Pumpkin Oatmeal Smoothie

With the cooler months rolling in, I am starting to wonder what I'm going to make instead of my daily smoothie. Smoothies just don't sound very appealing when it's as cold outside as it is in my smoothie glass. While I can't do much about the weather, I am able to adjust my smoothie ingredients based on the season. And this brings me to my new favorite smoothie: the Pumpkin Oatmeal Smoothie. This smoothie, which is very similar to my Pumpkin Pie Smoothie, incorporates one of the best things about fall: pumpkin. You know I couldn't resist!

Ultimate Oatmeal for Oatmeal Lovers

If you love oatmeal as much as I do, you'll be obsessed with this creation. This recipe takes the same amount of oats called for in a regular serving, but makes nearly double the amount of oatmeal. Oatmeal lovers get that much more yummy goodness. Yes!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Is it just me or do these insanely hot days make you crave autumn? Cooler days, football, tailgating, hockey, fall foliage, state fairs, pumpkin carving, Halloween, Thanksgiving...the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, I love summer and everything associated with this season. But sometimes I wouldn't mind a brisk fall day to break up these 100 degree days with 100% humidity.

Skinny One Ingredient "Ice Cream"

If you love soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt as much as I do, this is a recipe you need to try. Somehow frozen banana discs that are pureed in a food processor turn into a rich, creamy whipped mixture that strongly resembles soft serve ice cream. I don't know how this is possible or how I'm just now finding out about it, but this might be my new go-to summer dessert (sorry Strawberry Banana Smoothie!).

Frozen banana discs

plus

turns into

yummy, skinny chocolate peanut butter soft serve

AMAZING!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

For the past six months, I've been working reallllllllly hard to cut back on my sugar intake. You don't need to do excessive research to know that Americans consume entirely too much sugar. If you take a peek at any nutrition label in your fridge or pantry, chances are sugar is not only one of the listed ingredients, but one of the main ingredients. Not good.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie from The Galley Gourmet

My quest to decrease sugar consumption started when my friend Sarah told me about her recent lifestyle change of cutting out all refined sugars. Do what?!? The thought of never eating foods that contained refined sugars was a foreign concept that I could not wrap my brain around. If you are one of those people who'd rather have two servings of dessert at the expense of skipping dinner, you know what I mean. But this is what made me realize that I needed to make a change-I was addicted to sugar. So, after pouting for a few days, I finally made the commitment to cut back on my refined sugar consumption.