Low fat, low calorie - who me?

I found this cookbook on sale at Safeway a couple of weeks ago, so I took a look at it. Have you heard of Hungry Girl? It actually started out as a small email newsletter produced by a gal named Lisa Lillien and sent to a group of her friends. It grew into a website devoted to finding low calorie, low fat foods that actually taste good - "guilt-free" cooking.

Now I must say that I have never been one to buy non-fat versions of food. I have switched to the "low-fat" version of some foods, but I'm really hopelessly addicted to creamy, cheesy, fattening foods. The nonfat version of these things just never taste right, so I don't get them.

Well, the idea of this book is to combine different non-fat products to make them taste a bit better than the sum of their parts. Often, they are also hidden underneath something more flavorful so that distracts you from the non-fat food.

Anyway, my goal is not really to eat completely out of this book. But I'd like to replace some of my splurge foods (fettucini alfredo, sausage mcmuffin with egg) with some Hungry Girl "splurges". She's got lots of suggestions for avoiding high calorie foods at restaurants and at work too.

Here is the recipe for the faux fudge that I made last night:

Ingredients:

2 cups canned pure pumpkin

1 box Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies Mix (the 18.3-oz. Family Size box)

2 tbsp. reduced fat peanut butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pumpkin with the brownie mix in a large bowl; stir until smooth (do not add anything else). Spray a small baking pan (8" X 8" work best - no larger!) with nonstick cooking spray and pour in the mixture. Spoon 2 tbsp. of Better ‘n Peanut Butter (room temperature) on top and use a knife to swirl peanut butter around. Cook for approximately 35 minutes. The batter will remain very thick and fudgy, and it should look undercooked. Remove from oven. Cover with aluminum foil and let cool in fridge for a couple of hours. Cut into 36 squares and serve.

Serving Size: 1 piece (approx. 1.3 oz.) Calories: 63, Fat: 1g, Sodium: 56mg, Carbs: 13.5g, Fiber: 1g, Sugars: 9g, Protein: 1g