Happy Cyber Morselicious Monday! How was your Thanksgiving? Who survived without a “stuffed turkey hangover?”

Doug and I started our Morselicious holiday with a hike and then watched the Macy’s Day Parade, one of my favorite holiday traditions! We ate lot’s o’ good food..yes, a lil’ too much, but in our defense, it was ALL real-whole food and we had Pumpkin Cranberry Morsels for dessert! Mmmm… 2 days later, we celebrated my birthday by seeing the film, LIFE OF PI and sharing a decadent slice of vegan/gluten-free pumpkin pie with pecan crust – extra hiking accompanied by our friend, Lee! By the way, BOTH pies (Double stuffed) were worth it! And, in honor of Cyber Monday, please use coupon code “CyberMon” for $10.00 off all purchases $30 or mo’ all day today and tonight!  Get  and/or give your guilt-free morselicious treats to get back on track after your gobbled up over stuffin’-filled Thanksgiving!

Here are a few things that happen to many of us after a big holiday splurge:

• real”clean” food tastes bland until your taste buds wean back to normal
• typical meals don’t fill you up anymore, until your stomach shrinks back to normal

• do your best to resist the out of control cravings until they go away
• I prefer the weaning technique, a little reducing at EVERY meal, weaning mo’ and mo’ every meal – every day until you’re at your Morselicious best!
• use spices and citrus to replace the sugar and salt
• Hope you enjoy my favorite pumpkin pie story & my MORSELICIOUS pumpkin pudding recipe, as published in http://www.examiner.com/article/a-pig-tailed-pumpkin-pie-puffy-cheeked-morselist-pumpkin-pudding-recipe

• A pig-tailed pumpkin-pie-puffy cheeked Morselist and
  her Morselicious pumpkin pudding recipeWhat are you grateful for this Thanksgiving? What does this holiday evoke for you?
  I’m a Turkey baby, born on November 24th. No, I will not tell you the year; however, I will accept Morselicious birthday wishes! Every year my birthday falls on Thanksgiving day, give or take a day or two and although it seemed unfair as a young–wanna-be-Laura Ingalls-Wilder pioneer, sharing my birthday with the pilgrims and pumpkin pies instead of neon colored party hats and Holly Hobbie ice cream cakes. Similar to the acquired taste I’ve developed for pumpkin pie, I’ve developed a deep appreciation in celebrating my special day surrounded by the attitude of gratitude. And , yes, homemade Morselcious pumpkin pie-gluten-free, vegan, low sugar & low sodium, of course!Backstory: In 2nd grade, I was a proud Brownie Scout and was happily cast as the “2nd day pumpkin pie” in our 12 days of Thanksgiving musical.
  Over-the-moon does not come close to my ecstatic elation at being cast in a leading role. This was my stage debut and being day number 2 of 12 meant I was going to be on stage 11 times! I had hit the Morselicious jackpot! Hum the tune to the 12 days of Christmas song to get into the spirit of what our 12 days of Thanksgiving musical was meant to be. My best friend, Nani was cast as the other pumpkin pie and our roles were to feed each other one bite of pie on each day of the song. 11 bites of pie! When I rushed home to share the news with my mom, she was a bit hesitant in her oh-so-pragmatic-tone, “Are you sure you like pumpkin pie, Mo?” I smartly responded, “Duh! It’s pie, Mom! Guy!”The night of the performance: St. Mary’s Brownie Troop presents the 12 days of Thanksgiving, starring Maura (Mo) Knowles as the pumpkin pie! (OK, the program did NOT really list me as the starring role, but this is MY story and MY b-day).
• 
  We had never rehearsed with actual pie due to budgetary constraints,
  so we were truly “in the moment,” per actor speak.
  Singing with gusto, “on the 2nd day of Thanksgiving, my pilgrim gave to me 2 pumpkin pies..,” Nani fed me my first bite of pumpkin pie and the moment it touched my lips, I knew I was in trouble, with a capital T that rhymes with P and stands for ick (name that showtune for 4 morsel points!)
  Repulsive doesn’t even begin to describe the plethora of emotions, tastes, fears running through my 7 year old pig-tailed-pumpkin-pie-stuffed face. As each day progressed in the song, tears began streaming down my chipmunk cheeks and the muffled laughter from the audience became less and less muffled each time I crossed to center stage. Not the way I wanted to steal the show. By the 8th day of the song, pumpkin pie was oozing from my lips and Nani could no longer pry open my tightly stuffed lips. Torn between wanting to run off stage, exiting stage left or right, hell, who cared and sticking through with my commitment to see my role all the way to the end, I decided to compromise and pantomimed days 9-12. Immediately following my humiliating curtain call bow, the raucous laughter from the audience had become unbearable to my fragile 7 year old spiced-out-self and I ran off stage where my Brownie Troop leader held out her right hand, holding a garbage pail with her left. Although, she had tears streaming down her face, too, I knew hers were like the audiences –laughing tears.Later that year, I decided to move on from the Brownie Troop and joined the 4-H Food Group. Nani joined me and we learned how to create our own tasty treats, winning blue ribbons.
  Who knew, that years later, I would become a professional actor AND a professional baker. For the past 10 years or so to celebrate my birthday AND Thanksgiving, I create a new MORSELICIOUS pumpkin treat, combining all the healthy aspects in my mission as the Morselist.Have a MORSELICIOUS Thanksgiving and enjoy my b-day pudding!As a thank you to you, my readers, in honor of my birthday and
  Thanksgiving, I’d love to share
• Mo’s pumpkin pudding recipe:
• Ingredients
  1 can pure pumpkin
  ¼ cup canned coconut milk OR unsweetened almond milk
  (note: the full fat coconut milk makes for a richer pudding)
  ¼ cup almond butter
  1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or mix together cinnamon and nutmeg)
  ½ to 1 tsp. liquid or pure raw stevia (depending on desired sweetnesss)Directions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Transfer to bowl and serve with morsels and/or slivered almonds.
  If you want a chillier texture, place in freezer for 30 minutes or until well chilled. Spoon into serving dishes and serve.
• *Remember to use “CYBERMON” coupon code for $10 off all purchases $30 or mo’!http://shop.macnmos.com/main.sc