Valentines Day recipe - Mini Cheesecakes

Valentines Day for some reason always makes me think of
cheesecake!

I think it's because for many years it was my husband favorite dessert
thus, a Valentines Day favorite.

Now he seldom eats sweets anymore, but I thought maybe I could persuade him with a new twist on his old favorite.

These mini - cheesecakes at the most adorable things ever!




Valentine - Mini Cheesecakes

Here’s the recipe:

2 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp lemon juice

vanilla wafers crumbled
2 or 2.5" aluminum mini baking cups (aka muffin cups)
Maraschino cherries

Mix the first 5 ingredients in order given, mixing in eggs one at a time and beating well.  Pour into muffin cups in a muffin tin with a few vanilla wafers crumbled in the bottoms.  Don't overfill, fill to about 3/4 full in muffin cups.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.  Cool.  Cakes shrink slightly as they cool.  After cool decorate with maraschino cherries, stablized whip cream and a few pink or red sprinkles.  Eat and enjoy!

Stabilized Whip Cream: (holds it's shape for hours and hours :)

Heavy whipping cream

1/2 C. powdered sugar

unflavored gelatin packet

8 t. cold water

In a small cooking pan, sprinkle 2t. gelatin into 8 t. cold water, let sit a couple minutes, then on slightly warm burner, warm just until gelatin dissolves, set aside to cool.  Whip 2 C. heavy whipping cream to soft peak status.  Slowly whip gelatin mixture into whip cream while continuously beating to the firm peak stage.

(¯`*•.¸♥ღ  Mmmmmm - Mmmmmm - GOOD!♥ღ(¯`*




As you can see we celebrated with great style this year, romantic movies, chocolate, diet coke, an assortment of pink treats, and a new favorite . . .


Valentine Mini Cheesecakes!

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A Book Review - Pope Joan

Pope Joan - by Donna Woolfolk Cross

I am loving this book!
Read my review and see what you think, I highly recommend this one.

It's the book of the month for our book group.

My thoughts . . .
Historial Fiction is one of my most favorite genre to read.  And this one has held me enthralled from almost  the first page when we come upon Hrotrud, the village midwife, trudging through the blizzard to reach the beautiful Saxon wife of the ironically cruel village priest as she prepares to deliver her 3rd baby.  Being a Labor & Delivery nurse, I read her account of the delivery with a great deal of interest.  Thank goodness we seldom have to resort to those extreme measures today.  But no cesarean deliveries in sterile operating rooms back in the 9th century.

The baby Joan grows up on the pagan Saxon tales and songs from her mother an op-positionally becomes a great scholar in the classics, Greek, Latin, and language.  All along her usual behaviors for a woman are considered ungodly and sinful, whereas she is the exact opposite as she becomes an unusually talented and gifted healer.

Pope Joan is an excellent combination of fact and fiction, the plot is a clever one weaving historical facts and figures around a legendary figure we have little information on.  In fact, Pope Joan's reign as Pope Joan VIII was considered fact until about 100 years ago when she was suddenly erased from history.

This book has something for everyone, history, deception, love and romance (great for February ;), a captivating read from the first page on.  Amazon readers give it 4.5 stars, Goodreads.com 4.02 average read.

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New Whole Wheat Bread Recipe . . .

I've been a long time whole wheat bread maker.  It something that my family has always loved over the years.  I'm amazed at how we can devour 2 loafs of whole wheat bread in a day or two.  

It's doubly delicious served with homemade jam

or my neighbor Jim's homegrown beehive honey.  It's a real treat every time he brings some across the street for us!

Recently my bread mixer went 'out of order'
 and I haven't been able to replace it yet.  About the same time my sister gave me this new bread recipe that I could make easily in one bowl with my little portable mixer.  

I was 

skeptical!

But sure enough - it works and is so delicious!  

We do grind our own wheat flour from Lehi Roller Mills winter white wheat.  

But I have bought specialty whole wheat flour at the grocery store in a pinch and it is delicious as well.

Easy 6-ingredient Whole Wheat Bread

3 C. Very warm bordering on hot water

1 T. Yeast (my favorite - SAF instant :)
(let sit for about 5-7 minutes)

1 T. salt

1/3 C. Honey

1/3 C. Vegetable oil

6-7 C. Whole wheat flour

That's it, add the ingredients in the order given,
cover with dish towel let rise for 45 min
shape into two loaf pans
let rise


(this is my rising trick - 
preheat the oven to 170 and turn off,
let dough rise in oven for 30 minutes) 


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
or until crust turns a light brown.
Let cool in pans for 10 minutes,
remove to cooling rack.  
I lightly brush the tops of loaves with water, it keeps
the crusts softer.




Enjoy
as the wafting aroma of home baked bread
draws your neighbors in from far and wide ;)

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27 Days to Tanzania <''>

Whoa!  I can't believe my youngest (Kelsie.Klein) who is sort of still at home . . .

(who just started a new blog this week!)

Who flew the coop two years ago to study in Rexburg, Idaho

that ALREADY seems so very far away

(although truly it was only 4 hours up the freeway - it seemed like forever!  :)

In 27 days will depart for a 27 hour journey across 3 continents and 

over the ocean and Mediterranean Sea

to the far away land in Africa of

Tanzania! 

To a little township by the name of Moshi

at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I must admit I was a wee bit worried when I read this at travel.state.gov . . .

Travelers are reminded to safeguard their U.S. passports while in Tanzania.  Passport loss can lead to delays in departing the country and can cause disruption of travel.  Tanzanian authorities require that travelers who are not in possession of the visa and entry stamps obtained upon admission to Tanzania visit the immigration office prior to departure to regularize their status.  Persons attempting to depart the country without proper documentation may be subject to fines or delays in departure.

THREATS TO SAFETY AND SECURITY: Terrorist incidents in the recent past highlight the continuing threat posed by terrorism in East Africa and the capacity of terrorist groups to carry out such attacks.  On August 7, 1998, terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, Kenya.  On November 28, 2002, terrorists bombed a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, approximately 50 miles north of the Kenya-Tanzania border, and unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down an Israeli charter plane departing Mombasa Airport.  In response to the recent bus bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, the Tanzanian Police issued a general terror alert on December 22, 2010.  The Embassy urges U.S. citizens in the strongest possible terms to exercise good personal security practices.

U.S. citizens should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets including usual gathering places of tourists and Westerners.  At all times, travelers should maintain a high level of security vigilance.  They should avoid political rallies and related public gatherings.  In the past, peaceful demonstrations have turned violent with little or no warning as riot police clashed with demonstrators.   
The population in Zanzibar is majority Muslim and holds traditional values.  Some Zanzibar newspapers have warned that women who dress immodestly may be subject to harassment.  U.S. citizens are advised to dress modestly and to refrain from intemperate public behavior.

(I think we'll be okay on the modesty issue . . . and I hope she can avoid peaceful demonstrations that might turn violent!  I doubt they will be staging any of those at the orphanage where she will be providing humanitarian service, unless of course the little ones get out of hand . . .  ;)

 I hope you'll take just a minute to

familiarize yourself with her blog!

You can find out more information about service in 

Tanzania

from 

Path to Africa.

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