Day 95 -- It's The Great Pumpkin Smoothie, Charlie Brown

A few days ago, I posted some links for new recipes that I planned to try over the weekend.  I feel compelled to report back on one of those that I really enjoyed -- the Creamy Pumpkin Pie Smoothie.  Since I purchased my Nutri-Bullet, smoothies have become old hat for me.  But I prefer fruit-based smoothies. Until I saw this. It looked like a creamy milkshake.  And pumpkin is so good for you that I just couldn't resist trying it.  I'm here to report that it tasted as good as it looked.

The recipe includes a tablespoon of chia seeds.  Since I live near a small Midwestern city, I was hopeful that I might be able to find chia seeds in my local grocery store.  After all, they had flax seeds in two of the three stores that I frequent.  When I couldn't find them at my favorite store, I went to my second favorite store.  I couldn't seem to find them there either and decided to ask at the service desk.  And there they were, both packaged and in bulk!  I also tried to find harissa without any luck at either store.  I knew I was reaching with that one.

Chia seeds are high in Omega 3 which is something that I need to make sure I include in my diet.  I haven't been eating ground flax seed lately since I've been skipping my morning oatmeal and smoothies.  But chia seed has the benefit that they don't need to be ground to be nutritious, so they can be tossed in almost any dish.  I'll talk more about chia and flax seeds in a future post.  Here's the recipe for this yummy smoothie from the Oh She Glows website.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
1 cup almond milk

1/4 cup rolled oats
1 T. chia seeds
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 t.  blackstrap molasses
1/2  frozen ripe banana
1 t.cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 T. pure maple syrup

1. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the milk, oats, and chia seeds. Place in fridge for 1 hour or preferably overnight.
2. Add soaked oat mixture to blender along with the pumpkin, molasses, maple syrup,  frozen banana, and spices. Blend until smooth. Add about 3 ice cubes and blend until ice cold.