It's National Pie Day!!

Not that I need an excuse to celebrate anything - okay, I look for excuses to celebrate anything, lol.  But I decided this year that I was going to celebrate silliness.  I'm hoping to bring a little sunshine out, okay?  So anyway, today is national Pie day and I made pie.  ;)

I decided (for those of you who haven't read previous posts) that I'm giving up processed sugar and white flour.  This also means I'm being creative in the cooking department again.  Yesterday was blonde brownie day, so I made brownies from a recipe out of Lean and Free 2000 cookbook and left out the cocoa - they turned out a little dry, but very edible.  I like them...so that's all that's important, right?  lol.

I was thinking on the way home from work the phrase "have your cake and eat it too" doesn't make a lot of sense.  If we are holding a piece of cake, aren't we going to eat it??  Wouldn't it make more sense to say, 'make your cake and eat it too?' I think so.  Anyway, my desire in life is to make it possible to not only make our cakes but to eat them too.  And have them be of a healthy variety that doesn't make anyone feel guilty or like they've fallen off the wagon, so to speak.  ;)

So anyway - I digress (as usual)
Today's recipe is yet again a little different twist on the recipe I found Here.  It seemed the simplest at the time, and I've kind of stuck with it.  This is my initial remake of it at Sparkpeople.  But today I felt like doing something different.  Unfortunately, my brain didn't transmit the need for the skim or low fat canned milk to my son when I asked him to get it...so, alas, it's not as healthy as I would like, but it's still better than the original.  :)  I haven't put the whipped topping on it yet - so it looks a little naked, but it's still good.  ;)

Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie

Crust - I didn't use one!  If you want one, go ahead and use your favorite kind.  The one I made before had vanilla wafers as the crust.

filling:
2.5 cups canned milk (next time I'll used the low fat variety)
1/2 C Land O Lakes Fat Free Ultra-Pasteurized Half & Half
1 egg
Xagave, 1/4 C
Cornstarch, 4 T
1/4 C powdered Stevia
Vanilla Extract, 2 tsp
Banana, fresh, 3 medium
1 Tsp butter

Combine the milk, cream and egg together, whisk till well blended.  Combine the sugar and the cornstarch in a heavy saucepan. Whisk in the milk mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  (don't ask me why she does this...but well, go with it)

After 5 minutes stir the mixture constantly until it comes to a boil , about 5-7 minutes. (I ended up turning the heat up a little, and I admit, I didn't stand there and stir it every second, like she says to.) Boil and stir the mixture for one minute.  (it got really thick at this point, and it wasn't much of a boil - more like an erupting hot pot)

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and butter.

Let the filling cool down a bit before adding the sliced bananas. When cooled, add the sliced bananas and pour into the pie shell and smooth.

Now - I didn't let it cool.  I sliced the bananas and lined the pie plate with them, so they are kind of the crust.  Then I poured the filling on top.  I'm letting it cool before I put the whipped topping on, which is going to be Spiffy whip.  Have you ever heard of it??  It's amazing stuff, I tell ya.

Anyway.  Good stuff.  Enjoy!