Healthy Pumpkin Spice Treat Recipes

For many people, the changing of seasons from summer to fall comes with cravings for comfort food, especially of the pumpkin flavored variety.
There’s nothing quite like the smell of pumpkin treats wafting through the house on a crisp day.
And if you’re consuming real pumpkin without additives, plus those fall spices we love, you’re doing your body a favor with the benefits they offer!

Benefits

Pumpkin

Pumpkin offers many benefits to our health—some even call it a superfood. Containing potassium, beta-carotene, Vitamin C and fiber, pumpkin can…

• Regulate blood pressure (Source)
• Reduce the risk of cancer (Source)
• Boost immune health (Source)

Just be sure to use pumpkin that doesn’t have added sugar, syrups or preservatives.

Fall Spices

Herbs and spices are small, but mighty! Just a sprinkle of these can provide numerous boosts to our health. Not to mention, these fall spices are comforting and delicious.

• Cinnamon – appears to work as an anti-inflammatory or antioxidant, protecting the body on a cellular level; may also balance blood sugar and aid in managing type 2 diabetes
• Nutmeg – has been used in traditional remedies for stomach and kidney disorders; has antioxidant, antimicrobial and central nervous system effects
• Ginger – high in gingerol, a substance with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties; effective in treating nausea; may lower blood sugars

Pumpkin and its spice friends are wonderful for your health.
We know that most store bought pumpkin treats contain loads of unnecessary ingredients, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying the treats of this season because it is easy enough to make our own. The extra effort is worth knowing exactly what is going in your body.
Let’s get started with perhaps the most famous (infamous?) treat of the season.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

The grande size PSL at Starbucks contains 50 grams of sugar! And while they now include actual pumpkin puree and removed the controversial ingredient caramel color IV, that doesn’t make it a healthy choice.
So let’s make our own.
Ingredients:

• 8 ounces brewed coffee or a shot of espresso
• 1/2 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk (Or your favorite non-dairy milk, or Nutpods—they even have a pumpkin flavor!)
• 3 Tbsp organic pumpkin puree
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch ground nutmeg
• pinch ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp organic maple syrup

Directions:

1. Mix together pumpkin puree and milk in saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once it starts to simmer, remove from heat and stir in spices, vanilla and maple syrup.
3. Froth milk mixture with frother, whisk, or in a blender.
4. Add frothed milk to coffee and enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

Try this dairy free, grain free paleo pumpkin bread!
Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz can organic pumpkin puree (you can also make your own)
• 3 eggs
• ¼ c maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ⅛  c almond flour
• 1 Tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp allspice
• ½ tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven 350 degrees and prepare 1 loaf pan with parchment paper or 
2. Mix together wet ingredients in large bowl until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
4. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined.
5. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
6. Let cool and enjoy!

You can mix it up (pun intended) with this recipe by mixing in different add-ins like dairy free chocolate chips or walnuts! You could even make it as muffins and add your favorite gluten free granola on top.

Pumpkin Spice Essential Oil Blend

Fall scented candles are another huge part of this season, but many candles can be problematic. For example, many are made with paraffin—a petroleum byproduct—which releases carcinogenic soot when burned. (Source)
Additionally, burning candles with lead-core wicks may result in indoor air concentrations of lead above EPA-recommended thresholds. (Source)
A solution to this is to create your own candles using beeswax, or to simply diffuse or create a room spray with essential oils!
You can use your own favorite combination of these oils to fill your house with fall scents:

• Cinnamon Essential Oil
• Clove Essential Oil
• Nutmeg Essential Oil
• Orange Essential Oil
• Ginger Essential Oil

I trust Young Living Essential Oils to source my high quality oils, and I’m a local distributor as well if you need a reputable source: https://www.youngliving.org/trinahammack