Pumpkin is not only an excellent food to have in the fall season when you want something festive, but also happens to be very good for you. It is low in fat, but high in taste, so it really does please everyone. Plus, you can also use it in a lot of your clean eating recipes. Here are a few ideas to start out with.
Pumpkin Ice Cream
One of the drawbacks to a clean eating diet is that you are very limited with the type of ice cream you can eat. While there are low-fat ice cream options and even dairy-free ones, they are still not considered clean in most cases. Your best option is to make your own ice cream at home. This includes making a delicious pumpkin ice cream in the fall.
You will start with bananas, which should be frozen, and are often used to make “nice cream”. You can then add in a little pumpkin puree, some pumpkin pie spice, and a little pure maple syrup. It is as simple as blending in a food processor and freezing overnight.
Pumpkin Cookies
There are many variations on cookies that use pumpkin, but one really delicious option for clean eating is when you combine pumpkin with oats and chocolate chips. You probably eat oats quite a bit on a clean diet, but not chocolate very often. You are not going to use the chips with added sugar though, so don’t worry.
To keep it a clean recipe that is also gluten-free, you would use brown rice flour instead of white flour. You can easily turn your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe into one that is clean and includes pumpkin and chocolate chips by adding some canned pumpkin puree, spices, and vegan chocolate chips.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins
Two of the most popular desserts and snacks during the fall include gingerbread cookies and pumpkin muffins. Why not combine them? You can start with any basic recipe you like for muffins, then add in your ingredients to make them taste like pumpkin and gingerbread. You would again use pure pumpkin puree, spices like pumpkin pie spice or allspice, and a little ginger to the mix.
Pumpkin is a great choice for a clean diet because you can use it in many of the recipes you already eat. From pumpkin soup to adding cubed pumpkin and pumpkin seeds to your salads, there are many options available for you.
