The headline on the recipe intrigued me--"tastes just like a pumpkin pie in a glass". Now that was a recipe my husband would fall for. Pumpkin pie is his greatest delight. He lives for the morning after Thanksgiving so he can dine on leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast. It's a long-standing (since childhood) part of his holiday tradition. He relishes in the leftover pumpkin pie more than he does the slice at the end of the actual Thanksgiving meal.
This "pumpkin pie in a glass" referred to a recipe for Pumpkin Smoothie. It called for 1/2 cup pumpkin--just exactly the amount I had left over from making the Pumpkin Bran Muffins earlier in the week. At the time I had hoped I could find some good use for this small left-over amount. In my fall recipe binder I uncovered this smoothie suggestion that I had obtained from a back issue of Prevention magazine. We weren't into smoothies at the time, so I had filed it away untried. But now smoothies, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, are Hubby's stock and trade--he makes at least two a day. Time to dust off this tucked-away recipe.
Prevention went on to explain that each 8-ounce cup of the Pumpkin Smoothie offers 100 percent of the daily value for beta-carotine and antioxidant that helps fight cancer. Hubby added one banana (and the blood-pressure-lowering potassium the banana contains) because he thought the addition gave the drink more body.
In the end, he was happy with the drink because he didn't have to wait until Thanksgiving to indulge in pumpkin pie. I was happy because I used up my leftovers. Most importantly our bodies were happy because of the antioxidants.
Pumpkin Smoothie
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin cooked and pureed)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup crushed ice
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 whole banana, peel removed
Pour all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smoothie reaches desired thickness. Serve chilled.
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