CEiMB (Craving Ellie in My Belly) Banana Cream Pie

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Lovely Leigh of Lemon Tartlet and the Dust Bunnies decided it was high time to put together a group to make healthier challenges-or maybe fit into our jeans again 😉 and decided to focus on one of her favourite books:

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The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger. And so, she decided to start Craving Ellie in My Belly- CEiMB and invited those of us who wish to come along on her journey. This is the 3rd recipe for the group and my first on joining in. This week’s recipe for Banana Cream Pie, page 276 was chosen by the sweet  Heather of Randomosity and the Girl.

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I made my pie in a 9 inch tart ring with a removable bottom. I think it made removing a piece much easier. The whole recipe of pudding will not fit, however, so you just need to put the bananas in and top off with as much pudding as will fit. I used MI-DEL whole wheat graham crackers for the crust and I think they work better than ones that aren’t 100% whole wheat. One FYI: the graham cracker crust is only graham crackers plus 2 Tablespoons of melted butter and one of water- you really need to run it well in the food processor and press firmly into the pan (I also skipped the cooking spray and no problems) to get it coherent enough to form a crust -otherwise you’ll just get crumbly bits. So it’s basically a low fat graham crust, bananas and a vanilla pastry cream made with low-fat milk and only 2 egg yolks, but shored up with a bit of gelatin to firm it.  You top it with a small amount of very lightly sweetened whipped cream and you have a reasonable but delicious treat.

As it happens I bought this book several months ago and have wanted to start cooking from it more regularly. All of these butter and cream rich challenges are adding to my bottom line and I’ve decided that I must do at least one something to combat the calorie creep. Ellie’s recipes don’t seem to have lots of substitutions for real food- they just have good quality ingredients in reasonable proportions and tend towards substituting more nutritious whole foods for overly processed ones.  So I can do that 🙂

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I won’t post the recipe here-out of deference to the author- but let me encourage you to purchase this book if you are interested in luscious, healthy whole food recipes that you can feel good about preparing and eating. 

Thanks to all of the CEiMB members for letting me join and thanks to Leigh and Heather particularly!

xo

9 comments

  1. Mary Ann says:

    Your pie turned out beautifully! I just got my book in the mail and can’t wait to start this group. I made a few of the recipes when I borrowed it from the library awhile ago. I love your pics!

  2. Holly says:

    I just can’t stop smiling that you are in this AND TWD now! Yay!! Your pie looks great and very artistic!

  3. casalba says:

    Gabi, You know I’m not good at cakes, but bananas are amongst my favourite fruit.

    Don’t know whether you do tags, but I have tagged you – do with it what you wish – I shan’t be at all offended.

    Best wishes, Sally

  4. CB says:

    Your pie looks perfect! Great summary of how Ellie makes the pie “healthier”. Welcome to CEiMB!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

  5. Marthe says:

    Welcome to CEiMB! My pie is setting in the fridge as I’m typing this, I’m so unpatient!! 🙂
    Your pie looks fantastic!

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