Dairy-Free Pumpkin Smoothie Pancakes | Vegan Option

That’s right! Pumpkin smoothie pancakes! Because, why not? It’s a great way to add some pumpkin into your life, and maybe into your picky eaters at home… 😉

If you have a high speed blender, it doesn’t require more time than making any regular pancakes. (if you don’t have a blender, you can roast the pumpkin ahead of time in the oven, cut in pieces, at 400F for about 25-35 minutes or so, until it’s soft and cooked)

I use a small pumpkin type called “pie” pumpkin because that’s the pumpkin used to make pies. It’s not the gigantic kind used for Halloween decorations, called Jack-O-Lantern. The “pie” pumpkin is small, weights maybe 4-5 pounds on average, and much easier to carry and cut! You can definitely keep the seeds aside and roast them for a healthy tasty treat, like this spicy roasted pumpkin seeds recipe.

Except a few dishes during Fall and early Winter, people don’t eat much pumpkin, which is sad, especially when they’re in season at your local organic stores and farms. Pumpkins are part of the Squash family, and contain a lot of amazing nutrition, like vitamin A (great for eyesight) and the antioxidant beta-carotene (good for cancer prevention and skin health), vitamin C (to boost our immune system), more potassium than a banana (to keep our electrolytes balanced and muscles working properly), and fibres (which we all need). Pumpkin is also awesome in muffins like these pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins or other baked goods because it makes everything moist and soft. Yummy!

Eating a balanced and healthy diet should include eating a wide variety of foods that are in-season, so it’s time to take advantage of pumpkin season and put them into delicious foods, like these simple pumpkin pancakes. 🙂

Bon appétit!

ECP xo

P.S. You can also make these ahead, keep them in the fridge (or freezer) and warm them up in the oven at 350F for 5 minutes or so just before eating. Perfect during the week!

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Dairy-free pumpkin smoothie pancakes (vegan option)

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Servings: 12 pancakes

You might wonder why it's important to buy organic vanilla extract? Simply because the cheap stuff we find in the stores is vanillin and doesn't come from vanilla, it is made with by-products of the paper pulp manufacturing. I prefer to stick to real vanilla please 😉

Ingredients

• 1/4 "pie" pumpkin peeled and seeds removed, cut in small chunks
• 1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract
• 2 cups rice milk or nut milk
• 1 orange freshly juiced (optional - if you use the orange juice, reduce the milk by around the same amount)
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 organic free-range eggs (or vegan option: 1 banana + 1 Tbsp chia seeds)
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• coconut oil for cooking
• maple syrup to drizzle on top
• fruits (optional)

Instructions

1. In a high-powered blender (Vitamix), put the pumpkin chunks, vanilla, rice or nut milk, and fresh orange juice, if using, and blend until it is nice and smooth, then add the olive oil and the eggs (or banana and chia seeds), and blend for another 10-20 seconds or so, just to make sure that there are no chunky bits of pumpkin left and everything is smooth.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the spelt and buckwheat flours, along with the baking powder and salt.
3. Using a whisk, mix the pumpkin mixture with the flour mix. You don't need to whip it, but the whisk helps to keep the pancakes free of chunks.
4. (If the end result is too liquid, just add a bit more flour, and if it's too thick, you can add a bit more milk.)
5. Warm a large pan on medium heat with about 1 Tbsp of coconut oil, but then lower a bit as the pan gets hotter so that you don't overheat the oil. (I find that mine works well when it's halfway between medium-low and medium.)
6. To drop the batter into the pan, I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to keep them all about the same size, but you could use 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup measuring cups if you'd like yours smaller or bigger (you will need to adjust the cooking time to fit, since the larger pancakes will take longer to cook).
7. Using the measuring cup, drop the batter into the hot pan, one at a time, but feel free to cook a few pancakes at the same time, depending on how large your pan is, just be careful not to overcrowd it.
8. Keep an eye on the pancakes while cooking to determine how long they take. Mine are about 3-4 minutes on the first side and 45 seconds or so when I flip them to the other side.
9. Proceed until you have no more batter. Keep the pancakes and plates warm in the oven on a really low temperature setting until you're done and ready to eat!
10. I drizzled mine with maple syrup, a sprinkle of hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds, and some pomegranate.
11. Serve and enjoy immediately!
12. You can also make these ahead, keep them in the fridge (or freezer) and warm them up in the oven at 350F for 5 minutes or so just before eating. Perfect during the week!

Note: I do not believe anyone should worry about counting calories, but here is the nutritional information for one serving
Calories: 151kcal | Fat: 7g | Saturated fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 210mg | Carbohydrates: 18g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Protein: 3g | Vitamin A: 2485% | Vitamin C: 15.4% | Calcium: 89% | Iron: 1%

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