National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

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By Chef Diane

A few months ago I was talking to my cousin in Texas. He recently turned 50, so I have been giving him grief about getting older. That’s the job of a good cousin right? He has had periods of forgetfulness, so in my research I found that along with Ginko, blueberries are also great in helping with memory issues. So...I made him a card with a picture of blueberries on it, to help him remember to eat some blueberries.  You would think he would appreciate my subtle reminders...hahaha.

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The other night I was having a craving for some ice cream.  I don't like buying it and having it in my freezer, because once its there it calls to me constantly until I eat it all up.  Does your food ever "talk" to you??  Well this craving was so strong that I decided to go down the road to McDonald's for an ice cream cone.  As I pulled up to the box to place my order, I looked up at the menu and saw a big bowl of blueberries...they sell them now.  I thought to myself, isn’t that a   healthy choice?

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Today when I looked at my assignment sheet I see that it is National Blueberry Cheesecake day.  I think someone is telling me to make blueberry cheesecake.   It is believed that cheesecake originated in Ancient Greece where it was served to athletes during the Olympic Games in 776 B.C. Since then, recipes for cheesecake have evolved and today we have cheesecakes in hundreds of flavors — from plain to white chocolate to blueberry,

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The types of cheese used in cheesecake vary depending on where it is made and the intended flavor of the cheesecake. American cheesecakes are made with cream cheese, while Italian cheesecakes are made with ricotta. Furthermore, German and Polish cheesecake recipes call for quark cheese.

Blueberries are full of Vitamin C and dietary fiber.  They contain manganese, which plays an important role in bone development and in converting the proteins, carbohydrates and fats in food into to energy, and they have great antioxidant benefits as well.  With all these benefits, how can you not have some blueberry cheesecake?  Below is a recipe from Myrecipes.com to get you started.   If you don’t have time to make all this, you can get a mix for cheesecake that is on the cake mix aisle at your grocery, you can get already made mix in containers in your dairy aisle, or you can even get a frozen cheese cake and add your own blueberries.  What's stopping you?  Celebrate Blueberry Cheesecake Day!

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Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 5 cookie sheets)
• 2/3 cup reduced-fat vanilla wafer crumbs (about 20 cookies)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries, thawed
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 1/2 (8-ounce) blocks fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 large eggs 
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Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups fat-free sour cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup fresh or frozen, thawed, wild blueberries

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. To prepare crust, combine first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Drizzle with butter; toss with a fork until moist. Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
3. To prepare filling, combine 2 1/2 cups blueberries and 1 tablespoon cornstarch in a food processor, and process until smooth. Place puree in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 6 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup blueberry puree for sauce; set remaining 1 cup blueberry puree aside.
4. Place cheeses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed for 3 minutes or until smooth. Combine 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and salt. Add sugar mixture to cheese mixture; beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour batter over prepared crust. Pour 1 cup blueberry puree over batter; gently swirl with a knife. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until cheesecake center barely moves when pan is touched. Remove cheesecake from oven (do not turn oven off); place cheesecake on a wire rack.
5. To prepare topping, combine sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl, stirring well. Spread sour cream mixture evenly over cheesecake. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; run a knife around outside edge. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Remove sides of spring form pan.
6. To prepare sauce, combine reserved 1/2 cup blueberry puree, 1/4 cup sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 8 minutes or until sauce is thick, stirring constantly. Gently fold in 1 cup blueberries. Remove from heat, and cool. Serve sauce with cheesecake

10/21 National Pumpkin Cheesecake

By Diane Forrest

It's October, and one of the things this month brings to mind is Pumpkins!   Raise your hand if you grew up waiting in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin with Linus and Charlie Brown.  I know I did.  Some friends of mine recently took their grandchildren to a pumpkin patch where they had pumpkins everywhere, and each of them received their very own.  They also had other family oriented activities which made for a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I recently had to take a trip to Jackson, and decided to stop for lunch at the Olive Garden.  I love Itallian food, and couldn’t wait to dig into the menu to see what wonderful dishes they had.  When I opened the menu, the first thing I saw was a huge picture of Pumpkin Cheesecake!  Well that reminded me that National Pumpkin Cheesecake day was soon approaching, and today is that day!

Below is a recipe from Paula Dean for Pumpkin Cheesecake, it is a very easy recipe, but requires about 4 hours of refrigeration after baking, so if you want to eat it for supper, make sure you make it early in the day.  If you don't have time to bake your own, stop by the Olive Garden, its a great opportunity to celebrate pumpkin cheesecake, and you sure don’t want to waste it!

Paul Dean's Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients

Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon.

Add melted butter.

Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours

Cheesecake - yummm

By Diane Forrest

Today is National Cheesecake Day.  I'm talking about the dessert, not pictures of scantily clad ladies.  Is it a coincidence that it follows lasagna day?  Not only is it a perfect dessert  to follow lasagna, but it also has its origins in Greece.  It was later also adopted by the Romans as was lasagna.

Cheesecake is a dessert consisting of a topping made of soft, fresh cheese on a base made from biscuit, pastry or sponge.  The topping is frequently sweetened with sugar and flavored or topped with fruit, nuts, fruit flavored drizzle and/or chocolate.  It comes in 2 forms, baked or unbaked.   Baking a cheesecake is not as simple as you might think.  It is a difficult process because of the types of cheeses used, getting them to bake evenly and keeping them from cracking or crumbling.  There is a special spring-form pan that is used, as well as baking in a water bath, or wrapping with a wet towel after removing from the oven.  I have found the easiest way to enjoy baked cheesecake is to order it at my favorite restaurant!

The no bake cheesecake is much easier to prepare.  You can find a box mix on the baking aisle at your grocery store, or use a simple recipe like this one:

No Bake Cheesecake:

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 1/2 pint sliced fresh strawberries

Directions

• Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon mixture into graham crumb crust. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Once the cheesecake has set, garnish with sliced strawberries. Serve.

When I was younger I never tried cheesecake.  To me, the words cheese and cake didn't really belong together.  I love cake, and I love cheese, but didn't think I would like it together.  Another reason was my mother would cover the top with that canned cherry pie filling.  Those also didn't appeal to me.  While I like raw cherries (especially floating in a pina colada) I never cared for the canned cooked cherries.   Then one day I discovered Sara Lee Frozen Strawberry Cheesecake.  It was love at first bite!  I would buy one, take it over to my cousin's, get two forks and we would eat the whole thing right out of the box.  Who wants to wash dishes?  We sat on the floor and placed the cheesecake on the coffee table between us and munched away while watching a favorite movie. Recently, while I was in Jackson when my husband was hospitalized, my cousin came over to the hotel room where I was staying.  She brought her 10 year old daughter with her, and in her hand was.....you guessed it!  A frozen Sara Lee Strawberry Cheesecake!  We sat on the bed this time( too hard to get all the way down on the floor) and armed with 3 forks we did some major damage to that cheesecake. So the tradition continues!  So today, after you eat some leftover lasagna, finish it off with a delicious slice of cheesecake and celebrate national cheesecake day.