Marbled Lemon Cheesecake

YUM! Went home this weekend for Dad's 51st birthday. It was so nice to have the whole family together to celebrate. Corey came home from Canada on Sunday and we all went to get crepes for brunch. Then, Mom, Corey, Maddy and I went out shopping, picked up a hand-cranking pasta machine, and swung by the grocery store. For dinner, we made steak with marsala sauce, homemade whole wheat pasta with alfredo sauce, the broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken, and some veggies. For dessert, this glorious lemon marble cheesecake I found on pinterest. I normally don't like lemon desserts, but this was the perfect amount of tart mixed with cream cheese. The crust was amazing!

Recipe from Foodess:

Lemon curd is very simple to make – lemon zest and juice whisked with sugar and egg yolks over low heat till thickened. That’s all. It has the consistency of custard when it’s done. It should coat the back of a spoon, and you should be able to make a trail with your finger. If the trail immediately fills back in, it’s not ready yet.

Anything thickened with eggs may curdle if cooked over too high heat, or if cooked too long. And I find people generally don’t enjoy scrambled eggs in their lemon curd. Thankfully, all you need is a fine mesh seive to rescue a curdled curd. Just force the it through the seive with a wooden spoon, and you’ll have a smooth custard.

This recipe uses whole eggs instead of just the yolks. I was skeptical. I hesitated. I almost used another recipe. But it was perfect!

Start by making the lemon curd so that it has time to chill in the fridge while you bake the crust and make the cheesecake batter. I believe cooling the curd completely had an important part in keeping the curd distinct in the finished cheesecake.

It took an outstanding amount of willpower to not eat this by the spoonful before it was baked.

Marbled Lemon Cheesecake

Adapted from epicurious.com

For lemon curd:

•               1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

•               1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

•               1/2 cup sugar

•               3 large eggs

•               1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

For crust:

•               1 1/3 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs

•               1/3 cup sugar

•               1/8 teaspoon salt

•               5 tablespoons melted butter

For filling:

•               3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened

•               1 cup sugar

•               3 large eggs

•               3/4 cup sour cream

•               1 teaspoon vanilla

To make Lemon Curd:

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together lemon zest, juice, and eggs. Stir in butter and cook, stirring constantly, until curd thickens, about 5 minutes. Strain through fine mesh sieve and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until completely cooled.

To make crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter. Press into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes; cool on wire rack.

To make cheesecake:

1. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.

2. Pour two-thirds of the cheesecake batter into the crust, and top with half of the lemon curd. Swirl gently with a knife. Top with remaining cheesecake batter and lemon curd, and repeat swirling. Bake in centre of oven for 45-55 minutes, until set (centre may still jiggle a bit, it will firm up). Cool completely before serving.

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Our very first "fall into health" meal was broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken. It turned out wonderfully! The rolled chicken stayed moist and the breadcrumbs made it nice and crispy on the outside. We paired the chicken with frozen Alexia sweet potato fries (our favorite side these days). What a great way to start kick it off!

Here is the recipe for the chicken (from skinny taste.com - http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/04/broccoli-and-cheese-stuffed-chicken.html)


Chicken Stuffed with Broccoli and Swiss Cheese
Calories: 142 • Fat: 4.9 • Carbs: 4.8 • Protein: 19.4 
(Serving Size: 1 piece)



Ingredients: 

• 3 (24 oz total) large chicken breast halves
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp water
• 3/4 cup whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 cups broccoli floret, cooked, chopped small
• 5 slices reduced fat Swiss cheese 
• salt
• spray oil
• toothpicks

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, combine egg, water and a little salt. Beat with a fork to make an egg wash. Set aside. Fill a second bowl with breadcrumbs.

Slice chicken breast halves into thin cutlets. I usually get 3 thin cutlets out of one breast half. Pound them to make them thinner if you wish. This helps when you wrap the cutlets.


Cut each slice of cheese in half. Place a 1/2 slice cheese in the center of the chicken and top with a little broccoli. Wrap chicken around to completely cover cheese, using toothpicks to secure. Season with a little salt.


Dip chicken into egg wash, then breadcrumbs. Spray cookie sheet with oil and place chicken on cookie sheet. Lightly spray chicken with oil and bake about 25 minutes, until cooked.

Recipes

In an attempt to live a healthier life, Cassie and I are embarking on an eat-for-health dinner diet that includes natural, healthy ingredients and minimal fast food/take out. So anyway, here goes a list of our recipes, what worked, and what didn't.

stuffed zucchini

this is, by far, one of my favorite meals. the recipe is from one of my childhood friend's mom - deb tucker. my friend katie had her mom make this for her birthday one summer long ago, and ever since then, i can't make the meal without thinking of her!

Ingredients:

• 4 zucchini
• 1 lb sausage
• ¼ c. diced onions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 c. breadcrumbs
• ¼ c. parmesan
• ½ c. shredded mozzarella

Instructions:

1. Cook zucchini in boiling water (enough water to cover the zucchinis) for 10 minutes. Drain. Let cool to touch.
2. Cut zucchinis lengthwise and pit – leave ¼ inch crusts. Place shells in a 9x13’ pan.
3. Mush pulp and set aside.
4. Brown sausage, onion, and garlic until brown. Drain.
5. Combine sausage mix with breadcrumbs and parmesan.
6. Spoon mixture into shells.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min.
8. Remove and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Put back in oven and bake for 5 minutes.

green smoothie... mmm? eh....

i've heard about these green smoothies - packed with nutrients and veggies, etc. - but i've never actually tried one. so the other day on the Today show they were talking about this specific recipe, and i figured i'd give it a shot. it wasn't the best thing i've ever had, but despite the look of it, it also wasn't the worst thing i've ever tasted. the texture was a little weird since i used a blender (i think a food processor would work better)... i had to chew little pieces of it after taking each sip. also, i'd leave out cilantro next time (after all, it is the rudest spice.)

for those of you feeling adventurous, here is the recipe:

Green Smoothie Recipe:

1 1/2 cup of water
1 head of organic romaine lettuce, chopped
3-4 stalks of organic celery
1 organic apple, cored and chopped
1 organic pear, cored and chopped
1/3 bunch of organic cilantro
1/3 bunch of organic parsley
Juice of ½ fresh organic lemon

Combine the water and chopped head of romaine into your blender. Starting the blender on a low speed, mix until smooth. Gradually moving to higher speeds, add the herbs, celery, apple and pear. Add lemon juice last. Serve chilled or at room temperature. This recipe makes about four servings.

pesto chicken pizza

Throughout last semester, my friends up in Dallas and I attempted to make pizza on several occasions, always lacking one key ingredient (think: yeast, flour, etc.), so our previous batches have been a little less than successful. We've battled dense, cake-like dough and tough, "unspreadable" dough, but tonight I finally used a recipe that ended deliciously! The original recipe can be for the crust can be found here. What follows is my latest kitchen adventure with my sister Madison:

I started with the crust. Here are the ingredients we used:

• 1/3 cup warm water (I just turned the faucet all the way hot...)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 1 & ¼ cups whole-wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (separated)
• ¼ cup soy flour (protein!)
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds (fiber and omega 3s!)
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 tbsp cornmeal
• Non-stick cooking spray

1. In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, honey and hot water. Let this sit for ten minutes while you mix the flours. (The yeast will froth up as it sits.)
2. Mix ground flax seeds, 1 cup of the whole-wheat flour, soy flour and salt.
3. Add the flour mixture to the water mixture and mix by spoon until dough balls start to form. Then use hands to incorporate all the flour and form into a ball. (at this point you may have to add more water)
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface using the remaining ¼ cup of flour. You may need it all, you may not... just keep adding it while kneading if the dough is too sticky.
5. Knead for about 1-2 minutes.
6. Place the ball of dough in a bowl and cover the bowl with a towel. Place the bowl of dough and a cup of hot tap water in the microwave (don't turn on the microwave, it’s just a good, warm place to let the dough rise). Let rise 20-30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
8. Spay a cookie sheet or pizza pan with non-stick cooking spray and dust with cornmeal. (I used a stone pan).
9. Once dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll dough out thin.
10. Place the crust on your pizza pan.
11. Top with sauce (we used Classico Tomato & Basil - delish!) and toppings (For cheese, we used a mixture of low-fat mozzarella cheese and parmesan. We also cooked some small pieces of chicken in a pan with some olive oil, S&P and then stirred it in some homemade pesto - using the basil from my herb garden!!) and bake on the lowest rack in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

The best part about this pizza is that it is healthy! The soy protein and flax seed make this pizza a little less guilt-ridden. Without the toppings, 1/4 of the pizza (2 slices) has: 195 calories, 4g of fat and 6g of fiber. Not bad for pizza that actually tastes great! :)

this one's for all those girls about 25

seriously? it's already april. the last entry is from january... it's so hard to believe. i thought that last semester went by really quickly, but i don't know where this semester has gone. it seems like snowpocalypse was just here. but here we are, two weeks away from summer break. either way, though, these past few months have been both challenging and enlightening. it's weird when time sneaks up on you and you realize you're actually becoming an adult. most people would argue that 23 is an adult... i don't know about that one, though. haha, i know some 50 year olds who aren't even adults, so i'll refrain from classifying myself as such for now. i feel like it just hit me in the face today.

as random as it was, i was watching Entertainment Tonight, which is quite possibly one of my least favorite shows... but they were interviewing vin diesel and someone else about the most recent fast and the furious movie and then doing a flashback to the first time interview either of them had around the time of fast and the furious 1 - it was 10 years ago. i started thinking, "where was i ten years ago?" well... i was 13. in junior high. wearing pea-green corduroy overalls (no regrets, right?) forgetting it was wedgie wednesday.... and now i'm here: grad school in a big city i've come to love. a year away from the real world. engaging in meaningful community with inspiring friends. my corduroy overalls have been swapped for black chino pants and blouses for professional fridays...

i was also listening to the radio this morning in the car and martina mcbride's "this one for the girls" came on. the cheesy, yet poignant

This is for all you girls about twenty-five
In a little apartment, just trying to get by
Living on, on dreams and spaghetti-o's
Wondering where you life is gonna go

so maybe that's what set me off today? back when i was clad in the pea-green overalls, i always imagined future self to be quite different. i thought i'd be settled down, living in a house with kids. i'm sure i heard the martina mcbride song years back and thought, "25?! still wondering where my life is gonna go? not me." but now, at 23, i have my whole life ahead of me. it's so interesting to realize i am that "about twenty-five" girl, really living on dreams (i have so many, after all). i'm wondering where my life is going to go... but not in a "oh crap, my life isn't going anywhere, whatever will i amount to" kind of way. no. more in a "how am i going to pick just ONE exciting direction to go toward."

so, in the last few months, i've gone through a lot. a lot of crap. a lot of good stuff, too. anyone close to me know a lot of exciting things have been happening and i have a lot to be thankful for. i've done a lot of thinking and praying... and i've reached some sort of peace about the future. and, i guess you could say, the present. i, no doubt, waver in my faith on all of this, but overall, i'm happy. and that's exciting to say. i'm happy, i'm hopeful, and i get so pumped thinking about the possibilities for my life.

i've learned a lot about people. i've learned a lot about myself. i've learned a lot about who God is and what he does. i have a lot more to learn. but i can't wait.