Pumpkin Spice Dessert Hummus

Happy pumpkin spice season!!🎃 I don't know about all of you, but if it says pumpkin spice, I am buying it! Call me a basic girl if you want, but you will not see me holding a pumpkin spice Starbucks latte...until they make a healthier product. If you are like me, I jumped around Trader Joe's trying to find every pumpkin spice item they had [picture below]...now I need to cut back on my pumpkin spice addiction (budget reasons only💰, defiantly not taste bud decisions). The bank took our offer for a house, so it is time to crack down on the budget😬.
While looking at the ingredients in some of these pumpkin spice products, I am shocked how unhealthy some items are <still delicious for a little treat>. Dessert hummus is so yummy, but there were no pumpkin spice hummus... so I created my own!

Pumpkin Spice Dessert Hummus

Makes: 1.5 cups

Ingredients:

• 6 Medjool dates, pits removed
• 2 tbsp tahini (homemade recipe below)
• 1 can white beans, rinsed
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp water (more if necessary)
• to top: pumpkin spice pumpkin seeds
• to dip: apples, pumpkin or sweet potato chips, or smear on toast

Directions:

1.  In a food processor, process the dates until a smooth consistency. Drizzle water, slowly to help make the smooth consistency.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Place in carved pumpkin and top with pumpkin spice pumpkin seeds (homemade recipe below). 
5. Dip with apples, pumpkin chips, whole wheat pita, or spread on toast!
6. Enjoy!

 

Homemade Tahini
 

Makes: 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sesame
• 1 tbsp oil (any)

 Directions:

1. Using a non-stick skillet, toast sesame seeds until slightly brown.
2. Add toasted sesame seeds to food processor, blend.
3. Slowly add oil to form a smooth consistency.
4. Add to hummus or any dish!

Homemade pumpkin seeds 

I used one small pumpkin. Cut the top, remove the seeds, rinse seeds, and dry. Toast on nonstick skillet (like sesame seeds) until slightly brown. Add cinnamon and pumpkin spice to liking. 

Gut Health

This month's Recipe Redux focuses on a healthy gut and immunity. With cold and flu season upon us, the best defense may be good gut health. Since much of our immune health begins in the gut, it is important to feed your gut with a well balanced healthy diet. Your gut flora, or intestinal microbiota, contains 100 trillion live microorganisms for regular GI function, immunity, synthesis of most B vitamins and vitamin K. An imbalance may cause inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies, infections, obesity, and poor immunity. To prevent an imbalance it is important to eat a diet rich in plant based foods, fiber, nutrient dense, and complex carbohydrates to keep your gut healthy.  Along with exercise and de-stressing is just important as a healthy diet. You probably have heard of pre- and pro-biotics, here is a quick review of what they do for the gut and where to find them in foods.

Prebiotics are the food for the healthy bacteria in the gut. Found in plants such as: onions, bananas, garlic, cruciferous vegetables, asparagus, soybeans, whole wheat foods, and chicory root (added to many different products). Fall harvest can provide you with many different prebiotics from brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale, cabbage, and cauliflower--go to your local farmer's market!

Probiotics are the good bacteria found in the gut and need prebiotics.  Food sources come from fermented foods: yogurt, kefir, aged cheese, kimchi, sauerkraut, temph, and miso.

Talking about immunity, don't forget micronutrients such as vitamin C, B6, A, E, zinc, folic acid, and selenium.Which the pumpkin spice dessert hummus (above) will provide fiber, vitamins, and nutrients for the immune system with the beans, pumpkin, and apples for dipping.

Pumpkin {1cup=30cal, 3g fiber, 8% potassium, 7% mangnesium, 198% vit A, 17% vit C}

White beans {1 cup=180cal, 14g fiber, 12g protein, 10% iron}

Tahini {1 tbsp= 90cal, 2.6g pro, 6% calcium, 7% iron, 12% thiamin, 11% phosphorus}

Apples {1 medium= 95cal, 4.4g protein, 14% vit C} 

 

All my Trader Joe's yummy pumpkin foods: pumpkin spice crackers, pumpkin bisque, fall harvest salsa, pumpkin fall salad, pumpkin biscotti, and pumpkin tortilla chips.

Sources:
International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics
Eatright.org
Nutritional Value