Saturday 1 October 2011

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Something very exciting happened to me a little while ago. I won a book- simply by posting a comment on a blog! Australians never expect this sort of thing to happen to them. And if we were to win, we then wouldn't expect the book to be sent all the way down to the anitpodes. But Heather from Books and Quilts is a very generous person and very soon my prize was in my hot little hands. Heather is so generous that she included a number of other gifts in my parcel too. 


Over 200 smoothie recipes, and me with a new Thermomix!


The book is divided up into the usual sorts of sections
Apple
Banana
Berries
Strawberries
Tropical and Citrus
Vegetables
Juices

Of course I want to try things like Strawberry De-Lish Smoothie- basically a mango, a banana, some strawberries and ice. Who wouldn't? Or the Apple and Cinnamon Smoothie. Even the Apricot, Honey and Orange Smoothie. But for my first smoothie from the book I thought I'd push the envelope and delve into the Vegetable chapter. 

There are some recipes in there that are challenging to my mind- such as the Broccoli and Grape Smoothie. I don't know that I'll ever get to trying that one. And the Celery and Kiwi Smoothie will never get made in my house (I am yet to be convinced that celery is a food). I don't have a long history of drinking vegetable juice. I don't like tomato juice, and it was just last month that I was brave enough to try a green juice and a green smoothie for the first time. The green smoothie was delicious (lots of apple juice I suspect).

Delicious sweet potato chips, delicious green smoothie, meh green juice (timid attempt by me, too much celery) at
Field of Greens, Houston, Texas

So emboldened by such green smoothie success, I decided to make the Pumpkin Smoothie. Australians love pumpkin, I even had a wedge in the fridge, so I thought this would be a good place to start. 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

165mL/ 3/4 cup chilled pumpkin puree
165mL/ 3/4 cup chilled milk
110mL/ 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
1 tblsp agave syrup
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine all ingredients and blend til smooth. 


Made in a rush for dessert, so nighttime and not great lighting

So how was it? It tasted a bit like a slightly pumpkiny egg nog. I quite liked it. Mr Adventures was less keen, but still drank his share. I wonder what I'll try next?

Notes
I modified the original recipe a fair bit. I gave it the much better name of Pumpkin Pie Smoothie for a start. That sounds heaps better than Pumpkin Smoothie to me. 

I made my own pumpkin puree (mash). Simply steamed the chopped pumpkin in the microwave, and then mashed it, and chilled it. 

The original recipe used vanilla frozen yoghurt instead of icecream. Rural Australia didn't have any vanilla frozen yoghurt on the day I wanted it, (I'm not sure that we ever do actually) and since there was some icecream in the freezer I used that instead.

The original recipe also included 1 tblsp frozen orange juice concentrate. I'm not sure that frozen juice concentrate is available in Australia, if it was I wouldn't buy it, so I just left it out. 

The original recipe also used 2 tblsp of sugar. As a slight nod at trying to make this low GI I used agave syrup instead of the sugar. I've only recently started using agave syrup- its a very low GI (19) sweetener, made from the agave plant, a type of cactus, in Mexico. As it's sweeter than sugar I decreased the amount in the recipe. 

Pumpkin pie spice isn't all that available here. I just found a recipe on the internet, and made my own. I have quite a bit left over which I'm using up on my morning cereal. If it ever warms up, I might make a batch up pumpkin pie muesli. Oooh, yes, that sounds fab. Pumpkin pie muesli. Homer dribble......



This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.



15 comments:

  1. I was going to ask you where you found Pumpkin Pie Spice because I can guarantee I have never found it suburban Australia either! Can't say I would be tempted by a pumpkin smoothie. I do love pumpkin but haven't yet been brave enough to try it as a sweet dish rather than a savoury dish.

    Isn't it so exciting when you win a book and they are willing to send the prize here!

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  2. I am a vegetarian, and love my veggies, but I have to confess to never having tried a green smoothie, or any kind of green drink. I don't know why, maybe it's the color, lol.

    Your pumpkin smoothie sounds yummy; sort of like a liquified pie :)

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  3. Congrats on winning a book from the opposite hemisphere!

    I'll just say one thing: pumpkin, spices, and ice cream. Wow. Count me in. Yummmmmmm.

    Frozen orange juice concentrate -- you could substitute a bit of fresh orange juice or some orange zest.

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  4. This is a quite interesting recipe. I am not sure if I would like it, but as far as vegetable smoothies go, this would be a good place to start :) I am also very curious about the book. I still need to add a good smoothie book to my collection.

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  5. Mmmm...I would love a smoothie to wake up with right now. This one sounds perfect for the season and the book sounds tasty, too =)

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  6. What an excellent idea to put together pumpkin, the spices and ice cream. My mouth is ready. I'm going to give this a try. It will give me an excuse to buy ice cream,

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  7. We love smoothies. We're on a 3 meal, 3 snack diet and replace one or two of them with smoothies each day. They're really good, especially on a hot day!
    Here's My WC

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  8. Ooh looks nommy, love pumpkin. Good effort winning a blog comp too - such a nice personal way to win things methinks.
    My local Italian restauranteuress makes me chocolate and avocado smoothies sometimes... superdelicious, add it to the list of tryable combos...trust me!

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  9. I think this recipe will be a hit with my family. Congratulations on winning a book!

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  10. I love smoothies and would even have a green one, especially if someone else makes it! Congratulations on winning the book and bravo to Heather for sending it all the way to you!

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  11. I know that smoothies are supposed to be super foods but I can't bring myself to make the mixtures. the only one I really like is strawberries mixed with plain yogurt. Not very adventurous, am I?!

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  12. Sounds great! I adore pumpkin pie, and when I was younger, my favorite ice cream shop used to make a pumpkin pie ice cream in the fall. This sounds like a glorious best of both worlds!

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  13. I love pumpkin pie, so a pumpkin pie smoothie sounds perfect. And I agree, the broccoli and grape smoothie is something I would probably never make!

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  14. *laughs* Oh, you make me feel guilty for whining so much about Australia's lack of canned pumpkin when you explain how simple it is to make the mash ourselves! :P This looks fabulous, and I think I truly will make my own puree, particularly as I don't have to worry about its density as I would in baking recipes!

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  15. Hannah, if you want to use pumpkin puree in baking recipes, and want a drier puree, you just cook it then let it drain- those coffee filter papers in a colander are perfect- it firms up- fabulous. No added salt. No added sugar. Just pumpkin!

    And Dee, someone else I know recommends chocolate and avocado- haven't been brave enough yet!

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