New York Cheesecake

Turtle Cheesecake

Desserts… Oh I love to make them.. You would think by looking at me I love to eat them too but no.. I might take a piece  of cake to see if it turned out the way I wanted or eat a cookie out of the six dozen I make but my true joy is watching other people scarf it down. (and for them to get fat muuuhhaaaaa) I shy away from decorated cakes unless it is for my kids, nephews or nieces birthday because really I can’t conquer that piping thingamajig that just over all baffles me.. I would love too and one day I will take a class on cake decorating but for now I just stick with drizzling chocolate over a bunt cake..  or sticking army men in a battle scene on top of a sheet cake.

 To me looks is nice but taste and texture is so much more important…. A chocolate cake needs to be dense and moist. An angel food cake needs to be light yet full of flavor and not leave that bitter after taste that so many of those packaged and store bought cakes leave. A cheesecake needs to be light, smooth and creamy and leave you wanting more… The latter is my favorite cake to make, with only five ingredients you can have a elegant cake that can be covered in fresh fruit or merely eaten plain.

 And they look pretty too!

I’m throwing a baby shower this week and even though it isn’t the norm to have cheesecakes for the dessert I knew I was going to be pressed for time and cheesecakes is the perfect dessert. I usually like to wait at least 48 hours after I make them to serve and this way I can do them a day or two ahead of time and still have time to get behind on all the other stuff. No Knead Bread is another make-ahead recipe that I love for times like this.

I make mine with a shortbread crust...

I forgotten to take the pictures of making of the crust so this is after I have made the dough (recipe follows) greased the pans and patted my crust into them.

                          Prick holes on the bottom of your crust with a fork...
                 

 Bake at 425 for 15 mins..

                                                             Tada!!

                Here we have our cream cheese, sugar, eggs, flour and whipping cream.  

In a large mixing bowl have your cream cheese, flour  and sugar  (remove child)

Mix well on low speed.. Cheesecakes crack when there is too much air whipped into them.. they also crack when they are cooked at high temps too, or if you don’t grease your pans, cooled down to fast, the wind is blowing from the west or if you sneeze when you first wake up in the morning.. but the beauty of cheese cake is you can cover it with anything and it tastes the same with cracks and with out them…  

Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add five eggs one at a time scraping down the bowl after each egg..

Add two egg yolks.. mix well

Add ½ cup of heavy whipping cream ( if you don’t have whipping cream half & half works just as good but I had some to make buttermilk with)

Pour into pan and bake at 425 for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 200 and cook for 1 hour.

The middle of the cheesecake will be jiggling ( like my thighs) once your hour is up but just turn the oven off and leave the cheese cake in with the door cracked for anouther hour.. since I have little fingers that stick into everything I leave mine in with the door closed until I remember it several hours later and then finally wrap it up and put it in the fridge..

Cheesecake with Raspberry sauce

                 

Print Recipe

Recipe:  

Shortbread crust:

1 1/4 Cups All-purpose Flour

1/3 Cup White Sugar

1 Stick Of Butter

1 Egg Yolk

Directions:



Combine 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar and one stick of butter in food processor. mix till small crumbs form. Add egg yolk and mix until you can form the dough into a ball. I like to pick up my processor and tilt in back and forth to throughly mix.. if one egg yolks doesn't work ( and it never for me because I am a sloby messurer) add one more. Spread to the edges of the pan. Prick all over with a fork, then bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.



Cheesecake:

2 1/2 Pounds Cream Cheese, Softened

1 3/4 Cups White Sugar

3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour

5 Eggs

2 Egg Yolks

1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions:

 In a large bowl, Beat cream cheese, until smooth add 1 3/4 cups sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, then one at a time add 5 eggs and the yolks and mix thoroughly. Stir in the cream and mix only enough to blend.

Pour filling over crust and bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce temperature to 200 degrees F. and continue to bake for one hour. Turn oven off, but leave cake in for another hour

Butter

Butter… luscious sweet creamy butter…

Butter on baked potatoes, butter on fresh baked bread, butter smothering green beans, pea’s, corn, brussels sprouts…

Butter…  elixir of the gods…..

Hindu gods….

Sometimes I feel like Gollum… and I guess in a way I am.. where some women get all giddy and swoon over jewelry I do that with butter… as I stack it in the fridge I find myself petting it and whispering my preeeeciousssssssss then quickly look up to find one of my kids wondering if I finally cracked… but really.. butter is a magical thing..  with I know I can make everything more tasteful, fattening and fluffy… Like ME!! Only I am not tasteful… not in the slightest .

Ask Zoe’s doll.

I look in the fridge and count the sticks..

“If I make cookies I will have 8 left, for tomorrows dinner I need one.. so this means I could make those cakes and put in the freezer… freezer.. oh! LOOK! I have three lbs in there!”  then I am happy.. I set off to bake for the day knowing that I have enough to last me..

I sound like a addict.. wow..

But lets look at butter.. and it’s alternative evil margarine.

 Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.  the difference between margarine and butter?  Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter,   Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods... Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.  And now, for Margarine...  
Very high in trans fatty acids.
Triple risk of coronary heart disease 
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) and increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.
Lowers quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.
And here's the most disturbing fact....
Margarine is but one molecule away from being plastic.   This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated.

That pretty much means anything that is processed in my book. Chips, breads, prepackaged foods… I think it is easier to list the things that don’t have hydrogenated oils in them……

I wonder what those researchers thought when the turkeys died…  Lets feed it to PEOPLE!! And what did we do? Scarf it up like a bunch of pigs..

Oh no that is offensive.. I think even the pigs would know not to eat it.

"Not till your old enough..."

One Christmas not too long ago.. I decided my son was old enough to get his very own dagger… he had a friend at the time who collected them so I thought.. well… a boy should have a knife..  Mr. Safety would be careful right??  It wasn’t a month after Christmas that it was taken away to never return…  somehow he was laying in bed with the dagger dangling over his face and he lost his grip…all that happened was a  small cut centimeters from his eye.. but what if it stabbed him in the eye? What if what if what if… I am pretty sure that was what my parents thought.. I was not even allowed to use a butter knife… I must have been at least 5 or 6 and I remember grabbing Papa’s butter knife to butter my toast.. “BE CAREFULL!” oh pfffffttt I thought.. it isn’t sharp! I think it was while I was hiding from doing the chores I grabbed one wondering what the big deal is. They couldn’t cut my skin? Could they? I am pretty sure my Mama would have had a fit if she walked in the kitchen at that time to see me sawing on my arm with a butter knife to see if it would cut me or not…

It did..

I had to hide it.. wasn’t a gaping wound but it did smart pretty bad..

Shoot… they were right.

But somehow when I was finally old enough in their eyes to use knifes I was as dumb as a box of rocks with them. I can count on my left hand at least five scars that I got from using them. Did it help me to wait till I was older? Not sure. Did I think they were over reacting and stupid? Of course.

Yet I was allowed to do other things that I should have been watched more closely.

Did they realized the dangers of burning trash? No... Did I burn myself countless times playing with melting milk jugs? Yes.. Did I try and see how long I could hold onto burning bags? Umm … Was I an idiot?

Don’t answer that!

Having kids of my own now really makes me rethink how my parents did.. all the things we were never allowed to do as a kid. I find myself doing the same thing. As we send our kids off into the world (back yard) we question ourselves.. “ have we convinced them of the dangers out there? Are they going to listen? Did we teach them well enough to use that knife/hatchet/saw/machete? Well them come back inside with all their limbs?”

Usually we get our answer before they are completely out of the yard.. the arm holding the said weapon goes swinging with the said weapon coming to inches to the sibling closest to them..  either that said sibling will ignore it or come inside complaining of almost losing a eye/ear/toe/nose/upper body.

Do we let them figure it out for them selves? I think so…

They should also have a discount at the hospitals for ppl like us..

Art....

I look at my two daughters and I see so much of my OLDer sister and I in them.. Layla the obnoxious screeching blabber mouth ( me ) Zoe the Wise old owl always doing something productive and responsible..(Jessica)
Who can I count on to help clean up the right way? Zoe..
Who is always out playing in the yard or shirking her duties? Layla..  
To many times do I see Zoe sitting in the corner somewhere with her nose in a book or doing something creative, sewing, knitting, or drawing. Layla is either tying up the sheets together so she can swing off the back roof or making a ramp to shove Gabriel off of.

Growing up Jessica was always the artistic one.. sewing her own clothes, weaving.. spinning.. tatting..  I never minded until we went to some crap show and everyone was oooing and ahhhing over Jessica’s art and then they would turn to me and go.. “ oh! What do YOU do?”  I would just stare at them blankly  and say something along the lines that I was working on perfecting the art of burping the ABC’s…. or show them the Owls I made out of pinecones ( to this day I can never look at wood glue pinecones and paint together without hyperventilating  )
 My point ( and I am becoming my Mama here making a short story long) is I can’t show Zoe how to sew.. I pass by the sewing machine and I start getting cold sweats.. but this little girl taught herself still.. creating a masterpiece.. for..um.. yeah.. um well.. read on..



 I’ve probably read too many Dean Koonz  about creepy little things but I couldn’t help but get this image in my head when I first laid eyes on this doll…
It’s big unblinking eyes ( it would be even worse if they did blink but man, they look like they could see in the dark or something )

 the sadistic mouth.. those beads look like teeth.. I could just see that thing gnawing through walls....

it’s little legs.. all that went through my mind the first time I seen it was.. this thing better not come alive and start walking across the floor.. jerky little movements as it goes for my fleshy cankles ..

Now mind you.. if I made a doll it wouldn’t look near as good as this.. and don’t take this the wrong way.. I love Zoe.. and I love all her creations.. but this one?

At least it is to short to reach the bed.

Adventures in homeschooling

I've been homeschooling now for 6 years..  Each and every year I question weather or not I am qualified enough to do this.. And each and every year I come to the same conclusion..

 No.

But I strongly believe that public schools are not right for my family so I plug on creating a wake in my path trying to do the right thing.. It is probably the hardest thing I have ever done.. Only because I do it day after day.. Week after week.. Month after month, celebrating with more gusto than my kids when school is over.. Because then I no longer have... deadlines, tests, or test scores to dread.. That was until now..

We had always been a charter school "homeschooler" I was never labeled the teacher and that often baffled me since I was the one teaching the children.. their "teachers" lived a 100 miles away and only scored their tests that I gave to my children, scrounged for a envelope, screeched like a cow (do cows screech?) when I found that the stamps that cost me a arm and a leg was used as stickers  to remember to mail this test... Jumping from one to another trying to find the curriculum that I could easily teach my children and that they could learn.. and retain it.. that was the main problem.. retaining all the information I was cramming down their throats so their test scores would be good..

Never worked..

Last year I thought I finally found the perfect Charter school.. I was able to order what material I wanted.. WOW! that sounds perfect! the only problem was ( the start of many)I never ordered my own.. it was always done for me and I had no clue where to start.. Luckily my sister gave me some pointers and I got mostly what I needed..  I was sold a load of ..something..  they promoted unschooling but I don't even think they had a clue what that is.. week after week there was something I wasn't doing right or fast enough.. I marked on my calendar the dreaded portfolio due dates knowing that I wasn't going to perform according to this Wardens expectations.. the kids where stressed.. I was stressed.. my husband was sick and tired of hearing me stressed..

 So we quit.. That first week was like being let out of jail.. there was actually sun shinning.. the portfolio due date came and went and I was joyous knowing I didn't have to dread opening up my emails to read how I was a lousy parent and was letting my children down...
I do enough of that on my own thank you very much I don't need it from anyone else.

So here we are.. going where many have gone before.. Venturing out into this land of no due dates or test scores... actually being called the teacher of my children..  getting more done and retained then we ever did.. it is amazing what a simple "Go jump in a lake we don't want you anymore" can do..

Here is a link I found when I should have been helping the kids.. but you know it is often more fun to look for school books than it is to make your kids read them..

Why I found this helpful:

I believe it is WAY better than Ebay and most of the sellers have the postage already in the price so you know what your paying for.

And this .. for those busy weeks when you know you wont have time.

Why I found this helpful:

To many times do I find myself elbow deep in dishes, bread dough, or helping someone figure out what a preposition is, and one of the other kids who knows how to push my buttons comes up with a " I am a abused child who has to do their schoolwork" look on their face asking what do they do now? a simple 'do science, history or read a book'doesn't do the trick because they are already brain dead from adding 2+2=5 so the conversation goes something like this.. Me "Do some science" little ingrate pushing my buttons (lipmb) "What? where is my science book?" Me.. already tired and the 4th cup of coffee wore off several hours ago but the side affects are still there clinches teeth and snarls " I don't knooooowwww fffffffiiiiiinnnnddd IT!!" Lipmb " why are you yelling at me!" switching the abused child who has to do schoolwork to the abused child who did nothing to cause their mother to have anger "WHATEVER!! JUST GO OUTSIDE!!!! Lipmpb "waaaaaaaaaa.. your so mean waaaaaaaaa" doors slam and they escape once again and I end up not enforcing doing science/history.......  Again.

Women of today

I recently ran across a artical that made my blood boil... anger inducing reading... This is the line that made sent me into the tizzy... I don't remember much after paragraph this because I was already on a ranting roll...

"There is no level-headed reason why a woman should have to abandon her family’s last name in order to prove her fidelity and allegiance to her man. None whatsoever. The concept is as archaic and patriarchal as, oh I don’t know, forgoing your dreams to be an apron-sporting housewife a la June Cleaver or pretending to be an airhead to appease your guy’s fragile ego. Puh-lease."

Oh do tell me.. what is wrong with this again?? Why is it such a shame to think of someone besides yourself? Where did it become a horrible thing for women to stay home and be a mother and a wife and do things like cook, clean, dishes, laundry and wear a apron? Are Mothers now days raising a bunch of selfish career driven man hating women?  as I quote the above airhead who puts herself first in her marriage.. PUL-LEASE!!

Most women now days think that staying at home is a chore.. and they have no problem what so ever to make it clear to us stay at home mama's that our lives are over since we no longer get to jet off to the latest movie,shopping experience or a trip 500 miles away to buy more shoes and clothes..
 Well let me make it clear what THEY are missing..

 #1)     Not having to spend hundreds of dollars on clothes that will be out of fashion in a week..

 We stay at home moms get to lounge around in sloppy clothes that don't bind us and *gasp* are actually comfortable! 

 #2) Able to throw our hair back in a bun or a pony tail (if we remember to brush it at all) and forgoing the expensive solon treatments every 6 weeks so our roots don't show..

#3) Knowing that there is a man there for you.. to hold you and let you know that everything will be just fine!

#4).... it was supposed to be about your kids but I just got done spending several hours homeschooling and right now I can't think of anything positive about that.. give me a few mins...

Nope.. still nothing.

 
Over all being a wife and a mother is a hard job.. it isn't for the weak..  you give yourself to a husband that often forgets how much you do for them.. you give more than you got to your children who take and take... but we're women right? we can do anything??
Yeah.. ok.. This is the only anything I ever want to do.