Pumpkin Yogurt

Sound good or not so much?  Well, since I had made those bars the other day, I had a little leftover pumpkin.  I was getting my breakfast together last night and thought, same old same old...yogurt with kashi.  Oh, wait, pumpkin.  Hmmmm.....soccer dad thought I was disgusting and he LOVES his pumpkin.  I did it anyway to pack my very plain natural nonfat Dannon yogurt full of extra flavor and nutrition and you know what?  not bad!  I might even purposely open a can of pumpkin for this.  (I'd better quick grab some as it is no where to be found pretty soon!)  I'm sure this would be even better with vanilla yogurt but I'm trying really hard to cut sugar and artificial sweetners out of my yogurt (which is a whole other blog...).  It's been a super big adjustment but I feel it's worth it.  So, little things like this definitely help (at least until berries start being in season again!)

Pumpkin Yogurt

-3/4-1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (i prefer Dannon myself)

-2T pumpkin puree

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

-1 tsp agave

-Mix together in a bowl and eat topped with your favorite granola or Kashi Go Lean Crunch for a healthy filling breakfast!

Please let me know if you try this, I am anxious to find out what others think.  Note:  I could've eaten this without the agave, but I added it to try and make it more appealing for others and it definitely helped, took that bitterness out.

Pumpkin Power Bars

I've got a great snack recipe for you!  This could also be a great on the go breakfast too.  I had one today and wow, seriously held me over this morning.  I also gave one to my taste testing client (thanks Pat :) and she was a big fan or at least told me she was.  She's such a good taste tester, she always tells me things are good, so either my baking is improving or she's a good liar :)  j/k!! 

Look at these babies:

image courtesty of A Healthy Mom's Kitchen

I've been on a quest, thanks to a wonderful sister of mine, to find a good granola bar snack.  You know, one that is fairly low in sugar, but high in lots of good things without any extra preservatives.  Best idea, make it yourself.  You can find the recipe here at A Healthy Mom's Kitchen. 

I will tell you that I changed just a couple things, but nothing real major.  I didn't want a super sweet granola bar because if I have that super sweet then I want more and I really wanted this to be a "curb my appetite" with just enough sweetness to taste good kind of bar.  So, she says to use 1/3 cup brown sugar...which for this recipe is not a lot at all.  I think it can be eliminated.  I used probably half that and it didn't really need it in my opinion, but if you need a sweeter bar, use it.  It also calls for carob or dark chocolate chips and believe it or not I didn't have any (they all got used for Christmas I think) and again, the sweet thing...so I just decided to put in my Cherry Berry Mix instead (so dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries)  I think raisins would also be good in there.  I also left out the coconut.  Just not a big coconut fan is all and didn't have any for that reason!  That's all the changes I made.  They are a nice chewy granola bar but hold together really well.  Good consistency and GREAT nutrition.

Hope you will try them and thanks for the recipe Healthy Mom's....love your blog!  Will be trying other recipes soon!