Butternut Squash Vega Protein Smoothie. V & GF.

 

Butternut Squash Vega Protein Smoothie. V & GF.

I recently fell in love with butternut squash – clearly I had issues. I always tolerated it, but never really gravitated to it.  This fall… I’m now crazy for it.  I’ve been roasting up all of ours from our garden and had about 2 cups mashed leftover from a food job.  I was thinking hummus but then recalled my love of smoothies, I haven’t really been drinking them lately, and got to work immediately on creating this recipe.  And my goal:  be fall inspired and NO bananas or dates.

Butternut squash is high in Vitamin A, C, iron and potassium.  Great for a post workout meal.  This smoothie is creamy, slightly sweet and packed with protein.  Think of it as fall in a glass.  If you need a break from pumpkin or PSL’s this may do the trick!  Rich and creamy… reminiscent of a decadent dessert.  Yum!

Ingredients:

1 cup mashed, roasted butternut squash
1 1/4 cup of a nut-based milk
1/2 scoop of vanilla Vega Sport protein powder (or whatever is your favorite)
1 tablespoon your favorite nut butter (I used cashew butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 inch nub of fresh ginger or 1/2 teaspoon of dried
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric

Method:

To roast up your butternut squash, slice the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Rub the flesh with coconut oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet.  Place in a preheated (350 degrees) for about 1 hour or until fork tender and golden brown.  Remove and let cool completely.  Once cooled, scoop out the flesh from the inside and store in an airtight container for future use.  The outer skin can be discarded.

Place all of your ingredients into a Vitamix or high powered blender.  Blend until creamy and smooth.  Pour into two smaller glasses or one large.  Top with granola, walnuts, hemp seeds, chia, flax or whatever you prefer.  I also drizzled mine with date caramel for an extra punch of flavor.

Sunday: 7 outdoor, hilly & muddy trail miles (fastest mile yet post surgery)
Monday: Cross training day. 60 elliptical/60 treadmill walking + upper body & core lifting
Tuesday: Food delivery to clients (rest day)
Wednesday: 8 outdoor moonlight miles with my husband — knee felt really good and my body seems to be adjusting to the distance more.
Thursday: 65m elliptical/60m treadmill walking elevation 11/weightlifting upper/lower body & abs.
Friday:  10 outdoor miles.

So this week I ran 3 times.  Today was my first double digit run since surgery.  So flippin’ happy!

Happy weekend!

And this tank is heavenly.  You can check it out here from Lucy’s new fall release.

— Knead to Cook