Teri's Lemon Cheesecake

A friend from work gave me this recipe for lemon cheesecake after she made it for a work party. It's been a few months since then but I finally made it myself for a party that we all went to last night and it turned out delicious. It wasn't as pretty as Teri's since the middle sank on my cheesecake whereas hers was flat on top. In any case, it isn't the looks that count. I hope Teri doesn't mind me sharing her recipe here but I've had a few requests for it and thought I'd let others enjoy this lemony cheesecake goodness. Of course, being me, I've changed it a little bit, using Vanilla Wafers instead of Barnum's Animal Crackers and not baking the cheesecake in a water bath because I don't have a roasting pan. I also didn't use a food processor to mix up the cookie crumb mixture since I don't have one of those either.

Crust:

6 ounces Nabisco's Barnum's Animal Crackers or Social Tea Biscuits (I used Vanilla Wafers)

3 Tbsp sugar

4 Tbsp melted butter

Crush cookies into crumbs (you should have about 1 cup). Add sugar and mix together. Add the warm melted butter until the mixture is evenly moistened. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch springform pan and press the crumbs firmly and evenly into the pan bottom. Keep the sides as clean as possible. Bake in a 325° oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant. Cool on wire rack to room temperature.

Filling:

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 Tbsp grated lemon zest

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream

In a small bowl, mix lemon zest with 1/4 cup sugar until the sugar is yellow and the zest is broken down. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Mix together with the cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Scrape down the bowl and add eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, and cream. Scrape the bowl again and mix one last time. Pour into cooled crust and bake at 325° for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let cheesecake sit inside for 30 minutes without opening the oven. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

Lemon Curd:

1 jar lemon curd (found in the jelly aisle)

When cheesecake is cool, spread the lemon curd onto the cheesecake while it is still in the springform pan. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. To serve, remove the side of the springform pan and cut the cake into wedges. Serves 12 to 16.

(Teri did have directions to make homemade lemon curd but said that the jar tastes just as good and isn't as much trouble.)

I would have included a photo but it is almost all gone.

Enjoy!

Yummy Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Every week a guest speaker comes into the 5th grade science classes to do a program called "Just Be It! Healthy and Fit." It is sponsored by the New Mexico State University College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences department and is funded through the US Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. According to the website I linked above, this program "reduces the risk factors for childhood obesity of 5th grade students located in the New Mexico Counties of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Los Alamos." The kids really like the program and are learning so much about how to live healthy lives and make good choices about food and exercise. I've learned a lot as well!

Each lesson ends with a healthy snack that the kids can prepare themselves. We've had different fruits, vegetables, pita pockets, dips, and trail mix. Today's special treat was a fruit smoothie. I really don't have smoothies very often so for me to be impressed with one says something about the recipe. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for sharing it here.  I have, after all, given the credit where due.

Just Be It! Fruit Smoothie

2 cups nonfat vanilla yogurt

2 cups fruit (we used 1 banana and 1 cup frozen fruit smoothie blend from the grocery store)

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup pineapple-mango juice

1 cup crushed ice

Put all the ingredients into a blender and turn it on for about 30 seconds.  Makes about 6 cups.

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Neat

"What is That Green Goop?!!!"

Well, it is a delicious creation made from an October 2000 Southern Living magazine recipe posted on myrecipes.com that was sent to me by my sister last week.  That "green goop" is called Cream of Cilantro Soup.  

My sister remembered that I had raved about a bowl of Cream of Cilantro Soup that I had over 14 years ago at a restaurant in Cozumel, Mexico.  When she saw the recipe on the website, she thought of me and sent it to me for me to try.

Now I'm not one to really go out of my way to make something new.  I tend to stick to my tried-and-true recipes and like the comfort of cooking what I already know how to cook. But this looked too good to pass up and so I wrote out the ingredients I'd need and went shopping.  (The last two times I tried something new was when I cooked my sister's "Black Bean Soup" and "Bleu Cheese Potato Salad" recipes--she's a good influence on me!).

I did do a couple of things differently when I made the soup yesterday:

1. Made a double batch
2. Used light cream cheese instead of fat-free cream cheese
3. Forgot to save some sour cream and cilantro sprigs for garnishing

Now was the soup as good as the one from Cozumel?  No.  But it was really good in its own right.  Cozumel's soup had a more subtle flavor and was not spicy.  The Southern Living recipe had a robust flavor and a "kick" to it because of the bit of ground red pepper and cumin.  So if you don't like a touch of spice, leave those out.  I think that the Cozumel recipe probably used real cream instead of cream cheese since it did not have the flavor of cream cheese in the background like the SL recipe.  Probably because they weren't trying to make a healthy version for the tourists!

So if you like cilantro, this is a recipe to try.  And a double batch probably wasn't necessary.  It made more than it looked like it was going to make.  But it will get eaten!