The Holidays are officially here! Whether you love or hate them (and I fall into either camp on any given day), I DO love Holiday food. Pumpkin, cranberries, gingerbread and egg nog are some of my favorite things, but not the calories they contain. When I made myself a steaming cup of Celestial Seasonings Holiday Candy Cane Lane tea the other night, sweetened with agave (lower glycemic than sugar) it was like sipping a liquid candy cane and it got me wondering what other holiday foods could be made healthier. Pumpkin, a super food naturally low in calories, loses something in translation when made into super fattening desserts, but I found a crust less pumpkin pie with only 121 calories a slice. At that rate, you could even afford to put a plop of Cool Whip on top. And what would the holidays be without egg nog? I hated the idea of skipping this scrumptious beverage entirely, but at 200 calories a half cup, it is a nutritional disaster! I looked at low calorie alternatives online, but frankly, they sounded disgusting. My solution (thanks to Season's 52) is to pour a bit of the real stuff in a shot glass (1/8 of a cup), grate some fresh nutmeg on top and savor every sip. It's only 50 calories! Alternatively, I mix some into a cup of cold skim milk. You still get the flavor, but it is diluted with lower calorie dairy. Of course, you still have to work these treats into your daily intake of calories and adjust accordingly. But HO HO HO, at least you don't have to give up your holiday treats! Here's the recipe for Crustless Pumpkin Pie.
Crustless Pumpkin Pie
Serves 8
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (12 ounce can evaporated skim milk
3/4 cup egg subsititute
1 -2 T pumpkin pie spice (or make your own with 1 T cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp cloves.)
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup of Splenda
1) Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.
2) Pour into a 9" pie pan sprayed with cooking spray.
3) Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, reduce temp to 325. Bake 45 minutes.
4) Pie is done when knife inserted into center comes out clean.
Enjoy!
1 comment:
yum that pumpkin pie looks good.
and i thought the same thing about the low cal eggnog alternatives... but i just made hungry girls egg nog (Mix 5 cups of nonfat milk with 1 package of Jello-O Fat Free, Sugar Free Instant Vanilla Pudding, 4 packets of Splenda, half a teaspoon of rum extract and a dash of nutmeg. Blend ingredients together and refrigerate for a few hours to thicken) and it is absolutely delicious..
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