Pumpkin Cheesecake (A little Lighter)

For Thanksgiving I wanted to make a dessert that wasn't so high in fat and calories.  I Google search light Thanksgiving meals and came across this Pumpkin Brulee Cheesecake on Food Network.  Their was VERY pretty and the did a brulee on top that I skipped (let's say because I wanted to and not that I didn't run out of time .. lol).

The cheesecake was moist and very yummy, I doubled it knowing I would take the left over to my friends house who was watching the boys while I was away in Boston.  So mine took a lot longer to cook and got a little more brown then I would have liked to.

Ingredients
8 sheets honey graham crackers
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
12 -ounces 1/3rd less fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup low-fat (2%) Greek style plain yogurt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 15 -ounce can pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions
Position the oven racks in center and lower third of your oven. Fill a roasting pan about half full of water and place on the lower rack. This will create a moist environment for the cheesecake and help prevent cracking. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Coat a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Put the graham crackers and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until fine. Add the butter and two tablespoons of water and pulse until moistened. Press into the bottom of the prepared springform pan. Bake until set and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Combine the cream cheese, brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar and salt in a large bowl. Beat, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth and fluffy. Add the yogurt, egg and egg whites, reduce the mixer speed to low, and continue to beat until blended. Add the pumpkin, flour, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat until just combined. Stir with a spatula a few times to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated and to release any air bubbles in the batter that could cause the cheesecake to crack.

Pour the batter over the crust and rap the pan against the countertop a few times to bring any trapped air bubbles to the surface. Place the cheesecake on the center rack in the oven. Bake until just set and the center wiggles slightly, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Turn the oven off and crack the door open. Let sit in the oven for 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Run a thin sharp knife between the cheesecake and then pan to release the sides. Cool completely and then chill until cold, at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Any treats planned to make?

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Sweets for the Sweets ... Rex the Dinosaur Cake

A signed up for a Dino Cake for Birthday Dreams (A charity that brings birthday's to homeless kids).  The cake was for a VERY sweet little 5 year old.  When I went to the shelter to deliver the cake, I walk up and I hear it's the cake lady.  This is one of my favorite shelters and usually do one cake a week for one of their residents. The little boy was so stinking cute and so happy with his cake.

He had requested a confetti cake and the theme was dinosaurs.  I started with making the cake.  I found a Fluffy Confetti Cake on the Food Network.

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pans
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for the pans
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

Directions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans; dust with flour, and tap out the excess.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Beat the butter, sugar and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla until combined.
4. Alternate folding the flour mixture and the milk into the batter with a spatula, adding the flour in three additions and the milk in two, starting and ending with the flour, until just smooth. Add the sprinkles, and fold 3 or 4 times until just blended to prevent the colors from bleeding too much. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
5. Bake the cakes on the same oven rack until golden on top and the centers spring back to the touch, 35 to 40 minutes. Rotate the pans about halfway through if they seem to be browning unevenly. Let cool in the pans about 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks and let cool completely.

After the cakes were cooled I started to carve out my dino!  It was super easy, 2 round cakes made this dinosaur.  I found a T-Rex Dino cake with template on Betty Crocker.  I fixed it up with a few of my own tricks.

All Boxed up and ready to be delivered

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker™ SuperMoist™ devil's food cake mix (Homemade Cake)

Cake Board

2 containers Betty Crocker™ Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting (or Homemade Frosting)

Betty Crocker™ gel food color (AmeriColor Green Color)

19 milk chocolate candy drops or pieces, unwrapped (Green Candy Clay)

Assorted round chocolate candies (candy-coated chocolate candies, miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits, coating wafers, chocolate chips)

Betty Crocker™ white decorating icing (from 4.25-oz tube) (White Candy Clay)

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray bottoms and sides of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with baking spray with flour. Make and bake cake mix as directed on box, using 1 cup water, the oil and eggs. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooking racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Refrigerate or freeze 30 to 60 minutes for easier handling.
• For body, cut 1-inch slice from edge of one cake. From cut edge, cut out small inverted U-shape piece. Place body on tray. From remaining cake, cut head and tail. Arrange head and tail pieces next to body.
• Spoon frosting into large bowl. Stir in enough food color until desired green color. Spread thin layer of frosting over cake pieces to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes to set frosting.
• Frost cake pieces with remaining frosting. Use milk chocolate candies for spikes along back of dinosaur. Decorate body with assorted candies. Use 2 candy-coated chocolate candies for eyes and white decorator icing to make centers of eyes and teeth. Store loosely covered.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used a homemade cake instead of the cake mix. I used some green Candy Clay (Very simple to make it's Candy Melts & Corn Syrup click link for recipe) I had on hand with a bunny cooker cutter, I used the ears to make the spikes for the dino.  I inserted a tooth pick into the spike and then into the cake. I used brown candy melts for the dots along with brown Reese's Pieces for the smaller circles and the toes.  I used white Candy Clay for the teeth.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you're looking for a GREAT charity please check out Birthday Dreams,

You can send them donations through Amazon if you would like!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Restaurant Impossible Visited ... Alexis Style

It's not often Rick and I agree on a TV program, but Restaurant Impossible is one of the shows we both enjoy!  Now you all know I love to cook, I wouldn't call myself a foodie but I do love to try new recipes and also restaurant.  Last week we watched Restaurant Impossible on the Food Network to find it was a restaurant here in Washington State.  Rick looked it up and found it was about 40 minutes from us.  He was so thoughtful and made a plan for us to go this Sunday when we both were off from work.

I was so excited to ONE go out and TWO visit a famous place!  Now we haven't gone out in many many months for dinner due to a very limited budget.  

The Waitress from the episode & me!

We went to Whiskey Creek Steak House in Keyport, Washington (close to Bremerton).  It was a very cute restaurant, they did a great make over and it was so cool to see what you saw on tv in real life.  It was really small, which on TV I never would have guessed that.  You could tell the 10 grand was not used on the bathrooms.  They were a little run down and I must say it scared me a little that a space heater was blowing on my rear while trying to pee :).  They had a great menu to choose from, we didn't order a steak but people around us did and from what I saw everyone ate every bite.  I believe there was only one cook in the kitchen so it took a little bit to get your food but really I didn't mind it was nice to hang with the family and talk to the staff. LOVED our waitress who was featured on the show and she made us laugh the whole visit.  The prices are a little expensive, we ordered 3 items (boys shared due to not feeling the best) so our bill came up to around $50 which in the previous months would be around 80% of my weekly food budget so it was nice to splurge!  Rick and I thought it was a great place and we actually are planning a date night when we can go back with out the kids, then Rick can order that steak he was drooling over!!

On our way home we decided to head over to Seattle to take the long way home.  That way we could take the ferry and let the kids run around and have a little fun!

Hope you all had an amazing weekend and a wonderful day!

Light Dish for us & Sweets for the Girls

Last night I made a yummy dish for the boys (their favorite Mexican) and then I had my women’s group at church and I wasn’t sure someone was signed up for snacks so I whipped up a little something.

I started a new board in Pinterest for my Weekly Meal Plan Menu.  I found this Crockpot Chicken Bake.  I was late getting my meal together so I baked the chicken in the oven, shredded it and then put the recipe together but then put it in the oven.

Then when I was getting the kids ready to go to church for my women’s group.  We haven’t meet with the holidays for a few weeks so I thought why not bring something since I didn’t think anyone was signed up for snacks.  So I was trying to find something healthy but then I entered what I had in the pantry and out popped a yummy but not healthy treat … lol!  I found Anne Burrell’s Oatmeal Cream Cheese Butterscotch Bars but I didn’t have the butterscotch chips like I thought so I threw in milk chocolate & white chocolate!

Tonight is Tuesday Dinner friends on our menu is Bubble Up Enchiladas.  What is our your menu for tonight?

Manic Monday Meals ~ A Few Thanksgiving Meals

Thanksgiving is done, do I look stressed??? hehe it was fun I got up early and cooked my little heart out overall good comments and everyone seemed to enjoy the different parts. Always some drama but I promise to go into that later. Today I picked a few of my recipes I tried to share, tomorrow I share the others didn't want to over load you. Now some are thinking but thanksgiving is over, but believe me you can make these anytime! Enjoy!!!

Thanksgiving ala Alexis AKA MOM!

Ingredients

• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 2 apples, cored and halved
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2/3 (750 milliliter) bottle champagne

• Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Rinse turkey, and pat dry. Gently loosen turkey breast skin, and insert pieces of butter between the skin and breast. Place apples inside the turkey's cavity. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Place turkey in a roasting bag, and pour champagne over the inside and outside of the bird. Close bag, and place turkey in a roasting pan.
  3. Bake turkey 3 to 3 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, or until the internal temperature is 180 degrees F (85 degrees C) when measured in the meatiest part of the thigh. Remove turkey from bag, and let stand for at least 20 minutes before carving.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used sparkling cider, 3 apples and margarine. This was the moistest (I know it's not a word) turkey I've EVER had. It had a GREAT apple taste and it was a hit with everyone at the table!

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Every year I try out a new stuffing mix (yes it drives everyone nuts). I just love to try new things, something about having a new recipe to keep things fresh :).

Ingredients

• 16-ounce bag stuffing cubes
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan and topping
• 1 pound fresh sage sausage, casing removed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cooking apples, such as Gravenstein, Rome, or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 to 2 ribs celery with leaves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces, toasted (See Note)
• 2 eggs, beaten

• Directions

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

  Put the stuffing cubes in a large bowl and set aside. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish.

  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and break up with a wooden spoon. Cook until it loses most of its pink color, but not so much that it's dry, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage and pan drippings to the stuffing cubes. Melt the remaining butter in the pan. Add the onion, apple, celery, and salt. Cook until the vegetables get soft, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and parsley and bring to a boil.

  Pour the vegetable mixture over the stuffing cubes and toss until evenly moistened. Mix in the walnuts and eggs. Loosely pack thedressing in the prepared pan and cook uncovered until the top forms a crust, about 40 minutes. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of turkeypan drippings or melted butter over the top. Cook until the top iscrisp and golden, about 20 minutes more. Set immediately or warm.

ALEXIS NOTES: I think I would scale this down a bit the bag I bought was 12oz I think that would be enough. I used Jimmy Dean sausage they were out of the sage flavor. So when I cooked up the sausage I just added some sage. I toasted the walnuts in the microwave all the burners were busy on the stove :).

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Third on my list is always do a Mac & Cheese but you know me not the same old one :).

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter, for greasing
• 8 ounces macaroni
• 2 1/2 cups cold milk
• 4 ounces provolone cheese, coarsely grated
• 4 ounces aged Asiago cheese, coarsely grated
• 2 large eggs
• 2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
• 3 slices white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces
• 3 strips bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 2-quart shallowcasserole dish. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the macaroni until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain; transfer the pasta to the prepared casserole dish along with 1/4 cup of the cold milk. (This will cool the pasta and prevent it from becoming gummy.)

Meanwhile, mix the cheeses together in a small bowl. Beat the eggs with 1/4 cup of the milk in a medium bowl. Add the scallions, bread and half of the cheese to the egg mixture; set aside.

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels to drain. Discard all but 2 tablespoonsdrippings from the pan. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring, until just brown, about 4 minutes. Stir in the flour, cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon salt; cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add the remaining 1 3/4 cups milk and 3/4 cup water to the skillet. Bring to a boil, whisking until thick. Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk to cool slightly. Whisk in the remaining cheese. Add the sauce to the macaroni; stir to combine.

Crumble up the bacon and add it to the egg/bread mixture. Spread evenly over the pasta. Place the casserole dish on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven; let sit 5 minutes before serving.

ALEXIS NOTES: I of course used turkey bacon the big hit in the house. I just cubed up some wheat bread (we never have white here). I did double this recipe which left me with way too many left overs. I also used whole wheat pasta from the bulk section. I found Asiago in a shredded package, the provolone was in a mix with mozzarella but it was great.

Manic Monday Meals ~ Chili Topped Cornbread Bites

Well Good Monday morning everyone :). It has been one heck of a weekend I don't think we even had a moment to breath. We got home late from tricker treating so it's a quick meal for my Monday post. Comments have been down so hopefully I'm not boring you with my recipes and family stuff. Let me know if you would like to see something changed.

Today I went to a Food Network Fav Sandra Lee for a quick recipe. As you all know my love of chili and then you add in corn bread I'm all over it!!

Ingredients

For Chili:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For Corn Muffins:

• Cooking spray
• 2 1/2 cups Baking Mix, recipe follows
• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon salt

ALEXIS NOTES: I used white corn meal since it's what I had on hand (this of course made Rick say that's not corn bread), OK don't fall off your chair I no LONGER by bisquick :) so I made up my own (flour, baking powder, salt, butter) and I used sugar substitute.

Have a wonderful day my friends, I want to thank you all for your time and stopping by it means the world to me! Much love =D.