Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

My favourite time of the year. Fall! What isn't there to love. All the beautiful warm cozy colours, the crisp, earthy scent in the air, harvest moons, and pumpkins. Authentic gratitude surfaces and everyone comes together to give thanks. No season brings so much comfort to one's soul. 

One of my favourite parts of fall is pumpkin pie. A few years back a really good friend of mine, Candice, introduced me to a pumpkin pie smoothie. I was floored by the thought of pumpkin pie done in a healthy convenient quick way. Years later I have revamped the recipe and made a raw version. Raw pumpkin is a nutritionally-dense food. Its a good source of potassium too.  1-cup of pumpkin only has 30 calories and 0.12 grams of fat as well as 1.16 grams of protein and 7.54 grams of carbohydrates. Besides the potassium, pumpkin is best known for its vitamin A content. Vitamin A is,  oh so important in the fall season. Vitamin A is an antioxidant, it helps protect cells from damage as you age. It is also essential for eye health because it helps you see at night. The vitamin A present in pumpkin can also keep your skin healthy and free from dryness, great for the dry Calgary weather. It can naturally boost your immune system, making it key in year-round cold and flu protection. Who knew raw pumpkin was so beneficial and delicious. 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

What you need:

• Half of a sugar pumpkin, peeled, scrapped and diced.
• 1 cup carrot juice ( I used fresh pressed but store bought is fine)
• 1 inch piece of vanilla, juiced with carrots or crapped and added
• 2 bananas (freeze before hand if you want a colder drink) 
• small pinky-size (2 cm) of ginger root
• 1 1/2 cup almond milk or coconut milk
• 4-6 dates
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves 
• pinch of salt

The how to:

• Juice carrots and vanilla bean together to produce 1 cup of juice.  5-6 medium carrots usually does it. Tip: juice vanilla bean in between two carrots.
• Add all ingredients to high speed blender. I used the Vitamix
• Enjoy!!!!

Yellow Thai Curry

Seriously, who doesn't love Yellow Thai Curry. It's creamy, coconutty, sweet and savoury.  And , yes, I realize that coconutty is not a word, but i think it should be, lol. This curry can be made spicy or not depending on the curry powder you choose. Making curry is always so much fun. The bold flavours in this dish can make it intimidating to make, but I think the bold flavours make it much more fail-proof. lol Most curries are, usually, made from curry pastes, but who has time to make curry paste and then a meal. I like to keep my cooking times down to about 30 mins. So here is my easy, vegan, fail-proof Yellow Thai Curry. Easy as pie, yellow thai!

What you will need:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 5 medium carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 1 to 2 inch piece of ginger
• 1 shallot
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 stalks lemon grass
• 8 oz can sliced bamboo shoots
• 2 cups coconut milk ( I used canned, I find it creamier)
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar 
• 3 tbsp yellow curry powder
• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
• salt and pepper

The how to:

1. Peel and small-dice the garlic and ginger. In a mortar and pestle crush together the garlic and ginger into a textured paste. If you don't have a mortar and pestle just mince them together.
2. Peel sweet potato and cut into bite size pieces.
3. Cut onion in half and then into sixths.
4. Small-dice shallot 
5. Cut ends off of lemongrass and with back of chef knife bruise lemon grass (see picture above). Bruising releases the aromatic oils. Cut into 5 inch pieces. Be sure to keep these larger because they are not meant to be eaten. The lemongrass is there to add flavour and is to be taken out after curry is cooked. 
6. Drain and rinse bamboo shoots.
7.  Heat grapeseed oil on medium/high heat, add onion and shallots, sauté until lightly caramelized.
8. Add ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for about 2 mins.  
9. Take pan off heat.  Stir in yellow curry powder until you smell a strong aroma.
10. Bring pan back to heat. Add coconut milk and stir until blended. 
11. Add coconut sugar, potato, carrots and lemon grass. Add just enough water so everything is almost covered and stir.
12. Cover and reduce heat to a steady simmer for 10 mins.
13. Add bamboo shoots and recover until potatoes are fork tender. Approximately 5 minutes.
14. Add your salt and pepper to taste. 

Eat by it self or served on a bed of rice. I personally love it on cauliflower rice.... Yummy!!!! If you like this recipe please like and share. Feed back is greatly appreciated in the comment section below. Have a fantastic day!