Last night was great sleeping weather, wasn't it? Windows open, blankets on, lots of snuggling. Ah, fall. These cooler temperatures mean I will be breaking out the crock pot pretty soon. It also means I'll be craving pumpkin pie. However, I've found a much healthier alternative: a pumpkin protein shake. It's one of my favorite snacks, and my kids love it too! Pumpkin, even the canned stuff, is chock full of nutrients. It's low calorie (about 45 per half cup), and it has lots of fiber, vitamin A, and beta-carotene (and we all need lots of antioxidants!).
Blend together the following ingredients:
6-8 ice cubes
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 packet Splenda (optional)
2-4 T. water as needed (in case it's not enough liquid with just the milk)
Altogether, that's about 200-250 calories, depending on what kind of milk you use.
Last fall i did a lot of experimenting with pumpkin. My favorite was pumpkin spice oatmeal with a few scoops of vanilla greek yogurt on top! It was 1/2 cup old fashioned oats and 1 c water cook oatmeal mix in 1/4 c pumpkin and vanilla and cinnamon to taste. I also added some truvia to sweeten it a little bit.
ReplyDeleteYum! Thanks for this suggestion!
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