(Mock) Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

I am trying to get back on the eating right and exercising bandwagon after the past 2 or 3 months of backslide in to consumption of processed and comfort food in staggering quantities. I had my reasons, but I can't live that type of lifestyle long term if I don't want my weight to balloon out of control (which I don't). The good news is that my recent indulgences have only tipped the scale about 2 lbs in the upward direction. The bad news is that I never did lose the 5 lbs that I typically shed during the summer months. (Yes, I have a summer weight and a winter weight while living here. I am not ashamed. Also, who doesn't lose any weight while training for a marathon? This girl.) So, right now, I sit at about 7 lbs above what I consider my optimal weight. It doesn't sound like much, but it is around 5% of my body weight.

I am always looking for healthy, but tasty, recipes. I found a winner for my breakfast smoothie this morning. The recipe is modified from one I found on the Lululemon blog. I am a huge fan of anything pumpkin pie inspired, so I loved it. E thought that it tasted a little like eggnog, which he liked. I served it alongside a sweet potato and red bell pepper egg white omelet. The whole breakfast came in at around 350 calories each, including our coffee.

(Mock) Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
1 cup cooked pumpkin or squash (this is where mine was mock, I used roasted acorn squash)
1 cup milk (we use 1% lactose free milk)
1 scoop of vanilla-flavored whey protein (we buy it from Costco)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
5-6 ice cubes

Blend the pumpkin/squash, milk, whey protein, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice well in the blender. Drop in the ice cubes one by one with the blender on the highest setting. Blend until smooth and frothy.

Total calorie count for the recipe is around 300, and it makes A LOT. We split it into two generous servings.

As an aside, I often use squash in place of pumpkin in recipes. I have found that butternut works better than acorn (more flavorful), but that any kind of squash is better than the kind of pumpkins the stores sell for jack-o-lanterns. Since I have to make a special trip to have any chance of finding a cooking pumpkin (and probably pay a premium for it) and I find that squashes are smaller and easier to work with than pumpkins anyway, I usually just opt for squash. You really can't tell the difference.