Pumpkin Smoothie

It’s pumpkin season! I saw the original version of this Pumpkin Smoothie recipe in Food Network magazine and I was intrigued. I’ve used pumpkin in a lot of ways, sweet and savory, but I’ve never thought of making it into a smoothie. A latte or a milkshake? Sure. But a smoothie? Nope…and mixing it with banana? Interesting. I fooled around with the quantities of ingredients a little bit based on what I had on hand and making it lighter and I think it turned out great. It definitely tasted like a smoothie; fresh, cold, thick, fruity and sweet without being over-the-top, but the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice gave it a really fun Fall twist. This smoothie is filling and a great way to get some fruit and dairy in at breakfast, lunch or for a snack. Mix a little Autumn into your smoothie this Fall and you won’t regret it!

Pumpkin Smoothie

Yield: 2 (1-1/4 cup) servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ice
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 (5.3 oz) container nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt (I used Dannon Light & Fit)
• 1 medium banana
• 1 ½ tablespoons honey
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons fat free Reddi-wip

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients except the Reddi-wip into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into two glasses and add a tablespoon of Reddi-wip to the top of each. Sprinkle with additional pumpkin pie spice if desired.

MyWW SmartPoints per (1 1/4 cups) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Green: 8 SmartPoints/ Blue: 8 SmartPoints/ Purple: 8 SmartPoints

Weight Watchers Points Plus:
5 per (1-1/4 cup) serving* (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

*If you choose not to use the Weight Watchers recipe builder to calculate your smoothie (in which case the banana and pumpkin are free) each serving of the smoothie will be 3 WW PointsPlus.

Nutrition Information:
179 calories, 38 g carbs, 27 g sugars, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 8 g protein, 5 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)

adapted from Food Network Magazine