Hello! Welcome to my blog! Today we are taking a look at a recipe that I put together for last night's get-together with friends. We are part of a "Life Group" through our church. We have been getting together with three other families for nearly 5 years now! We meet every couple of weeks and take turns hosting. When it is your turn to host, you know that the NEXT time will be your turn to bring food! We study the Bible together, talk about life and pray for each other. Plus we enjoy some refreshments!
I have an 8 year old daughter who is full of ideas! She began talking the other day about what we were going to bring to share with the group? Yesterday morning she requested s'mores! Umm... we were not planning a campfire for last night or anything!? My family began eating clean in September 2013 and I could not bring myself to purchase marshmallows to serve to everyone COLD with chocolate bars and graham crackers! Don't get me wrong - I will enjoy a couple of s'mores this summer! They will be scattered here and there during this season and I will be at a camp fire!
So I suggested to my daughter that we make something with a graham crust? She readily agreed. I had an early morning dentist appointment yesterday and then we had to be picking up a few groceries and returning home before some of my family arrived from out of town. Our days are busy but we find ways to make clean eating work. Sometimes it involves a bit of compromise, which you will find below. We stopped in at Wegmans (my favorite grocery store!) with no list or recipe. So I was thinking off of the top of my head and we were preparing a recipe to amongst with 16 people. Of course I made a double batch, which produced two PB pies. I LOVE PB. Too much. Actually, almond butter is my REAL FAVORITE!!! I will make this recipe again and will perhaps use almond butter to see how that tastes! Regular PB pie typically involves cream cheese, Cool Whip and confectioner's sugar along with the PB. We avoid 3 of those 4 typical PB pie ingredients... so, what to do? Time to get creative!
For the filling, I used natural PB, plain Greek yogurt and lightly spotted bananas. I also picked up a bag of Ghiradelli mini chocolate chips and split that between the two pies. Now, I do have a recipe for a delicious "clean eating" pie crust and that will be included below. BUT, there was not time for that extra step yesterday. So, here was the compromise -- store-bought graham crusts which were ready to go in the foil pie pans. Some days are like that!
3 Ingredient Clean Eating PB Pie Filling
* makes 1 pie
3 1/2 Cups Plain Greek Yogurt
1 Cup Natural Peanut Butter
2 Small/Medium or 1 1/2 Large Bananas that are lightly spotted
3/4 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
1 Pie Shell (graham crust or recipe below)
** I really liked the taste of this filling the way that we made it last night. But I could see adding a dash of sea salt of teaspoon of vanilla for a slightly different flavor.
1) Use a food processor or a mixer and cream the bananas. I like the spotty bananas for recipes like this. You could use very ripe bananas but that is going to change the flavor profile and will be sweeter but will also have more of that "banana flavor" and not everyone loves that. Myself included!
2) Add the PB and Greek Yogurt and thoroughly combine the three ingredients until the mixture is smooth and creamy. You may need to scrape down the sides and make sure that everything is combining well along the way.
3) Take your pie shell and add a light layer of mini chocolate chips to the bottom. Pour in your filling. Top with the remainder of your chocolate chips.
4) Place pie pan in freezer for at least 2 hours.
5) Thaw a bit before serving, depending upon your desired consistency. I had the pies in the freezer for 5 hours yesterday after making them. I thawed on the counter for about 20 minutes and then they went back into the fridge until we were ready to serve them a short time later. You want the pie to be not entirely frozen but to still hold up with a nice, firm texture.
6) We had a tiny bit of pie left over and I placed it in the freezer. You could also keep it in the fridge if you want the texture to be more mousse-like.
For the filling, I used natural PB, plain Greek yogurt and lightly spotted bananas. I also picked up a bag of Ghiradelli mini chocolate chips and split that between the two pies. Now, I do have a recipe for a delicious "clean eating" pie crust and that will be included below. BUT, there was not time for that extra step yesterday. So, here was the compromise -- store-bought graham crusts which were ready to go in the foil pie pans. Some days are like that!
3 Ingredient Clean Eating PB Pie Filling
* makes 1 pie
3 1/2 Cups Plain Greek Yogurt
1 Cup Natural Peanut Butter
2 Small/Medium or 1 1/2 Large Bananas that are lightly spotted
3/4 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
1 Pie Shell (graham crust or recipe below)
** I really liked the taste of this filling the way that we made it last night. But I could see adding a dash of sea salt of teaspoon of vanilla for a slightly different flavor.
1) Use a food processor or a mixer and cream the bananas. I like the spotty bananas for recipes like this. You could use very ripe bananas but that is going to change the flavor profile and will be sweeter but will also have more of that "banana flavor" and not everyone loves that. Myself included!
2) Add the PB and Greek Yogurt and thoroughly combine the three ingredients until the mixture is smooth and creamy. You may need to scrape down the sides and make sure that everything is combining well along the way.
3) Take your pie shell and add a light layer of mini chocolate chips to the bottom. Pour in your filling. Top with the remainder of your chocolate chips.
4) Place pie pan in freezer for at least 2 hours.
5) Thaw a bit before serving, depending upon your desired consistency. I had the pies in the freezer for 5 hours yesterday after making them. I thawed on the counter for about 20 minutes and then they went back into the fridge until we were ready to serve them a short time later. You want the pie to be not entirely frozen but to still hold up with a nice, firm texture.
6) We had a tiny bit of pie left over and I placed it in the freezer. You could also keep it in the fridge if you want the texture to be more mousse-like.
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans
- 1 cup cashews
- 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- 3 - 4 tbsp almond milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- To make the crust, add crust ingredients to a food processor and process until a ball of dough forms, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl. Start with a few tablespoons of almond milk and add more if necessary to bring to a desired consistency. Be careful not to over process the crust into a nut butter. Transfer the dough to a 9" pie dish and flatten on the bottom and sides with your hands to make a pie shell.
Pie Crust Option:
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