into pumpkin mode if you ask me), I had a craving for pumpkin coffee yesterday morning. I stopped at Wawa on my way to work and couldn’t wait to get my first sip of their pumpkin spice coffee. But once I took my first sip, besides burning my tongue, I realized I didn’t get the coffee… I got the pumpkin spice sweet stuff from the machine! The same machine where you get hot chocolate and french vanilla. I almost wanted to spit it out right away because it was incredibly sweet and it’s not paleo!! I didn’t want to finish it, but I needed caffeine, so I drank it. Day 1 on the 30-day challenge and I already cheated. Not a good start!
This is what I should have started my morning off with – Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
I’ve tried two other pumpkin pie smoothie recipes in the past and were very good, but both call for yogurt which is a big no-no on paleo. This recipe isn’t exactly paleo because it calls for apple juice, so go for a sugar free apple juice if you can. Another suggestion is to add protein! You should try and eat protein every meal and adding protein mix to the smoothie won’t change the taste at all. Vanilla would be your best option for all kinds of pumpkin smoothies.
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 1 whole banana (or half an orange)
- 1 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup of ice cubes
- handful of crushed pecans for topping
- Combine all of the above ingredients in order into a food processor or blender
- Run until your smoothie is of a smooth consistency
- Transfer to your serving glass and sprinkle with crushed pecans
Julie, can I add a scoop of protein powder in this smoothie?