Cooking with Christy #1

If you have known me for any period of time you would know that I am in love with Lisa Lillian aka Hungry Girl.

I first fell in love with her when I randomly bought her cookbook at a Bed Bath & Beyond.  I made her pumpkin caramel cupcake/muffin and was like 'WHERE HAS SHE BEEN ALL MY LIFE?"  and then I tried her Lettuce Cups - they were 10 times better than PF Changs.   

Everything she makes is low fat/calorie - and almost everything I've made from her cookbooks has been amazing!

So needless to say when I heard she was coming out with yet another cookbook - you know I HAD to buy it!  I have been trying different recipes the last 2 weeks and I thought I would share one with you :)

PUMPKIN PIE OATMEAL PARFAIT -
from Hungry Girl's 300 under 300 by Lisa Lillian
"The invention of oatmeal parfaits was a stroke of genius. This pumpkin pie version will leave you speechless" 


Per serving (entire recipe=1 serving)
292 Calories
7.25g fat
542mg sodium,
51g carbs,
7g fiber
7.5g sugars
7g protein

**(I made 4 servings at one time - so the pictures will show MUCH more than one serving)**

INGREDIENTS:
Oatmeal:
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze milk
1/3 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 no-calorie sweetener packets (I used sugar)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup water
dash of salt

Parfait:
1 - 60 calorie sugar free vanilla pudding snack
1 sheet (4 crackers) low-fat honey graham crackers, roughly crushed (I used cinnamon grahams - and they were yummy!)
Optional Topping: fat free reddi-wip

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients for oatmeal in a small nonstick pot on the stove.

 

Mix Well.

Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.

Stir often to prevent burning:

Cook for 9 minutes, stirring often, until somewhat thick and creamy (it will thicken more upon chilling) Allow to cool slightly. (Think Cake Mix - not Oatmeal at this point)
 Transfer to a bowl,

cover

and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 1/2 hours.

To Make the Parfait:

Stir oatmeal throughly until uniform in texture.
Spoon half of the oatmeal into a tall glass, (I put it in a zip-lock bag so I wouldn't get the glass messed up - same for the pudding)

 

and top with half of the pudding snack

 and half of the crushed graham crackers.

 

Repeat with remaining oatmeal, pudding and crushed cracker.  

Top with reddi-wip, if you like and dig in!

My notes:

This recipe was REALLY good, and I got my hubby to eat oatmeal ;)  Like I said above I used sugar instead of sweetener.   I also made 4 servings at once - and stuck it in the freezer for 2 hours to chill it - if you were planning on putting it in the fridge and making multiple servings plan for more "chill" time.  My husband would have liked a more flavorful oatmeal - so I'm thinking next time adding more cinnamon, maybe some nutmeg.  Over all - VERY YUMMY!

Does anyone elses cookbooks look like this when you are done with a recipe? All of mine do!

(this was also the recipe/shopping trip that got me thinking about making all these things home-made, like pudding, whip cream etc...)