Pumpkin Seed Smoothie

The star of this pumpkin seed smoothie is, of course, pumpkin seed butter. Packed with nutrients and some extra protein, you'll love this easy breakfast recipe.

Using toasted pumpkin seed butter gives this low histamine smoothie a savory nutty flavor that mixes really well with the butterscotch sweetness of lucuma powder and dried mulberries. Chia seeds are added for a bit of fiber, protein, and Omega-3 fatty acids.

Lucuma Powder in Smoothies

Before you start grumbling about an odd ingredient in your smoothie, just hear me out. I love lucuma powder! It's a natural sweetener that I personally think is a great replacement for smoothies without bananas.

Native to South America, this fruit is described as having the flavor of roasted sweet potatoes or butterscotch. Lucuma is actually really nutritious as a natural sweetener as well. It contains a decent amount of fiber, is packed with vitamin C, and most of it's carbs are complex carbohydrates. This means that it's a great sweetener for those who need to watch blood sugar levels and spikes, like people with a migraine disorder.

It's fairly easy to find in most health food stores, like Whole Foods, but you can also order easily on Amazon as well. What else can you use it for? Essentially to sweeten any smoothie or even in some baked goods.

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seed butter used to be a little more difficult to find than sunflower seed butter, but it's become more widely available, with brands like 88 Acres and Sprouts now carrying this in stores and online. If you do order from 88 Acres, they give you 15% your first order with code DIZZY15.

For this particular recipe, I used 88 Acres Roasted Unsweetened Pumpkin Seed Butter. You can also used the sweetened kinds, I just think the lucuma and mulberries give enough sweetness.

Pumpkin seeds actually have numerous health benefits, especially for people with migraine disorders. Not only do they offer a little extra protein in smoothies, but they're high in magnesium which is a natural migraine preventative.

Natural antioxidants, like vitamin E, are really helpful at mitigating menstrual migraine attacks. So this could be a good smoothie to add in before the start of your cycle.

How to Make Your Own Pumpkin Seed Butter

It's also fairly easy to make your own pumpkin seed butter in a high powered blender or food processor. I recommend toasting them first in the oven, then blending 2-3 cups with about 1 tsp of mild oil. You want to pulse them at first to get it going, then start grinding continuously once they start to transform from grounds to a paste.

From there you can leave your blender or processor running, pausing every 2-3 minutes to scrape down the sides of the container. Total it should take about 15-20 minutes to transform into a smooth butter.

If you want, you can just blend shelled pumpkin seeds (otherwise known as pepitas) into your smoothie, but I do find pumpkin seed butter lends itself to a thicker smoothie while being much easier to blend smoothly.

This smoothie is a little on the thin side, so using a good amount of ice helps to bulk it up a bit. Another option is to use frozen riced cauliflower, which just adds some creaminess and texture but the flavor is masked by the lucuma powder.

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