Cooking with JP!

TRI THIS PIE
by: JP Severin

As our bodies recoil from the wanton gluttony that is Thanksgiving, triathletes often fall into a depressed funk about the thought of having piled on junk calories, and a few extra pounds. And what takes the brunt of the frustration? Dessert. This poor caboose to the meal gets none of the glory like its turkey brethren and takes all of the abuse. I am sick of people skipping dessert. However, it seems that the current dessert motto is, “DOUBLE THE SUGAR, DOUBLE THE FAT!” It doesn’t have to be that way. With that being said, check out this healthy pumpkin pie. Stow this recipe away for next Thanksgiving or try it out now. I have been eating a pumpkin pie a week after creating this hybrid recipe, and my skin is turning orange.

This recipe takes a little over an hour from start to finish.

Crust (don’t be shy, homemade crust is much easier than people think):

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cool whip
5 graham crackers
1.5 cups honey nut cheerios
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla

Smash the graham crackers and cheerios into tiny bits. Imagine that the cheerios have just insulted your mother. Now, melt the butter and the cool whip together and dump the cinnamon and vanilla in for good measure. Pour the butter and cool whip slowly over the grahams and cheerios, stirring while you pour to distribute evenly. Plop it into a glass pie dish and press the crust mixture evenly around the dish. I use a bowl to mash the crust into place and it works well… Bake for 10 minutes on 350 (preheated)

Pie

Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp clove
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup milk (skim)
6 tbsp cool whip

Blend all of that stuff together and pop it into your crust. Bake on 350 for 45 minutes. You know it is done when you stick a fork in and it comes out clean.

This seems simple and it is. The brilliance of this recipe is that it cuts over 180 calories per piece from the traditional pumpkin pie and still tastes the exact same. Don’t believe me? More pie for me. But seriously try it… you’ll be shocked!