Pumpkin Pudding (or "Nice" Cream)

Although the temperatures here in the midwest have been in the 80s lately, and it’s still summer, I was craving a fall flavor. I found some cans of pure pumpkin in my pantry, so I made pumpkin pudding and froze half of it to make “nice” cream. I didn’t follow any particular recipe, but used two cans of pumpkin, one can of chickpeas (drained), one banana, about ½ cup of oats, one teaspoon of vanilla, about 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp turmeric, ½ cup or so of dates, about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and ½ cup or so of oat milk. I blended the ingredients in a high speed blender and had to add a bit more oat milk. For the pudding, I added a few raisins and topped it with walnuts and more pumpkin pie spice. After I processed the “nice” cream in my Ninja Creami I mixed in some chopped walnuts. Note: the pudding/”nice” cream would have been sweet enough without the maple syrup, or with fewer dates.

I included three different pumpkin pudding recipes, below, if you would like to try one (or all). Each recipe could be used as pudding, pie filling, frozen for “nice” cream, or layered with granola (and/or plant-based yogurt) for a parfait. One recipe is from another wonderful whole food, plant-based nutrition website I just found: https://gardenfreshfoodie.com/.

Recipes:

https://gardenfreshfoodie.com/healthy-desserts/perfect-pumpkin-pudding/

https://newthejaroudifamily.com/recipes/we-are-having-a-baby-pumpkin-pie-pudding

https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-desserts/almost-instant-pumpkin-pudding/