Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Here is the recipe for the cheesecake pictured in my previous post! It comes from this book, and yes, I drove all the way to the library to look it up since I couldn't remember the name!

Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

1/3 cup crushed chocolate wafers (about 7) I used Oreos without the filling
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 8-ounce package light cream cheese (Neufchatel)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup egg product or 2 eggs
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Sprinkle wafer crumbs evenly in the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Place cottage cheese in a food processor or blender, cover and blend until smooth. Add cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Blend until combined. (Mixture will be thick; scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary.)

Transfer cheese mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in the eggs or egg product. Pour half of the mixture into the crumb-lined pan. In a small bowl, dissolve cocoa powder in the water. Stir chocolate mixture into the remaining cheese mixture. Carefully pour the chocolate mixture over the plain mixture in the pan.*

Bake in 300 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes to be sure the cheesecake doesn't crack. Loosen the side of the pan. Cool 30 minute more; remove side of pan. Cool completely. Cover and chill several hours or overnight. If desired, decorate the top of the cheesecake with fanned strawberry halves or raspberries.

Makes 12 servings.

*Note: If desired, instead of dividing batter, dissolve cocoa in water and add the cheese mixture along with eggs or egg product. This will give a light-colored chocolate cheesecake.

According to the book, per serving, this cheesecake has 7 grams of fat, and 151 calories. it also has 6 grams of protein, so I thought it was a pretty good dessert option for me.

My springform pan was much bigger than the recipe called for, maybe 10 inches instead of the required 8-inch pan. I am way too cheap to run out and buy another pan, so I used what I had, even though the cookie crumbs didn't completely cover the bottom. Consequently, I ended up with a cheesecake pancake, but it tasted great!

Let me know what you guys think of this (after you make it!) I have never made cheesecake before, but am an expert at eating it. Just ask my bathroom scale! This one isn't as dense as say a real New York cheesecake, but then again, it doesn't have a million calories per serving either!

Nothing Much

Well, I have nothing much to talk about today. I have been sewing, but for birthday gifts for Not Quite Grown and MIL. Until I know they received them, no pictures for you!! (They read they blog too, ya know!)

The vegetable seedlings are sprouting right along. The dogs are happy, Stud Muffin is hard at work, and the dust bunnies have formed a union and are demanding more benefits and days off!

Since I know you like food, here is a picture of a low-fat chocolate swirl cheesecake I made from an italian cookbook I borrowed from our teeny, tiny local library. It is made with low fat cottage and reduced fat cream cheese (no, not the library, you silly!!) and was actually very good!! I ate some, and froze the rest to enjoy another time. Can't remember the name of the book, and there is no clue on the pages that I copied, but it was something like Light and Luscious Italian cooking.

Yummy with a cup of hot coffee!

And since I have been spending time in my studio and it's cold, I have been using my little Reliant wood stove to heat the room.



See the unhung pictures stacked up behind it?? And my trusty Winnie the Pooh tea kettle filled with water for a little humidity?

Have you ever tried to photograph fire?? It won't stay still and pose pretty for the camera!



I spent a good part of the day work on my tractor, Kubota Jane. I took her down to the lower field that I mowed this summer, and dragged the box blade with the tines lowered to try to dig up some of the grass and tree stumps.

Me and Kubota Jane last summer. Notice the bright sunshine that we don't have today!!

I'm not too good with the box blade, and haven't quite learned how to *gently* float the box to disperse the built up dirt nicely, but it was a good first try. I think I might want to plant some corn there this summer, if I can clean the area up a bit better! I also think I need some aspirin for my neck. I had to look over my left shoulder to see what I was doing for about 3 hours today!

See, I told you this was a boring post! Dinner will be homemade chicken tenders with a squeeze of lemon, white rice, and salad. You never know, I might defrost the rest of that cheesecake and settle in for the night!

{This just in: MIL received her package, which contained some shopping bags and this apron!



The apron is made from a thrifted pillowcase and fingertip towel, and I included a matching shopping bag.}

Sundays from Singapore: Haircut Encore

12/13/2001

"The time has come," the bush woman said, "to find someone new in Singapore to mow my head."

And so started my second attempt to find a hairdresser who wouldn't, to quote the movie Notting Hill, "make you look like the Cookie Monster, whether you wanted to or not." I knew it was time to take a serious look at the available options when the hair on the sides of my head started to stick out like turn signals going in both directions as once. I had skulked into see Fred in Las Vegas when the girls and I were in town in October, with two bags over my head (in case one fell off!) so as not to scare the locals! I was thrilled with the transformation, but alas, the results tend to fade away over the ensuing weeks, and I was again beginning to look like "Barbie on crack."

As you recall, my first attempt at a haircut in Singapore left me in the losing position of a design debate with the non-English speaking hairdresser, and a Fab Four flounce permanently blown onto the top of my my fortyish head. A handful of glop lowered the altitude of the 'do somewhat, but I left dollars lighter, but with no less hair.

I had searched the expat message boards with sinking hopes of finding someone skilled at dealing with fine American hair, until a recommendation came along for a salon just across the street at the mall. But was I brave enough? Days of debate followed, the hair signals confusing all that tried to avoid me in the crosswalk, until I developed a tick from trying to blink my way out of my bangs. After bolting down a Diet Coke straight from the can while standing at the kitchen sink, I steeled myself and marched straight across to the mall.

My heart pounding, I rode the escalator up, up, up to the salon and managed to choke out my request, "I need a cut. Anybody here who can butcher, I mean style, short hair?" I was sent away for a half hour to sweat some more until the "creative director" arrived to attend to my disaster personally. No doubt, he slipped out the back way for a quick trip to the bar for fortification. I retreated to McDonald's for a Happy Meal to calm my nerves and spend an amusing 20 minutes playing with my Monsters, Inc. toy. I returned to the salon in control and determined not to whip out the ashes and sack cloth if this didn't go well.

My fears were quickly alleviated with the arrival of Christopher, a buff Asian young man who wore his hair long. Why is it that hairdressers never seemed to have their own hair "styled?" I mean, if they are men, they're either completely bald, or have long, straight hair. What is with that? Are they like my former dentist who needed to have gas just to have his own teeth cleaned? Are these stylists "cut-phobic" or do they realize the jeopardy they are placing themselves in when they sit in the chair?

Christopher is a man of few words, and I understood those few only with some deciphering to mean, "You want shorter? Go have wash first." The shampoo was worth the price of admission, it smelled good and the washer used her sharp little nails to scratch my head until my foot twitched like the hind leg of a dog! Stud Muffin called on my cell phone during this experience, probably because he missed his usual opportunity when I was in the public toilet, but I was too busy twitching to dig the phone out from the bottom of my purse.

The cut itself proceeded at warp speed. No doubt, Christopher imagined himself at 90 still wading through the layers if he didn't set a marathon pace, and stick with it. With my glasses off I can't see much detail, but I could make out arm movement and I could hear the rapid snip, snip of razor sharp scissors. {Note: I got my eyes fixed so now I can check up on them!} From the motion I could detect, Christopher knew what he was doing, but I was either going to the end with a wonderful feathery cut or look like I had waffle fries attached to my head, what with him cutting each section first this way, then that. Sufficed to say, I was thrilled to receive the former. The price was quite reasonable and I resisted the urge to empty my pocketbook out on the counter as my offering of extreme gratitude.

So, dear readers, I am pleased to announce the emergence of the newly, and happily shorn Lisa. I will follow Christopher to the ends of the earth to continue this relationship. I can now boldly walk across any street in the land without causing human traffic accidents due to confusing indications from my hair. And I can sleep soundly at night knowing that in the morning, my hair won't look like I dried it with a Mix Master.

This and That

Let me start by saying...

I am one hot d*mn mama jamma!!!

This is what I drove all the way from Nashville, about 150 miles, all by myself today!!

Big Rolling Turd

Now, picture this with a Corolla bobbing along behind it, and you'll start to get the gist of my day. I was so excited to get home, and trying to beat the rain, that I got the car unhooked and put away before I remembered the camera. I've only ever driven the Big Rolling Turd as we call it for about 2 hours over a year ago.

How brave am I?!? I think I dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back! Okay, I'm over it.

In other news, look at what the mailman has brought me lately. First up, a 1942 booklet by the Spool Cotton Company called Make and Mend for Victory that I got on Ebay.



I am enjoying reading this. It has very interesting information for repairing all kinds of material, as well as nifty refashioning ideas for cutting new clothes out of older ones, making hats, and crafting women's and children's clothing out of men's clothes. Was that in case he didn't come back from the war and need his own clothes?

Women's suit fashioned from men's suits. Sorry for the warped pages, there was some water damage!

Crocheted accessories and jewelry.

Plus, who can resist the Consumer's Victory Pledge on the inside cover, from the Office of Price Administration:

As a consumer, in the total defense of democracy, I will do my part to make my home, my community, my country ready, efficient, strong.

I will buy carefully - and I will not buy anything above the ceiling price no matter how much I may want it.

I will take good care of the things I have - and I will not buy anything made from vital war materials which I can get along without.

I will waste nothing - and I will take care to salvage everything needed to win the war.

It all seems appropriate considering the state of our current economy!

Next: a pattern for an apron called Emmeline by a sweet blogger, Meg from Montessori by Hand. I think it is adorable and couldn't wait to make my own.

Emmeline pattern.

I had bought some fabric on clearance at Joann's one day when we were dropping the Turd off for repairs (almost 2 months ago!!) that I thought I might make a purse out of. Conveniently, I bought enough of each of the 3 fabrics to make the apron instead.

Yeah, my photography sucks, and my "lady lumps" are bigger than the pattern model, as is the rest of my bod!

It's reversible!!

I thought I took a close-up of the pretty brown flowered fabric, but I guess that's just a drug flashback from the 60's!

MIL sent me a box stuffed full of Harry London chocolates, even though I know she isn't buying my whining!

Thanks MIL, they're yummy!

And finally, no the mailman didn't bring me this, but he did bring the seeds! I promised pictures of my "greenhouse" setup in my studio, and since they are starting to sprout, here's a view or two.

The bottle on the floor is fertilizer made from worm poop! (* snort giggle * Don't you just love saying poop?) I think it's neat that the company collects soda bottles and reuses them for their product!



There are more 'flats" to come, but they're not ready for prime time yet. Stud Muffin thinks I might be suspected of farming marijuana with the lights on half the night! So, if you see me on America's Most Wanted, you can say you heard it here first!

Seven Weird Things about Me!

I have been tagged by Thimbleanna to share 7 weird things about myself! This will be tough! Not because there aren't 7 weird things about me, but because there are many more than that! Okay, in no particular order, see how many you already knew!

1. I can't read out loud very well because I read from right to left. It makes sense to me as I read silently, but makes me stumble when I read out loud.



2. I love charm bracelets even though I don't wear bracelets very often. My Grandmother Ruthie always wore a gold bracelet with charms given to her by her family and collected on travels. I always loved the sound of it jingling!

3. I would rather eat leftovers for breakfast than any *normal* breakfast food. Chinese food, Mexican food, whatever!

4. I dislocated my jaw once by yawning! The emergency room personnel got a good laugh out of that one!

5. I'm afraid of bridges and fish in the ocean. We'll just leave it at that.

6. Apparently, I make a trilling sound when I sleep, but I think Stud Muffin just made that up!

7. My married name is the same as my mother's maiden name. This gives banks and other places that use your mother's maiden name as a security question absolute fits! When I went to the Social Security office to change my name after our wedding, they brought out a supervisor to try to explain what they meant by *mother's maiden name* to me so I would quit repeating myself.

Okay, so having bared my weird soul, I get to torture pick some other bloggers to do the same exercise! My choices are Celtic Spirit, Marmite Toasty, Barefoot in the Garden, The Tardy Homemaker, and a new blogger, Not So Crunchy!

Once upon a time...

People have complained that I never post pictures of myself. Well, only when it's unavoidable. Like when nobody else will model my creations. And there is a very good reason why I don't show myself. I hate having my picture taken... always have. Even as a child, hated it!

But this one from many years ago, isn't too objectionable. It's close to how I look now, if you take away the bangs and the makeup, and add a few pounds... and maybe an extra chin!

Sorry about the white spots, bad scan! or maybe someone poked my eyes out in this photo!

But it will have to satisfy my public, because there aren't many others to choose from, and well, pictures of my twin theater sized behind just isn't something you want floating around the web!

Buck up and open your eyes! You asked me for it!

I am sooo feelin' the luv!

Wow! Another bloggy award, this time from Sara of Barefoot in the Garden!



All I can say is, right back at you, girl! You crack me up, make me thankful for my advance stage in the world of parenting, and brighten my day! But, I guess I can't give the award back to you, or we would never get anywhere! So, here, in no particular order, are my nominees for this award:

The Frugal Single Mom for creatively caring for not only her own child, but her Mom and siblings as well, all with a great attitude!

Mrs Style of Sustainable Style for showing the world that you can be fashionable and hip and still do your part to protect and preserve the world in which we all live.

Penny of Sew Take A Hike, well, because she gave me my very first award, and because she is so talented and giving of her creativity by sharing tutorials of the cool stuff she makes!

Corrie from Retro Mummy for finding a way to indulge in her passion for Japanese fabrics without breaking the bank, and also because she is pregnant with twins and needs all the love she can get!

I would also give this award to MIL and Christina, but since neither of you have a blog (hint, hint) you can't have it! Just know that I love you both and that you deserve it. But you can't have it.