Lean Bodies - Amy Perez

With it being the Holiday Season, most people are busy baking, shopping and wrapping presents. This year, we were running behind schedule all due to the Gingerbread House.
I will try to keep this post from being too long, but I first need to give you a little ‘backgroud’ on how this all came about. It all started about 6 years ago when my son was in pre-school. For every holiday a parent signed up to make/buy the centerpiece for the table where the children would celebrate. I picked Christmas of course.
So for a centerpiece, you would think that it would be no big deal right? Wrong. These mothers would go crazy with the centerpieces. I remember for Thanksgiving one centerpiece was a giant Mayflower. So being the competitive spirited person that I am, I told my husband ours HAD to be the best.
I remembered my mom making graham cracker houses and trains when I was growing up, so that is where the idea all started. That year I made a graham cracker house along with a train. Each child took part of the train home with them.

After that first year we started to get more detailed and larger in size.

2006 Graham Cracker House

2007 Gingerbread House

It is a time consuming project, but we always love the end result.

I made this last week and my family was sold on it My husband loves pumpkin pie. In fact, I know he likes to have one pie all to himself at Thanksgiving. This recipe is not only perfect for re-feeds, its also a great alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie because it tastes ‘real’ (in my husbands words). When used with my fat-free pie crust, you have a slice for around 130 calories versus 320 calories (give or take).
Not that there is much to show in the video, I still decided to video it. I had a little helper this time

For Crust
1 cup all purpose flour (could use whole wheat)
4 Tbsp fat free margarine spread
¾ tsp salt
2 Tbsp cold water

For Filling
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
One 12-oz. can evaporated fat-free milk
3/4 cup Splenda, or 10-12 packets of splenda (I will be trying this with Stevia next time)
2 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup (Davinci’s is what I used)
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix all of the pie crust ingredients with a fork, Stir until mixed well. Roll it on between wax paper with flour. In an oven-safe 9-inch pie dish, press it into the edges and up along the sides of the dish. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the filling. Mix well. Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake pie in the oven for 45 minutes, and then remove it and allow to cool. Chill in the fridge for several hours (for best results, chill overnight). MAKES 8 SERVINGS
Nutritional Information: per slice
Calories: 122 Fat: .2 g Carbohydrate: 24 g Protein: 4.8 g