You win some, you lose some (In search of the perfect pumpkin smoothie)

Today as I drove past Jamba Juice, I really wanted to stop and get a Pumpkin Smash smoothie.  I've found that if I ask for frozen peaches in place of the frozen yogurt, it becomes non-dairy/no refined sugar and is still really yummy.  But it gets expensive to go there all the time.  Plus I need to figure out how to make my own.

I saw a recipe online for the Pumpkin Smash by a guy who says he watched what they put in, went home, tried guessing at the measurements and got it right  But I didn't have frozen peaches and wondered if I could make a creamy version with frozen bananas.  Wrong!

First of all, I didn't have fresh pumpkin innerds, which would have probably tasted better.  Canned pumpkin is good for baked goods, but probably not as fresh and tasty (or nutrient-dense) in something fresh.  So I put 1/2 a big can (what I had left from making pumpkin/zucchini wheat bread a few weeks ago) + 3 frozen bananas, a cup of almond milk and a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice in the Vitamix.  Not very good at all.  I added another banana and it still wasn't great. It needed more nutmeg, cloves and more sweetening (and more of a frozen taste).  It needed the frozen peaches! 

So I put the mixture in the freezer to be on hold until I get some peaches.  It will probably be next week because we'll be out of town this weekend.  I'll keep trying though.  I know that the Jamba Juice spy used soy milk, and soy milk is creamier than almond milk (at least when I make hot cocoa in my Cocoamotion), but I like using almond milk when I can.  Don't know if it did me any favors though tonight. 

And of course, once I perfect it, I'll sneak in some greens.  Stay tuned because I definitely want to find the ultimate way to make these.

Here's a guy who made a pumpkin pie smoothie.  He used dates to sweeten it up.  Good idea (I ran out of dates yesterday though -- need to get more at Costco next time).  Looks like he had the same general idea that I did -- frozen bananas and almond milk.  He did use fresh pumpkin though.  Good for him!