Just feeling bummed.

Blah.

The weather isn't helping my mood either.

It's warm-ish, but grey and bleak outside. It has rained a little here and there, too. I think I'm just ready to move to the next city.

Although, I don't want to leave the awesome natural food store that I've found here. It's actually in Memphis. I go to a place called Wild Oats. I am amazed at the number of products that I use and that they have for me to buy!

In fact, over the weekend I discovered a new product. It's called Hip Whip. It's a healthier version of Cool Whip. It's sweetened with fruit juices instead of corn syrup and it's not made with any hydrogenated oils. It even tastes pretty good. It has a slight nutty taste--- I think that's because one of the ingredients at the bottom of the list is cashew butter.

It tasted really yummy ontop of the pumpkin pie I made last night. If you're interested in a healthier version of the real deal with less fat & calories, here's the recipe that I use:

Pumpkin Pie (healthy & diary-free)

From: Frontier Natural Products Co-op

Ingredients:

· 1 prepared 9” pie shell; baked according to package directions or a homemade crust for a 9” pie shell pre-baked.

· 16 oz. Canned pumpkin

· 1 C. Sucanat

· ½ C. pure maple syrup

· 5 ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice or 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. ground nutmeg, and ¼ tsp. ground cloves

· ½ tsp. salt

· 1 ½ C. vanilla soy milk

· 4 large eggs or egg substitute equivalent to 4 large eggs

Directions:

® Preheat oven to 400°F.

® Combine pumpkin, Sucanat, maple sugar, spices and salt in a mixer bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a deep saucepan and simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened slightly, about five minutes.

® Whisk in the soymilk and return briefly to a simmer.

® In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together.

® Return pumpkin mixture to mixer bowl and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs slowly.

® Transfer mixture to pre-baked pie shell and bake on center rack for 25 minutes, or until edges of the custard have cracked slightly and the center barely jiggles when shaken gently.

® If the edges of the crust brown too much before the center is cooked, cover edges with strips of aluminum foil.

® Cool pie on rack for 1 hour before serving.

® Makes one 9” pie.

If any of you decide to make this recipe, let me know. Oh, and if you have trouble finding some of the ingredients, let me know and I'll find a natural foods store in your area!

I hope I get out of my funk soon.

I'll keep ya posted!

Thought Of The Day:"Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression."--Dodie Smith (1896 - 1990) English dramatist

Until next time... peace, love & HEALTH!!!