Pumpkin Smoothies

I’m so excited to participate in Vegan MoFo (month of food) this year! There are hundreds and hundreds of bloggers committed to blogging daily (or as close to daily as possible) about vegan FOOD for the entire month of October! I’ve decided to blog mostly about my favorite food- NACHOS- in all the variations possible. I’ll use the term nachos loosely- anything with a chip-like base and toppings is nachos in my book! But before the nacho-gorging commences, I’d like to celebrate the beginning of fall and PUMPKIN season with some delicious and healthy smoothies. So without further ado, I give you Vegan MoFo 2011!

Like so many, I’m obsessed with pumpkin in the fall. It is just so good- that’s all there is to it. Last year I started making pumpkin pie smoothies when I was inspired by this post from Choosing Raw about butternut squash smoothies. This week I had fun playing in the kitchen to come up with a few variations on the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Sometimes you just want decadent pumpkin pie flavor, sometimes you want a healthy green smoothie. Both of these recipes are healthy- but one is packed with super foods!

This one tastes just like pumpkin pie without the crust and it is ridiculously easy:

kitty approved!

I happened to have pumpkin pie filling instead of plain pumpkin puree because of a grocery store accident… but it made whipping up this smoothie even easier! (pumpkin pie filling is pureed pumpkin with sugar and spices- in case you didn’t know…)

In a blender combine:

1/2 cup silken tofu- drained

1 cup pumpkin pie filling

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup soymilk (or your fave non-dairy milk- almond would be really good too!)

3 ice cubes (used crushed ice if you don’t have a high-powered blender)

Blend until smooth and creamy- it should be pretty thick.

Pour into a glass and drink! I ate it with a spoon…

If you are using pure pumpkin puree, increase the pumpkin pie spice to 1 teaspoon and add agave or maple syrup to taste- probably a few tablespoons at least. ;) You could also up the health-factor by adding a few leaves of romaine or spinach. You won’t really taste the leaves, but it will change the color to not so pumpkin pie-y.

And for a super-food filled smoothie I like this version:

It doesn’t taste like pumpkin pie, and if you aren’t a fan of ‘planty’ green smoothies, I’d recommend you skip it and go for the version above! ;)