Individual Microwave Crustless Pumpkin Pie

It's the middle of October and I am ready for something warm and delicious. This is a great filling breakfast but it could be a great dessert anytime.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

            (not pie mix but 100% pure pumpkin)*
3 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 egg white
1 tablespoon sugar

 

*When I open a big can, I measure out 1/2 cups of pumpkin into small freezer bags. When I want to use the pumpkin I either put in the refrigerator to thaw or use the microwave to defrost it.

Instructions:

 

Combine the pumpkin and the pumpkin pie spice and stir until well mixed.

In a tall skinny container (a disposable 32-ounce deli container works well for me) using one whisk in a hand blender, beat the egg white until stiff and it forms peaks.

With a spatula scrape the edges of the bowl containing the pumpkin mixture.

Dump all of the fluffed egg whites into the pumpkin mixture and gently fold until all is combined but the egg white still remains fluffy with air.

If you want it to look pretty spoon it into another bowl and smooth it.

Microwave for 2 minutes on high (my microwave is 1250 watts, you might have to alter the cooking time based on your microwave's wattage).

Sprinkle with sugar and let cool for a minute.

 

The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for it to cool enough to eat. Eat while still warm.

Nutrition Information
Entire recipe: Calories 105.8. Fat 0.5g, Carbohydrates 21.6g, Fiber 5g (Oh Ya Baby), Protein 6g and PointsPlus 3

Using artificial sweetner instead of sugar would reduce the amount of calories, carbs and PointsPlus.

 

 

Pina Colada Dessert

This is an adaptation of an old Weight Watchers recipe from the 90's called "Green Dream". That recipe used pistachio pudding. Today I used banana cream pudding but it is also good with coconut cream pudding with banana slices mixed in.

Pina Colada Dessert
• 1 can (20 ounces) Dole Crushed Pineapple in 100% pineapple juice
• 1 package (5.1 ounces) Jell-O banana cream instant pudding and pie filling
• 1 carton (32 ounces) Dannon Oikos Plain flavor 0% fat Greek yogurt

Dump the can of crushed pineapple, juice and all into a mixing bowl.

Stir in the powdered pudding mix.

When the pineapple and pudding mix are incorporated, stir in the yogurt.

Serve Chilled.

I am trying to move away from artificial sweeteners so I altered the original recipe a bit because it called for an 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple, a 4-serving size of sugar-free/fat-free instant pudding mix and an 8 ounce carton of sugar-free/fat-free yogurt (I don't think you can even find an 8 ounce carton of yogurt anymore). The results were a little soupier but it firmed up after chilling.

When the kids were small we use to make this on camping trips. We used a Ziploc bag and let the DAKs mix everything together by squishing the ingredients around.

Dole Crushed Pineapple 20 ounce can (567 grams):
Calories 325, Fat 0g, Carbs 84g, Fiber 4.5g, Protein 4.5g and 9 PointsPlus.

Jell-O banana Cream Instant Pudding and Pie Filling 5.1 ounce or 6 serving size (144 grams):
Calories 518.5 Fat 0g, Carbs 132.5g, Fiber 0g, Protein 0g and 14 PointsPlus. Dannon Oikos 0% fat

Greek Yogurt Plain 1 carton 32 ounces (907 grams):
Calories 484, Fat 0g, Carbs 36g, Fiber 0g, Protein 89g and 12 PointsPlus.

Entire recipe:
(Calculated on the Sparkpeople Recipe Calculator)
Calories 1327.5, Fat 0g, Carbs 252.5g, Fiber 4.6g, Protein 93g and 36 PointsPlus (this came out a little different when all the ingredients were added together)

1 Serving is 1/10th of the recipe and the nutrition is as follows:
Calories 132.7, Fat 0g, Carbs 25g, Fiber .5g, Protein 9g and 3 Points Plus

Pumpkin and Cream Muffins

This yummy breakfast or desert is an adaptation of PUMPKIN AND CREAM BREAD from www.sundaybaker.net

The thing I love best about them is that they freeze well and can be popped into the microwave for a quick out the door breakfast

Cream Filling and Topping

8 oz. Fat-free cream cheese
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 T. all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1 t. vanilla extract

Batter:

1-1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. granulated sugar
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg

Line 18 muffin pan cups with foil liners.

Cream filling: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, egg whites and flour until creamy and smooth. Place Cream filling in two small disposable piping bags. Clip off and Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

 No need to wash the bowl or whisk, use them to make the Batter: Beat the pumpkin, applesauce, egg, and egg whites on medium speed until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Scrape all into a large batter piping bag.

Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees

Fill each of the muffin liners about 1/3 full of batter.

Divide and pipe one bag of the cream filling on top of each.

Cover cream filling with remaining batter.

Top all of the muffins by piping more cream filling in the center of each (the filling will expand and cover most of the top of the muffin when baked.

Bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't over bake or the edges will be dry.

Cool and remove from pans.

Store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container. Yikes! remeber to take the foil liners off before you throw them in the microwave.

MMMM! Each muffin is PointsPlus 3

Piña Colada

Frozen fruit whipped into a delicious dessert is one of my favorite things. Today I added dry instant pudding mix. The pudding mix does two things. First it adds a little sugar and flavor. Second it fluffs and adds some thickening to whatever frozen fruit it is combined with.

At one point I was using sugar-free fat-free pudding which I think is okay occasionally, but being a little afraid of artificial sweeteners and hating stevia and those kind of sweeteners the way I do, I decided on using the regular pudding mixes. Half a serving of regular pudding mix adds 1 PointPlus which is the same as a whole serving of the artificially sweetened pudding mixes. Yea!

My 25 year old Cuisinart never complains at puréeing rock hard fruit but all food processors are not created equal and a friend told me the motor of her name brand food processor seized under the strain of frozen bananas. Sad.

When I found out about this amazing "fruit ice cream" I couldn't believe it. I immediately searched YouTube and found a host of videos. It was like I won the lottery. One thing I noticed with all the people using a food processor to make this yummy stuff is that they had to stop the process a couple of times to scraped down the bowl and push and smooch the fruit down around the blades with a spatula. I found this to be true for myself, but I hated how hard it was to get the fruit smooched hard enough that the blades would whip it.

Tanner solved my problem. He cut a flexible plastic lid to fit in the Cuisinart and cut a hole in the middle for the handle of the blade to stick through. Now when the fruit is just hovering above the blade, I switch it off, open it up and push it down all around the blade. Because my new little tool is flexible I can give it a pinch and pull it out before I put the lid back on. I only have to do it once during the process. The spatula method took me two or three times.

Piña Colada Frozen Dessert
140 grams unsweetened frozen pineapple chunks
12 grams dry coconut cream pudding mix

Place the fruit in the bottom of the Cuisinart. Process until it becomes a frozen puréed creamy mixture. Add the pudding powder and pulse until incorporated.

Nutrition Information
Dole unsweetened frozen pineapple chunks 3/4 cup (140 grams): Fat 0g, Carbohydrates 19g, Fiber 2g, Protein 2g and PointsPlus 2*

Jello Pudding Coconut Cream Instant Pudding and Pie Filling 1/2 serving (12 grams): Fat 1.3, Carbs 10.5, Fiber 0, Protein 0 and PointsPlus 1

Entire Dessert PointsPlus 3

* WW deems fruit “free” but only allows 2 servings a day. I decided to track fruit the way I do everything else . This way I can have as much fruit as I want within points and still lose weight. WIN! Using the "free" fruit option would make this only 1 PointsPlus.

I keep and use my kitchen scale in inexpensive twist tie

bags to keep it gunk free.