Pumpkin Banana Smoothie

(Please excuse the camera phone picture-I was too lazy to use my nice camera!)

I have almost completed one full week of Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live Program.  I have been trying to follow the plan as closely as possible which has included giving up coffee, stevia, almost all processed foods and in between meal snacking.  Now that the caffeine is mostly (if not all) out of my system, I am starting to feel much better.  One thing that I have been trying to think about are creative dessert ideas.  When you can't use most sweeteners including stevia, that makes making desserts a little more difficult.  I have been making a lot of after dinner smoothies with frozen banana, cocoa and almond milk.  This is sweet enough that I don't need to sweeten it with any additional sweeteners.  However, I have found that when I do need to sweeten things a little bit, I can use dates.  I date has about 25 calories so they add up fast, but sometimes it takes just a couple of dates to sweeten something up just enough.  That's what I did with this pumpkin banana smoothie.  I made this last night and I thought it turned out great! 

Pumpkin Banana Smoothie
-1 very large frozen banana
-1/2 cup canned pumpkin
-2 dates (pitted)--Optional (After making this smoothie several times now, I've decided the dates or other sweetener is optional)
-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (more or less to taste)
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup unsweetened nondairy milk (I used almond milk)

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.  Serve immediately.