Pumpkin Seed Butter on a sprouted, whole grain bagel with bananas and strawberries

This pumpkin seed butter is a hit with my kids! Frankly, I wasn’t really expecting it to be, it’s not the most attractive color.  But the touch of honey and its nice texture won them over.

I’ve been playing with seeds a lot lately, because one of my kids’ schools is nut-free, and the other is peanut-free. I’m always working on nutrient-dense lunch ideas that aren’t nuts. We’ve completely OD’d on humus. It was time for something new.

In addition to being delicious, this pumpkin seed butter is super nutritious. The pumpkin seeds are nutrient dense, raw honey is an immune booster, and I used heart healthy extra virgin olive oil to make it creamy.

Benefits of pumpkin seeds:

• Anti-inflammatory
• High in Zinc…protects against osteoporosis
• High in Magnesium…supports relaxation
• Contains phytosterols… reduces levels of LDL cholesterol.
• contain L-tryptophan… effective against depression.

I ate mine on top of banana to avoid the wheat bagel - wheat and I don't get along

Pumpkin Seed Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Pumpkin Seeds – look them over and take out any that look really dry or discolored. Also smell your pumpkin seeds to make sure they are not rancid. Rancid seeds have a strong smell that is not appealing. Trust your nose.
• 1 Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 heaping teaspoons Raw Honey
• Pinch of Sea Salt

How to:

• Grind Pumpkin Seeds into a fine powder – I used my Vitamix
• Transfer Pumpkin Seed powder to a food processor (I switched to the food processor, because I was making quite a small batch and the food processor  tends to work a bit better with very small amounts)
• Drizzle Olive Oil in slowly as you process the Pumpkin Seed powder. You can make your pumpkin seed butter as creamy as you want by adding more oil. I chose to not go very creamy and stopped when the pumpkin seed butter was the texture of firm dough.
• Add honey and Sea Salt. Mix until thoroughly blended.
• Enjoy!

Ready for the lunch box

Do you want to learn how to make Healthy Sweet Treats for your family?

I have a class coming up on Sunday April 10th. For more details and registrations click here.

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Nina Manolson, MA, CHC, LMT is the Smokin’ Hot Mom Mentor and Family Wellness Expert. She’s the founder of SmokinHotMom.com and HealthyYummyKids.com. She helps busy moms look and feel their best, and helps them feed their kids well in a world that doesn’t. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her healthy recipes and wellness tips click here.

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Nina Manolson, MA, is the founder of Body-Peace®.She helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel truly at home in their body—as it is.

She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace® approach. She brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Body-Trust® Guide and Psychology of Eating Teacher to helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.

Nina’s Body-Peace® work is all in service of helping people get off the diet roller-coaster, and into a compassionate and powerful way of eating & living which creates a positive long-lasting change in and with their bodies. Her courses, coaching, poems and Body-Peace APP positively change the conversation that women are having with their body.

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