Pumpkin Pie Shake

If you haven't figured it out already, I love pumpkin. After the last smoothie turned out awesome, I now want to try every smoothie. This recipe caught my attention, and as usual... I altered it just a little! I used slightly less healthy ingredients than it originally called for (like soy milk), and lessened the amount of ingredients so it would fit in my magic bullet!

1/4 banana (peeled, diced)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (Libby’s)
1/3 cup FF plain yogurt
1/2 cup 1% milk (or milk of choice)
Few shakes of pumpkin spice and cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ice cubes
2 packets of Splenda
Throw in some oatmeal if you want!


Mix together, and enjoy! This adds up to be about 200 calories.

Rating: The ingredients needed for this recipe will last long enough you could make this several times, which helps make it more cost efficient! And, it's decently healthy!

Pumpkin Spice Peanut Butter Granola

I love pumpkin, and I love granola. And to my luck, I came across this pumpkin spice granola recipe. I changed it up a little, and it's so good! I lessened the sugary ingredients to make it healthier (and more diabetic friendly).

6 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant)

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. pumpkin spice

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp. peanut butter (optional) 

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place oats in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together pumpkin, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, spices, and salt. Pour over oats and mix together until everything is moistened. Spread evenly onto a large silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet (or 2 smaller ones). (If you don't have a silpat or parchment or wax paper to line the pan, you can just lightly grease it, which is what I did.) 

 

Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Take out pan. Using a large spatula, flip the granola in batches. Disturb it as little as you can if you like lots of clusters. If you don't care about clusters, just stir it around as much as you please and break it up a bit with your spoon or spatula. Place back in oven and bake for about 10-20 more minutes. It will kind of depend on oven temp and how thin you're able to spread the granola on your pan(s). 

 

Remove from oven and allow to cool undisturbed. It should continue to crunch up as it cools.  Once cool, break up any clusters you feel are too large. If you want, mix in a few handfuls of chopped almonds and craisins and store in an airtight container. 

I had some granola start to burn around the edge of the pan, so I turned down the temp just a little bit. My baking time increased because I didn't have enough pans so I had to rotate and do a few batches. I didn't cluster together as much as I should have, so right now I have a big mixture of some clusters, and some loose granola. But, that's okay because I eat granola plain, in yogurt, as cereal, in smoothies, etc.

Rating: This recipe was really easy, and quick to make! Not to mention, you can eat granola with a lot of things, and it's healthy!

Pumpkin Puree

I bought pumpkin puree in the hopes of trying a Pinterest recipe... but they all called for 10+ ingredients that I didn't feel like buying.

So, instead, I just formed my own simple recipe:

Sugar-free pudding mix (add milk as it calls for)
Can of pumpkin puree
1-2 tbsp. of sugar
Few shakes of cinnamon/pumpkin spice
One small shake of salt.

Mix and let sit. 

And if you like dipping your apples in something, you can either use that recipe, or another dip I tried:
1/4 cup of plain yogurt (fat-free if you want to be extra healthy)
1/2 Tbsp. of creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp. of pumpkin
Add cinnamon, splenda, and pumpkin pie spice. (optional)


Rating: There's not enough of the milk, peanut butter, or sugar in either of these recipes that I would consider it unhealthy.