oats

Not-So-Traditional Pumpkin Pie

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This pie crust ain’t flaky.

Nope, not at all.

It is, however, dense, sweet, chewy, and delicious.   These mini pies are also full of fiber, free of refined sugar, easy to make gluten free, and low in fat and calories.

Makes 8 mini pies


Crust

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 8 pitted dates
  • pinch of salt
  • ~1/4 cup water
Pulse dates, oats, and salt in a food processor until everything is a fine crumble.  Slowly drizzle in water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough starts to stick together.  Careful, the dough can easily get to wet, you want it to stick together but not to your fingers.

Form eight equal balls with the dough and place each into a paper muffin tin liner.
Use your index finger to push the dough down to form a little crust.
Filling
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 3 tablespoons coconut milk (the real stuff in the can)
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1/2 teaspoon spices (I used cinnamon and chai spice but use a pumpkin pie blend if you’ve got it!)
  • honey, stevia, or maple syrup to taste
  • 1 egg
Mix everything but the egg.  Taste for sweetness/spice, adjust, add egg, mix thoroughly.
Scoop a rounded tablespoon of filling into each crust.
Put ’em in the oven, set the oven to 375* and turn on.  Cook for about 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Peel off the paper and serve!  Top with yogurt, whipped cream, or coconut cream if desired.
P.S  In case you were wondering, the answer is yes, this is an excellent “breakfast pie”!

Nutritarian

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I’m a nutrient nut.

And I’m thrifty.

Combine the two and I’m a nutritarian!

I’m all about getting the most nutritional BANG for my calorie BUCK.

Breakfast fit that description perfectly.  Each ingredient was thoughtfully choosen for what it would add in terms of overall taste and nutrition.

It all started when I received a little box in the mail yesterday.

Inside were a few treats direct from Peru.

My lovely friend Cristina did a little shopping for me on a recent trip South.  Bee pollen and maca.  Sure, you can get both products here but in Peru they are fresh, inexpensive, and easy to come by.  And they will remind me of both Cristina and Lima each time I use them. 🙂

Bee pollen is a rich source of antioxidents and protein.  It is energizing, can improve metabolism, and is excellent for the immune system due to it’s high levels of vitamin C.  Bee pollen has a strong flavor and is best used a teaspoon or so at a time. *People who are allergic to bees should avoid consuming bee pollen*

Maca, “the gift from the andes” as the bag reads, is a powder made from a turnip-like root that grows high in the mountains of Peru and Bolivia.  Maca is known for balancing hormones (who couldn’t use a little help with that!) and is 22% protein, providing you with nearly two grams for 30 calories.  It has a slightly sweet, slightly butterscotchy flavor.

Not planning a trip to Peru any time soon?  Both of these products are commonly found at health food stores.

I thought there was no better way to add these superfoods into my breakfast than a jar of overnight oats!

Want to most nutrition from your morning oats? Soak ’em!

Last night I mixed up

  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • ~1 cup plain homemade yogurt + a little extra whey (for protein, probiotics, and calcium)
  • 1 tsp. chia seeds (for protein and Omega-3’s)
  • 1 tsp. maca
  • 1 tsp. bee pollen
  • cinnamon (to stabilize blood sugar)
  • stevia

I let the mixture sit at room temp for a few hours them put it in the refrigerator overnight.  Soaking oats at room temperature with a little acid (from the whey in the yogurt) aids in the digestion of the oats.  Don’t worry, the acid prevents the mis from going bad.

This morning I added antioxident-rich serviceberries from the freezer and a few Omega-3-full walnuts.

This super-nutritious jar left me satisfied but feeling light and energized.

I’m excited to experiment more with maca and bee pollen.  I recall having a particularly amazing raw chocolate pie made with bee pollen years ago…got to figure out how to recreate that!

I’ll leave you with this classic Hippocrates quote to mull over when choosing what to lunch on.

“Let thy food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food.”