Green Pumpkin Spice Latte Smoothie
AKA the longest smoothie name ever.
Okay, so maybe not ever.
If you’re in that “Omg, why is she posting about pumpkin already?!” camp, blame Allie @ ForgottenBeast. She started it. I know it feels like we’re rushing to October way faster than we should be. After all the complaining about the hot weather we had, it’s already back to 70° and raining tomorrow. See? Two obligatory weeks of summer. It’s kind of like a cruel joke. It’s just enough time to get a sweet sunburn and go revert to being a pasty pale beacon of light [j/k, I wear sunscreen religiously to promote my pasty paleness]. I didn’t even get a sweet flip flop tan this year.
So yeah, the smoothie. I kind of like coffee a lot. I don’t, however, like Starbucks. At all. With places like Spella, Courier, Ristretto, Extracto, Coava, Water Avenue, and Stumptown all within walking distance from almost anywhere I’m likely to be, why would you? That said, pumpkin spice lattes did make me happy when I was an ignorant teenager who didn’t know any better. Besides, if you load up that latte with so much sweetener and milk and pumpkin, you actually might drown out that gross burnt coffee flavor! Novel! In reality, I avoid most sweet coffee drinks in my old age. It’s usually a macchiato or Americano for me, unless I get wild with a cappuccino [thanks, Italy!]. Or drip, but that doesn’t count.
Smoothies though? Smoothies I can get crazy. So when Allie posted up her pumpkin spice latte pudding, I knew I’d picking up a can of pumpkin at the store. It’s actually hard to find when they aren’t throwing it in your face for pumpkin pie holidays. It was hiding on the bottom shelf with all the other canned fruit. Poor thing. While Allie used instant ground coffee, which I doubt I’ll ever have in the house, I soaked a 1/2 tablespoon of coffee grounds in the milk in the fridge for the night. Kind of like cold brewing. If you have a high powered blender, you don’t even notice it the next day. No straining necessary. You might have to strain it otherwise. I don’t really know for sure. It’s just a hint of coffee with an overwhelming taste of pumpkin. It thickened up quite a bit thanks to the natural consistency of pumpkin and the frozen banana.
And I added frozen spinach, as usual, so this looks exactly like every other green smoothie on the planet. Is it really all that post worthy? Debatable, but I like it, I like coffee, and I like that Roma photobombed the photos. Everybody wins.
Inspiration: ForgottenBeast
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup milk [coconut for me]
- 1/2 tablespoon ground coffee
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 1-2 handfulls frozen spinach
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 4-8 drops of vanilla liquid stevia [or sweetener of choice]
- water, if necessary, to thin to a drinkable consistency
Preparation
- Soak the coffee grounds and chia seeds in the milk overnight.
- Add the remaining ingredients in the order listed above.
- Blend until smooth.
- Add additional sweetener or water as necessary.
Yeah, yeah, me and my instant coffee 🙂 I can’t drink it as actual coffee, but I love the coffee flavor it adds to smoothies/pudding/oats/etc. And I wish I had even one alternative to Starbucks, much less that long and glorious list you have. Ah, well. Glad I could inspire a smoothie! Someday I’ll buy a real blender so I can add spinach/greens to all of mine…
I was mostly just poking fun. I have instant espresso in my pantry for brownies and other generally chocolatey things, so I could have used that, but they want so much for that little jar. And I still had some ground Stumptown on hand (which is probably way too old to brew with). You’re always inspiring awesome eats. I think there should be a company that sells already pureed greens for just these kinds of occasions. I mean, they sell frozen pureed squash, so why not greens? It’d be brilliant!
That would! Or even baby food but in greens versions, you could just dump a jar into your smoothie
That would be perfect, too. I’ve been toying with getting this: http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-Perfect-Nutritional-Supplement/dp/B002HI1LSI as like an extra boost to my smoothies, but that requires buying it…
I’ve bought different protein powders with greens before–I like them, but then I also tend to cheat and not eat my real/whole food greens. Love that brand’s plain pro powder for baking/cooking/non-smoothie purposes.
I’ve used the plain protein powder, too. I liked it well enough, but I really don’t have that much trouble getting enough protein (at least enough to sustain my non-sequin wearing goals), so it was kind of overkill. I think I’d probably be like you and cheat, but at this point my morning smoothie is the only place I’m guaranteed to get my greens. I don’t meal plan at all, so sometimes I’m eating nothing but burritos and other days I can sneak in a salad with my buffalo wings.
So does Roma like pumpkin? She looks verrrry interested.
Do you add the chia seeds for omega-3’s, fiber or taste?
Roma has been known to lick my glass clean while I’m preparing her breakfast. I’m a sucker for that face.
I think I mostly add the chia because it’s the new superfood(!!!!) because I’m such a follower. 😉 In seriousness, I can always use more omega-3s and fiber. I don’t eat fish nearly as much as I’d like. I also like how it thickens the milk in the smoothies, especially if I let it sit over night. I don’t ever notice a flavor since they’re usually completely ground up in the smoothie. I don’t always have them on hand either, only when they’re on sale. Otherwise I try to toss in some flaxseeds.
You know, I tried to buy canned pumpkin in the middle of summer, and it was nowhere! I should go back and check now that it’s pseudo-fall. This smoothie sounds wonderful–almost like pumpkin pie!
I forgot to soak some coffee last night, so it was extra pumpkin pie-like this morning. I’m definitely not complaining.