Pumpkin Head

My body is on fire. Granted I have been going super hard, but phew, I HURT!

So yesterday was a much needed rest day. I felt a rest day coming, so I packed things for low carb day, but JUST IN CASE I got a second wind later in the day, I packed some carb friendly items like rice cakes, an apple, etc.

I didn’t get a second wind and my arms and chest got progressively worse, yeah had to chill out for the day.

Normally I go home and nap. This time? I wasn’t really tired. I decided to bake again. Ever since I made the brownies and they were a success, I’ve had the bug for low carb baking.

During fall people go CRAZY for pumpkin flavored items. There are pumpkin lattes, pumpkin spiced muffins, now they even have pumpkin M&M’s and pumpkin vodka! Well okay then…

I’ve NEVER been a pumpkin person. In fact, the smell alone would make me gag a little bit. I guess because growing up we never had it. Once a year my dad would have pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, but he was the only one who ate it and he only ate a slice. My sister is quite the baker as well and she doesn’t use pumpkin either. Since I kept seeing a pumpkin explosion everywhere I looked, I decided I am going to make something with pumpkin darnit! And I am going to like it!

It really started because last year when Phoebe was a teeny puppy she wouldn’t eat anything at all. I tried everything to get the dog to eat. After searching online I came across pumpkin puree and the fact that it is good for dogs and they usually like the taste. Well little Miss Buffay LOVED it. She lived off of pumpkin puree for about 3 months and half of the time she had a pumpkin stained fuzzy puppy beard.

The thought of this makes me “awwww” a little. Excuse me while I tear up that my little one is no longer a puppy! 🙁

Now every time I smell pumpkin, I no longer gag, but I smile thinking of little hamster looking Phoebs. Isn’t it funny how even a smell can take you back to a certain time? 🙂

Anyway, so because of the pumpkin phenomenon and because I wanted to pick some up for Miss Buffay, I made low carb pumpkin brownies.

Well, they fell….

And I wasn’t too crazy about the taste! The frosting however was really good (it didn’t have pumpkin in it).

As you can see they were a little flat. And I also had to eat it with a spoon because they didn’t really “set”. A little too mushy I guesss. Should’ve upped the almond flour a bit.

They look like they would taste great! I guess I am just not a pumpkin person… fail. But win? These brownies were only 86 calories a square and 3.6 grams of carbs! But I wasn’t going to waste those numbers on something I didn’t even like.

For those of you who DO like pumpkin, I need to tweak the recipe a bit before I post it. I would never post something I am not 100% on board with. I will probably still leave the pumpkin flavor, but there needs to be more of a firmness to these. So stay tuned, I think around Thanksgiving I will give it a second go!

On the plus side, today is hump day! 2 days down, 2 to go for Minnie. And it’s moderate/high carb day 🙂 Short leg session later on.

XOXO With a Cherry on Top,

-Minnie