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Protein Packed Pumpkin Pops

Posted on by Desiree Duggan

  • Yield:7 bars
  • Difficulty:Easy
  • Time:15-20 minutes

Tis the season to fall in love with the flavors of fall! However, there are still many hot days left depending on where you live. We live in Wisconsin, and it will be 80 and sunny today—the perfect weather for pops! Nevertheless, I don’t care what the temperature is. I will ALWAYS love ice cream. As always, I created a recipe that has fewer calories and will fit into your macros. They are so low in calories, you can even eat two!

According to Medical News Today (www.medicalnewstoday.com), pumpkin is packed with nutrients. One cup of canned pumpkin provides well over 100% times the RDA of vitamin A, beta-carotene, B vitamins, vitamin E, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, potassium, copper, and manganese as well as a bunch of fiber: 3 grams per cup. We will only be using ½ cup of pumpkin for this recipe, which has only 24 calories but is loaded with flavor!

You can find canned pumpkin in the baking aisle of the supermarket, or sometimes they have it with the canned fruit. They typically sell two kinds of canned pumpkin—one kind for pumpkin pie that has all kinds of added sugar and one kind that only has one ingredient: pumpkin. That’s the one you want! These pops are very low calorie and low carb. If you need more carbs, here is the perfect place to add neutral flavored Karbolyn!

Ingredients:

  • 3 scoops EFX Sports vanilla whey protein
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup plain canned pumpkin (not the pie kind)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • Single packet of stevia
  • Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

First, find a good popsicle mold, and spray it with nonstick spray. Then blend everything together until smooth. Next, pour the liquid slowly a little at a time into four of the pops. Keep rotating filling them up. If you have a little space in the tops (which is actually the bottom) of the bars, add a little water to each one and stir it with one of the popsicle sticks. Now, add the sticks to the mold. You may have a little left over. In that case, just drink it!

If you have trouble getting the pops out of the mold, immerse the mold almost all the way up in warm water until they loosen –this only takes a second or two. Finally, pass them around to your family or store them in a zippered freezer bag, they last awhile. I am going to go eat one now and totally not feel guilty—Cheers!

Nutrition:

Calories: 60.9
Protein: 10.42 g
Fat: .85 g
Carbs: 3.4 g
Fiber: .21 g
Desiree Duggan

Desiree Duggan has been involved with the Fitness Industry for over nine years. She is a professional photographer, personal trainer and self-professed "Foodie" who absolutely hates the word 'diet'. Desiree loves turning naughty, fattening, 'slap-your-hand-cuz-it-don't-belong-in-the-cookie-jar' foods into more lifestyle friendly, nutritious and delicious recipes.