Balance of Food

Biggest Loser notebook: Biingo fearing vegetables

Bob Harper told us about a month ago that Biingo should be "finding some sort of vegetable that he likes." At the time, Harper was more concerned about getting Biingo to move.

The good news this week was that Harper was more concerned about Biingo getting vegetables, just not directly to his face.

The fear of vegetables is something that most children deal with. The Biggest Loser wanted its contestants, adults and teenagers, to openly confront their fears … except when it came to vegetables.

The trainers have their Skype discussions with the kids, except Bob's conversation is with Michelle, Biingo's mom. Bob is concerned about Biingo being afraid of vegetables, and as we hear from Michelle, she hasn't been helping with the problem.

"Growing up as a kid, we didn't make him eat them. As a mother, it's disheartening. I feel like I failed."

Michelle admitted that Biingo said he thought broccoli was grown in a factory.

Bob sent Michelle a meatloaf recipe to sneak some vegetables via veggie puree into Biingo. We see her making the veggie puree to put in the meatloaf. The goal is to cram in 5 vegetables (spinach, broccoli, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes) into one meatloaf. Gradual? This is television, after all: the more, the better.

Then again, sweet potatoes and peas are starchy veggies and carrots are very sweet in that world. Biingo would have been better off with spinach and mushrooms, small steps for a large boy who wants to get smaller.

The clue for Biingo should be that the family dinner is being televised, and Mom keeps pushing Biingo on whether he likes the meatloaf. He does find small pieces but doesn't know what they are.

Parents don't tend to yell at you with a cameraman around, unless it's "Cops." I would have suffered a lot less damage from my childhood if our family dinners could have been televised.

Biingo's reaction contains a bit of shock in his face, but returns quickly to ignorant bliss or a strong dose of Valium. He doesn't seem to care that he just ate vegetables or that his mom tried to sneak in veggies into his meatloaf.

Yes, Biingo ate some vegetables, but hasn't come close to conquering his fear or his need to eat more vegetables.

Michelle said Biingo ate more vegetables in that meal than at any point in his life. She clearly is confusing the number of vegetables as opposed to the amount of vegetables. If Biingo has never had that much vegetable puree, he has nowhere to go but up.

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Lindsay has a fear of diabetes, especially since she was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic early in the run of the show. She has a very legitimate fear, but isn't afraid to confront her fear. Turns out, a school guidance counselor at Lindsay's school is diabetic, and so they have a conversation about what it's like. There is a difference between being Type 1 diabetic and Type 2 diabetic, a difference the show never explores.

Lindsay wants to have a normal life and fears diabetes will ruin that. The counselor shows Lindsay what she has to deal with in being a diabetic.

While filming a segment between a student and a guidance counselor feels negatively voyeuristic, this was honestly an exercise that translates well to television.

Sunny is afraid to reveal anything about herself, so we're not surprised that her fear is something that is not about her. Sunny's fear stems from the weight and health of her mother.

One look at her mother and you can see why Sunny is worried. But Sunny needs to think about her greatest fear: not being able to share her greatest fears. Sunny's reaction is normal, given she is a teenager. But Sunny should realize that being on television, you need to reveal yourself. The producers want her to do so on-camera, but Sunny should do regardless.

2013 Chicago Poutine Fest: Not the real thing

What poutine is supposed to look like: poutine de Montréal.

Editor's note: This column is simulcast on our sister blog, CanadianCrossing.com, given the shared commonality of food and Canada that is poutine.

The idea of celebrating one of Canada's better-known foods in the 3rd largest city in the United States sounded magical to me when I first heard about the event. In the end, the experience left me pining for a road trip to Montréal.

Previous coverage: Poutine in Montreal: Sampling through the city's finest

In a room full of "poutines," only one came close to be remotely similar to what you might find in Quebec. And that version isn't something the restaurant is offering.

In some circles, poutine has become the whim of high and mighty variations to the classic fries, cheese, and gravy combination. This approach to poutine was on display on Sunday.

The most authentic was from El Ideas with the basic ingredients topped with a smoked duck sausage and foie gras gravy. You could easily see that on a menu in Montréal. (Sorry I didn't get a picture.)

This is a place with a constantly changing menu, and the Web site doesn't show any poutine has been served at the restaurant. Too bad.

Some of the places offered up a poutine that either wasn't on their current menu or had never been on its menu.

The least authentic was from the Pleasantry. The place went with smoked onion, blue cheese, and thyme gravy with duck confit, crispy onions, and scallions. Most of that subtlety was lost in the blue cheese sauce, and I love blue cheese. I couldn't pick out any other taste.

The Publican, a renown place in Chicago, offered up fried chickentail, fried cheese curds (really?), hot sauce, and Dunbarton blue cheese. The actual taste was not as good as the ingredients would suggest. This didn't even belong at a poutine competition.

Haymarket, the host of the event, submitted its own approach with smoked ham hock gravy that was topped with in-house andouille sausage and lemon soaked apples. A nice dish, but poutine was the furthest thing when eating this.

The Boarding House had a lobster poutine. I told the guy I couldn't possibly compare it to the other lobster poutine I had — Chuck Hughes' Garde Manger lobster poutine. Hughes' version was a lot better. The guy went through a long description of what goes into the lobster presentation, but the dish was more about lobster pieces on top of French fries. I don't even remember either the cheese or if there was a sauce in this dish.

Scofflaw had a bacon, eggs, and clam topping. This could have been a carbonara poutine, which doesn't sound that bad. This dish was okay, but admittedly I only had one bite.

Little Market went with braised short ribs, a nice choice if you going in that direction, and red wine gravy, but with fried cheese curds. Sigh.

Leopold went with a lamb marquez gravy and pickled peppers on top of fries and cheese curds. A lot of strong flavors, but nothing resembling poutine.

The judges went with the Gage, a place that knowingly offers different versions of the dish that changes as the menu changes. The Gage version had wild boar on top with smoked celery, carrots, and onions. Wild boar is good, but the cheese was barely noticeable. I'll admit this is the only poutine in the room I had before the fest, so I knew it pretty well.

I didn't get to try two of them. Red Door had a duck confit with chorizo verde and pickled jalapeno. And the Pleasant House served what it called deluxe gravy chips. British chips (square fried potatoes) topped with hangar steak, red wine gravy, and shredded cheddar. Both sounded good, but not authentic. And kudos to the Pleasant House for not calling it poutine.

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I met Canadians, people who like Canada, and others who just wanted to eat. One guy had a Habs jersey, another had an old school Expos hat. I might have broken out my Montréal gear if I weren't on duty. One woman had a Jonathan Toews shirt; I asked her if she wore the shirt on purpose. She had no idea what I was talking about. I explained to her that Toews was Canadian (from Manitoba).

I met a young woman from Canada had been in the States for 10 years; she had lived in Toronto and Vancouver. She explained to me that poutine was continuing the stereotype about Canada about eating fatty foods, even if it was true but not what we should think about when we think of Canada.

I wanted to find people who had never had poutine. One described her impresion before as poutine being gravy fries. After having had poutine, she thought it was a vehicle for gravy and cheese. Another person thought it was better than she thought it would be, and had heard about poutine when the Bad Happy Poutine Shop opened up about a couple of years ago.

Yes, Chicago has a place devoted to poutine. The place tries hard to be truly authentic, but I and several other "experts" feel the place comes up a little short. But you can get fries, cheese curds, and gravy there along with other variations.

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Poutine is a food of the masses: simple food for cheap prices and eaten to keep warm in the cold Quebec winters. The poutine I've seen in Chicago is mostly about hoity-toity variations for expensive prices: the exact opposite of what poutine is in Montréal.

I've had paid about $6 for a wonderful plate of poutine that fills my stomach and fulfills my taste buds in Montréal. I have paid almost double that for plates that didn't fill or fulfill.

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The money went to charity, about $8000 to Common Threads, which does a number of cool things, including teaching about cultural diversity through cooking. I'd like to think poutine, real poutine, can play a part in cultural diversity.

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All pictures taken by me with all the proper copyrights.

Knowing what is in your food should be the norm

When you can look an animal in its face, raise it, treat it well, and then slaughter it, you know what you are getting on your plate. In 2013, this knowledge of your food is easier on the local level and much more difficult on a world scale.

Countries that don't like to eat horse meat have the right to not get horse meat if they choose to do so. Those buying fish should get what they pay for. And clearly, this isn't happening.

In the United States, we could laugh at the saga going on in Europe, but with the mix of meat that passes for "beef" in our country, we literally don't know what we are eating.

Even for those who resolve to eat only local and only animals that they know, they and everybody else should be alarmed that we don't know what we are eating.

I voluntarily choose to not eat veal. If I choose to change my mind about veal, that is my choice. I have the freedom to eat veal or not eat veal. If someone came along to put veal into what is supposed to be beef, I would consider that a violation.

Even if you aren't a vegetarian, you should feel for Indians who were horrified to discover that McDonald's French fries were cooked in beef tallow.

Some countries in Europe eat horse. On the North American continent, you can find horse meat in Quebec in Canada. So the issue isn't eating horse; this is about wanting beef and getting something else. If you can find horse in your beef, you might find beef in your horse.

Even Reese's peanut butter cups acknowledge that they contain peanut butter and chocolate.

Companies list potential allergens because certain foods can trigger allergies even if there is a possible connection. In these troubling times, we could extend the concept: "This beef product may have come in contact with horse, and by come in contact, we mean some horse might be in your beef."

These cases involved suppliers; it's not like Burger King grows its own cows. The more hands that get on food, the more likely something such as this can happen. Local has the advantage of involving fewer hands.

In this post-regulation world, the trick is making food as cheap as possible, regardless of quality, ingredients, and basic decent common sense. While those who try and keep their food pure are often chastised for their extreme attitude, they know what they are eating. That shouldn't be extreme; knowing what is in your food should be the norm.

Temptation of the Week: Soft foods

Soft foods aren't normally tempting. When you break a tooth, and you have a temporary crown in your mouth, you aren't craving soft foods out of desire but necessity.

Going soft for a day or a few days isn't so bad, but two weeks can be nerve-wracking.

Spaghetti turned out to be a nice option. My recent obsession with olives helped. Cutting a hamburger in two is a lot better when you are limited to eating out of one side of your mouth.

Like most people, I had cans of tuna fish sitting in the pantry, so using them up killed more than one bird. Then again, they stayed in the pantry because I struggled to find good uses for them. Tuna salad can only go so far.

Yogurt, Greek or regular, was soft, low in fat, and had plenty of protein. Even putting foods in yogurt can be only so exciting.

Now that I have a permanent crown in my mouth, I realize I left out some crucial soft foods, such as rice. How did I not fix rice in that two weeks?

Soft foods aren't bad, but eating soft foods out of one side of my mouth grew annoying and frustrating. Eating soft foods with a full mouth would be better.

I thought back to high school when a female classmate of mine had her jaw wired shut to fix her smile. She would have killed for soft foods when all she could consume was through a straw. Perspective makes all the difference.

The screaming temptation was to have crunchy foods, the foods you specifically aren't supposed to have — funny how life works that way. French fries are softer than potato chips. Having this period during Super Bowl Sunday meant no nachos, pretzels, chips, or anything else that goes CRUNCH!.

Smoothies, puddings — can't live two weeks on them but they can handle part of the load. I did have applesauce that was going to eventually go bad; a sprinkle of cinnamon and I had a serving of fruit. In summertime, the lack of fresh fruit would have made me very sad. The blueberries from last summer will last a couple weeks longer in the freezer.

Battling with soft foods can depend on your overall approach to food. Stir-frys and Pad Thai have a certain softness. Rice and noodles become your best friends, though I stuck to noodles.

Eating soft diminishes my desire for eating out. Maybe this is because having others watch me eat and chew out of one side of my mouth is not something I wish on complete strangers.

I wasn't the kind of soul to chomp on an apple. I do like hearty breads (really unfortunate since I cracked the tooth while eating a piece of hearty bread. While I don't blame the food for the cracked tooth, I am easing back into having the hearty bread again.

Being stuck in this kind of a pattern makes you appreciate being able to eat what you can when you can. Volunteering to go this route might seem pointless, but you do learn a lesson or two about food appreciation and what attracts us to certain foods where our teeth are much more involved.

Biggest Loser notebook: 'Nutrition' quiz falls short

Nutrition questions for the teenagers
Question	Choice A	Choice B	Answer
Which has more fat?	2 large eggs, scrambled, 2 slices turkey bacon	1 plain bagel with cream cheese	A
# of chicken nuggets to reach 18g of fat	20 nuggets, 940 calories	6 nuggets, 280 calories	B
Which has more carbohydrates?	spaghetti w/meat sauce & garlic bread	bean burrito, chips and salsa	B
Which has more calories?	double cheeseburger	large order of fries	B
Which movie food has over 1000 calories?	personal pepperoni pizza	large bucket of popcorn	B

 

There wasn't much nutrition in the nutrition quiz for the teenagers this week on "The Biggest Loser." The questions were still good for the kids because they will confront choices along these lines. But the quiz is only part of the puzzle.

The kids got 4 of the 5 questions correct. They missed Question 3; the trick was in the portion size. Beans have carbohydrates, which proves the question is misleading. The bean burrito is the better choice because of fiber and protein.

Questions 2 and 5 were pretty easy. Questions 1 and 4 were strong questions. But none of them dealt with positives when it comes to food. Or the questions were so limited in focus. Yes, the eggs and turkey bacon had more fat, but that was a better choice for a breakfast. And certainly a better option than 6 processed chicken nuggets.

Or what if they taught the kids to use low-fat cream cheese or lox instead of cream cheese. Hopefully, Question 5 taught them not to grab anything from a movie theatre.

Sunny and Lindsay were the brains behind the food information. Biingo self-admits that "nutrition is not my thing." The good news for Biingo is that there is way more to nutrition than those questions.

Hopefully, off screen, the teenagers and adults are learning about good fats, lean sources of protein, the concept of complex carbs, and ways to add flavor without adding unnecessary fat. Or even learning swaps that won't sacrifice taste but reduce the impact of food.

Jared came back to do a Subway commercial in the middle of the show. The winner of this season gets to do a commercial for Subway with Jared, besides the commercial they did with Jared for Subway in the middle of this episode. For every in-program commercial, the show should devote twice as many seconds to actual helpful nutrition information for the contestants and for those of us playing along at home.

Temptation of the Week: The Priestley

Famous Canadians during the 1996 Grey Cup

Canadian	Location	Donut
Steven Page	Wawa, ON	blueberry fritter
Geddy Lee	Halifax, NS	walnut crunch
Luc Robitaille	Victoriaville, QC	sour cream plain
Alex Trebek	Sudbury, ON	honey dipped
k.d. lang	Red Deer, AB	chocolate glaze
Jason Priestley	Squamish, BC	Priestley

 

"Crammed a Timbit into a strawberry vanilla, and invented the Priestley. Should have been the best day of my life." — Jason Priestley, "How I Met Your Mother" February 4, 2013

The creation of the Priestley came out of a running joke about Canadian celebrities and where they were and what they were eating at Tim Hortons during the 1996 Grey Cup. And so the donut within the donut was born.

As you can see, the donut within a donut isn't any worse for you than a regular donut. The Priestley allows for dual tastes, along the lines of Neapolitan ice cream.

Okay, so this isn't as bad for you as a Luther, another celebrity-related, donut-related treat.

.@Jason_Priestley, we loved the idea of 'The Priestley' so much, we made a batch. A Timbit IN a donut? Genius. #HIMYM http://t.co/G0imeqhe

The Tim Hortons in Squamish, BC started offering the treat after the initial publicity. The program airs on City in Canada, even though it's an American show from CBS in the United States. Sadly, for now, the treat is only available at the Squamish Tim Hortons (just north of Vancouver, in case you live in northwest Washington and are hankering for an international food-dominated road trip).

If you have nearby access to a Tim Hortons, you could take a chocolate glaze Timbit (similar to Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins), scoop out some of the strawberry vanilla donut, and place the Timbit inside the strawberry vanilla donut.

After all, theoretically, Jason Priestley crammed a Timbit into a strawberry vanilla and invented an Internet culinary creation.

The old Reese's commercials had a person carrying chocolate get bumped by someone carrying peanut butter. The chocolate lands in the peanut butter, and while the people are initially upset, they soon discover that the two flavors go together well.

Many classic foods were late-night inspirations or accidents. Someone actually invented Buffalo wings. Someone else came up with the idea of French fries, cheese curds, and gravy to invent poutine (also Canadian).

We don't have to limit ourselves to the known food combinations in the universe. We can take inspiration from the food around us, and the celebrities around us, and make something new out of what is in front of us.

Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla — all inside one donut. The Priestley was born. Don't worry; you can come up with something all your own. And even if you aren't a cool Canadian celebrity, your food combination can be just as cool. You're only limited by your imagination.

Photo credit: Tim Hortons

Canadian food ads from 2013 NHL Center Ice free preview

Thanks to CanadianCrossing.com for its semi-annual look at Canadian ads during the NHL Center Ice free preview, we get a glimpse into some cool and crazy Canadian food ads.

The preview came about 3½ months late thanks to the NHL lockout (CanadianCrossing.com told us to say "Fire Gary Bettman").

Though there was only 12 days (instead of 25 days) for the 2013 NHL Center Ice free preview, there were some fun ads.

"Starting things off with Tim Horton's in its Welcome to Canada spot. During the promotion, you could get a 49¢ donut with purchase of a hot drink. Sounds like "Welcome to Canada" to me."

"We don't hear much from Molson in the United States. Can't remember the last time I saw Molson in a U.S. bar. But Molson lives in Canada. I enjoyed the Molson Canadian 67 ad for "Guyet," a diet as seen through the eyes of a guy in a beer commercial. He runs so he can eat juicy burgers with fried onion strings on top. Molson Canadian 67 is the company's lighter beer.

Boston Pizza has clever commercials though I've never eaten at one before. I love the pompous guy who does "finger cooking," going online to order food from Boston Pizza. The newest one was where a guy changes into a foodie.

The dish the guy is eating is pulled pork penne, though it looks like he's eating spaghetti. There is a significant difference between penne and spaghetti. An odd juxtaposition.

McDonald's had what seemed to be an innocent commercial about value that ends with a muffin and coffee special. The spot talks about searching for a bargain and then we see "Bridge to USA." This reflects the exodus of Canadian bargain hunters to cross into the United States thanks to the exchange rate and how much more expensive some items are in Canada.

A&W promoted its "Burger Buddies," an inexpensive burger with grilled onions. The customer keeps coming through the drive-thru to wonder why A&W was charging such a low price for such a burger."

KFC in Canada had two separate campaigns. The $4 meal featured chicken, fries, and a customer choice of popcorn chicken, a snacker, or a toasted wrap. The creepy stalker ad was the theme for an ad for KFC Favourites Bucket that featured chicken, popcorn chicken, and fries. Unlike the fries we see here in the States (thick wedges), these were shoestring fries. And they looked good.

The Rogers Sportsnet Pacific feed (Vancouver Canucks) had an ad for Triple O's White Spot fish burger. Most fast food fish sandwiches aren't that appetizing, but this one looked pretty good.

Biggest Loser notebook: Motivating teenagers

"They" say motivating teenagers is really difficult. Of course, motivating teenagers is easier when they want motivation and they're on a reality TV show.

Sunny has been the most difficult one to connect to on exercise. Jillian sets up a Bollywood dance class for her, being of Indian descent. While Jillian is doing something nice and culturally sensitive (something she hasn't always done — Native Americans and fry bread), Jillian wears a sweater with a huge cross on it. India isn't a Christian country by any stretch. Perhaps I am reading too much into that, but I can't be the only person who noticed the juxtaposition.

Sunny mentions her "healthy eating" as she cracks an egg on her "diary cam." Wish the show would spend 2 minutes on what that means. This isn't just about exercise; food is important, too.

Biingo wants to be a part of baseball, but has been hampered with the boot on his foot. When Biingo was playing with his club, he moved OK with the boot. The show spent time with Biingo being frustrated with the boot; David was on crutches and also had problems, but he stayed longer on the ranch than he should have.

Lindsay gets to work with the high school cheerleaders again to try and be an honorary cheerleader. When working out with the cheerleaders, Lindsay talked about her biggest cheerleading dream.

"It's the most dreams that I ever wanted since I was little was to get on top of that pyramid and give the world the biggest cheer and everyone would be roaring for me."

Lindsay could get into good enough shape to be a cheerleader, but the idea of her being at the top of the pyramid isn't very likely. This would be like putting the fastest person on the offensive line in football or the biggest person at wide receiver. Lindsay can be a cheerleader, but probably not on top of the pyramid.

As the teenagers rarely talk about food, Lindsay actually made a food joke. She was nervious working with the high school cheerleaders, but found working with them easier than she thought.

"It was just so easy, it was just like slicing a cake … or vegetables … that are streamed … because they're yummy."

Slicing a cake is a new phrase to my ears. But this also points out where Lindsay has been and where she is now.

If these kids went to "The Biggest Loser" to get individual help so they would lose weight, well, we can't see any progress. The teenagers may be helping other kids in person and on television, but at some point, we need to see progress on them, too.

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Last week, the teenagers didn't do much and the adults did even less. The episode wasn't about helping themselves but teaching them how to help others.

Bob encouraged Biingo to recruit more kids to his sports club. Biingo had 10 people but Bob wanted him to get more kids involved. Sunny got her classmates to run a circuit of exercises. Lindsay gave an anti-bullying seminar with help from Cody Simpson, a pop star with an Australian accent.

The three kids can get confidence from doing these steps, and that can certainly help. We know the show isn't tracking individual progress from the teenagers, but some of what happens on the show is clearly meant as a broader message. Still think this should be a separate show, even with a summer run.

Adults need confidence and support, too.

Temptation of the Week: Making your own soft drinks

If there was a product that I would have bought 10 years ago, but maybe not now, SodaStream would be that product.

Making my own soft drinks sounded like a magical experience back when I drank a lot of pop. Carrying 2-liter bottles is a drag, plus you have to drink it fast enough to not lose the fizz. And I could make smaller amounts, so I wouldn't have to worry about the 2-liter bottles in transit or taking up space in the refrigerator.

The problem then and now is that while you can make your own carbonated water, you need outside help to make your own soft drinks. When the product first came out, I read the label on the syrups: high-fructose corn syrup. Oh well, that wasn't going to work.

In anticipation of the Super Bowl ad, and since I ran across the product in a store, I read the label for the syrups. They were clear that the syrups contained no high-fructose corn syrup. This was a positive sign.

Unfortunately, the regular syrups I saw had sucralose and acesulfame potassium (ace K), both artificial sweeteners. That's right. The regular versions, not diet, contained diet sweeteners. If you don't like diet drinks because of the taste of diet sweeteners, why would you drink them in a regular soda?

So without viable syrups, and no way to purchase, let's say, the Dublin Dr. Pepper syrup, why would I buy a SodaStream?

I reached out to two friends who admitted that they had a SodaStream and asked them what they did for the syrups. Both of them said they use the device for carbonated water. Good for them; bad for me.

For those who drink coffee, you know the joys of adding more coffee to make the brew stronger or using less to make a weaker coffee. When I use the soup mix to make an onion dip, I use half of the yogurt to get a stronger taste.

My late father told the story of being a soda jerk as a teenager in Alabama at a time when you could set the syrup level where you wanted before you added the carbonated water. Wanted a stronger Coca-Cola or a Dr. Pepper, you could make that magic happen.

Soon after, the mixture of syrup and carbonated water was set by the manufacturer and you were stuck with that combination. At least back then, you got sugar in your regular soft drink. Now with more drinks coming in mixtures of sugar or high-fructose corn syrup along with artificial sweeteners, you have less control than ever before.

More than I've wanted a Dublin Dr. Pepper or a time machine is the ability to make my own strength controlled Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, 7UP, and root beer. Making that in a refillable bottle that isn't too big that I could do on my own — that is a fantasy. The good news is that SodaStream can make most of that dream come true. The bad news is that getting the syrup — the syrup I want — is virtually impossible.

Reduce sugar in baked goods by using less sugar with no artificial sweeteners

While I am relatively new to baking, I share a goal with many modern bakers: reducing the sugar in a baked good.

The common theme among bakers is to use half sugar and half Splenda to reduce the sugar. While that solution can solve the problem, I also wanted less sweetness in my baked goods.

So I wanted to reduce the sweetness and sugar without resorting to anything artificial.

Over the holidays, I set out to bake my first pumpkin pie ever. I took a basic recipe from a well-known manufacturer of canned pumpkin (not that I used their canned pumpkin).

The recipe called for ¾ cup of sugar and 12 oz. of evaporated milk as the sources of sugar in the recipe. I know that buying the can of evaporated milk is part of the baking process, but that feels like overkill, especially when milk and sugar are the ingredients and I already have milk in the house.

My plan was to use maple syrup to replace my sugar and use regular milk for the evaporated milk.

You can use ¾ of the maple syrup to replace 1 part sugar. So I should have used 9/16 of a cup of maple syrup. I decided to use ½ cup of maple syrup just to cut out that much more of the sweetness.

Using liquid for my sugar and a thinner liquid for my milk gave me too much liquid. So I had some leftover pie filling and the pie took 45 minutes more to bake. This was my first pumpkin pie after all, so perfection wasn't going to happen.

The pumpkin pie turned out surprisingly edible. Good even. Definitely not sweet, but didn't taste like pumpkin out of a can. Sweet enough for me, but my sweet tooth is diminished.

Things I would do next time

-- One of my Facebook friends suggested using a third egg to thicken the liquid. I did have one extra egg with me this time.
-- 12 oz. of thickened evaporated milk somehow doesn't equal 12 oz. of skim milk. It does, but it doesn't.
-- I should have gone with 9/16 cup of maple syrup. A little more sweetness would have been good. Reducing is great, but finding the right amount is better. And maybe I would have added a pinch more in lieu of the sugar in the evaporated milk.
-- Think about using maple sugar instead of maple syrup. Using less maple sugar than regular sugar would have given that maple taste without adding extra sweetness.

Reducing sugar doesn't mean having to sell yourself short. The less sugar you use in a recipe, the longer the sugar supply will last, whatever form of sugar you use in your recipes. And you don't have to buy Splenda or another artificial sweetener. This does require readjusting your taste buds to accept something that is sweet, but not that sweet. A treat that isn't as sweet is still a treat when you accept a little less sweet.