My Favorite Easy Cheesecake

I've got desserts on the mind. :-) And this is a good and easy one.

I found this recipe a couple months ago, and it's a keeper. I found a recipe that is basically the same here, but now, two months later, I can't find the exact recipe that I found before.

It's a crustless cheesecake, but I've also made a crust for it too... you know me, I have a hard time sticking to a recipe. I invented my own crust with some old tough crackers I made a long time ago. I used a big handful of dried figs* that I poured hot water over. After 30 minutes or so, I put them in the food processor to chop them up, then I mixed in the smashed crackers, and processed till it balled up. Then I spread it into a springform pan.

*These figs were old, we moved them probably 3x, from Albert Lea, to 2 places in Wannaska and down to MO! But there was nothing really wrong with them, so I was bound and determined to use them!

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Crustless Cheesecake

2  8 oz. pkgs of cream cheese (not fat free or red. fat)

2/3 c. sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Topping:

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

3 T. sugar

Beat first 4 ingredients till smooth and pour into a 9" greased pie pan. Bake for 22-25 min. in a 350 degree oven.
When done, turn off oven. Remove cheesecake and cool for 5 min. Spread the mixed topping ingredients on warm cheesecake and  return to oven for 5 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.
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We enjoy this with strawberry sauce.

My Favorite Vanilla Pudding

So it's the last day of February, and I thought I should make good on my promise earlier this month to post something that's been going on in my kitchen. This recipe isn't too complicated, and doesn't even require the soaking that is so common in many of my recipes, though it does use a smidge of whole wheat flour. I like it because it uses a lot of milk, and when I have milk that's starting to sour, I use that milk in this recipe.

This Vanilla Pudding recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks "Healthy Choices" put out by Keepers at Home. Sometimes I'll add an extra egg or two if there are extra to be had. If I have arrowroot powder, I will sub that for the cornstarch. It's another kind of thickener. Enjoy!



Vanilla Pudding

2 qt. milk
2 eggs
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. cornstarch
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla

Warm all but 2 cups milk in kettle. Put 2 cups milk and remaining ingredients into the blender. Blend and poru slowly into warmed milk, stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat and cool. Whole wheat flour will leave a speckled appearance, but it's delicious anyway.

Time marches on: December and January

And just like that... it's over two months since my last post! Good thing I'm not a professional blogger. ;-)

So there's been Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, New Year's, Epiphany, and now Pre-Lent. There has been 68 degree weather, as well as single digits. Snow, ice, rain and mud. We've visited Iowa for Christmas, had visits from "Iowa Grandparents", "Ohio Grandparents" and friends from Florida. We had to visit Iowa again most recently for a funeral for my maternal grandmother.

So I'm taking this last day of January 2013 to reflect and share some photos and randomness from the past two months with you, dear reader. (I noticed I'm not good at taking lots of photos...) Hopefully I can post some recipes and other household tidbits the month of Feb.

11-29-12, Enoch cheesin' it up for the camera.

12-1-12, Judah and Andrew racing their "cars".

Enoch loves to get into the butter, not so much to eat it, but to play in it. I think he's gotten into the butter on at least six different occasions! 12-12-12

We had a "How to Butcher a Sheep" class at our Home School held by the Daddy. ;-) 12-10-12

Grandpa Allan with two boys... sunlight made my pictures funky. 12-15-12

12-23-12, Sunday of the Sunday School Program... only Enoch is still wearing his outfit.

12-24-12, Enoch is 14 months old

Judah-5, Andrew-3 (digging for gold-heehee), and Enoch-1

Three boys in front of Christmas Tree. Hey, take-down was a breeze!

Christmas in Iowa on Christmas Day 2012, Above picture is with relatives from Indiana and my paternal grandparents

Here I am, in my usual place... in front of the stove. Here I  have a funny expression on my face while making eggs for breakfast. Behind me, you see my kitchen... and that's pretty much all the counter space I have. The little orange and blue sticky notes that hang on the inside of my cabinet doors are some often-used recipes that are mostly memorized anyway.

I didn't get any pictures of Grandma on my camera...

Grandma and Grandpa brought legos! 

An activity was building a gingerbread house from Home Depot

Family pic before Ohio grandparents left, Jan 11 

The Moldstads came to visit. 1-21-13

All the boys still really like legos.

Three boys in pajamas. 1-25-13 (Enoch is 15 months!) 

Just had to show more photos from this little photo session. Andrew didn't want to cooperate. Judah likes to have weird faces in pictures... I have several other photos with this same expression on his face. 

Rub a dub dub, three boys in a tub! 1-26-13

 Funeral was on 1-28-13, but I didn't take any photos... hoping to get some from others.

Went to Mankato after funeral and visited the cousins there. 

On the way home we stopped at a Bass Pro Store. We got to see the fish fed, play some shooting games, and found this cool little 4-wheeler. Maybe one of the grandparents wants to get it for them? ;-)

Oh and play a car driving game too. Andrew had to be the red car, because if you've ever seen the Disney movie "Cars", of course... Lightning McQueen is red.