Secret Guests and Pure Protein

I blogged at Writes of Passage today about a visitor I had this weekend. Can you guess who it was from the picture to the right? Click over and see if you were right!

While you're there, you're going to see a picture of this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie…

Never fear, Stacey Sanders Daniel provided us with the recipe. And it's delicious!!! I made it last night and gracious! I'm thinking of having it for breakfast too. 

I'm sure the low-fat peanut butter qualifies the pie as "pure protein" now. (Oh please, let me dream.) But truly, Stacey let me know that a slice of this is only 7 points on Weight Watchers. So come on over and join me.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup reduced-fat peanut butter
4 oz light cream cheese
4 oz fat-free cream cheese
12 oz fat-free sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup lite whipped topping, thawed if frozen
5 Tbsp mini chocolate chips, divided
6 oz pie crust

Directions:
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together peanut butter and both types of cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in milk and lemon juice; fold in whipped topping and 4 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips.
Spoon peanut butter mixture into prepared pie crust; sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips over top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Slice into 10 pieces and serve. Dig in!
Weight Watchers Points = 7 (WW Points)

And Stacey adds: Let me tell you how awesome this is! I will confess that I often just get the light cream cheese and use that instead of getting two different kinds and only using half of each. It still tastes awesome! 

Off to grab some protein, friends… Thank you, Stacey, for sharing your recipe.

So, what are YOU having for breakfast this morning? ; )

Deb's Peanut Butter Pie

Ready for a delicious treat this weekend? Dear friend, author, and my oh-so-wonderful writing critique partner, Deborah Raney, made a pie this week that looks to die for! I'm looking forward to making it this weekend when another writing buddy comes to visit (more on that next week, with pics!). 

It's Deb's Peanut Butter Pie (which she had for breakfast this morning, ahem…). Breakfast of champions, I'm sure. And I'm happy to share it with you here. Enjoy!

And if you haven't caught Francine Rivers' blog this week. DO!! I really identified with what she said, and always, always appreciate that woman's transparency. But um, the woman is SO not an apprentice. Not in my book anyway. But let's not tell her… ;)

Back to rewrites for A Lasting Impression due out this fall.

Dancin' Shoes and Key Lime Pie

What do the two have in common? Well, check out this post over at Writes of Passage today, and then come back here to grab this great recipe for the Weight Watcher's version of Key Lime Pie. Really is good!

1 reduced fat graham cracker crust

1 small package sugar-free lime gelatin

1/4 cup boiling water

1 (8 ounce) container fat-free whipped topping (I used sugar-free too)

2 (6 ounce) key lime pie yogurt (I used one Lemon Yogurt and one Yoplait Pineapple Upside Down Cake Yogurt)

1 In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water.

2 Stir in yogurt with wire whisk.

3 Fold in whipped topping with wooden spoon.

4 Spread in crust.

5 Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

6 Eat quickly before your daughter comes over to watch Dancing with the Stars and you have to share. ;)

Read more on the recipe here. And enjoy!

And now, for a day of editing A Lasting Impression…

Seeing the forest AND the trees

I'm SO incredibly grateful for (and love!) the rewrite stage of a writing a novel. When people ask me what my next book is about (and I haven't started writing it yet), I often hear myself talking in circles. Because I honestly only have a glimmer of what the book is going to be about at the stage.

Oh I know the characters. Somewhat. And I know the plot. A little. And I know the location. Fairly well, actually, since I'll have been reading up on that for a while by then. But the actual theme of the novel? And the specific journey the characters will take (their character arc)? That's not nearly so clear.

As I write…all of this comes.

But it's during the rewrite phase when I'm blessed with the insightful perspective and counsel of my editors and my agent, that everything finally comes together. Where things I've written about––but might not have even seen at the time [insert pounding of head here]––start rising to the surface. Start making more sense. Become far more real.

I truly have come to love the characters in A Lasting Impression––Sutton, Claire and Adelicia, and others––and hope you will to.

With a partially frozen Diet Dr. Pepper at hand and my office windows open to allow in the spring breeze, I'm back to it…