Low-Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake

I wanted cheesecake. I wanted pumpkin pie. What could be better than having pumpkin cheesecake? Well, it's not exactly the best thing for me, I'm afraid. Even eaten in small portions. So, luckily, I found this Low-Carb recipe for pumpkin cheesecake. It's not very sweet, but it's very rich and very thick and creamy. And pumpkinny. I made it for our Christmas dessert. Unfortunately, we were both too full to have any on that day, so I have been having it with my lunches every day since. It hasn't caused a sugar spike, so that has to be good, right?

This is pretty easy to make, just kind of time consuming. I used fresh pumpkin in mine, so I just measured out the same amount that it asks for. I find that usually gives it a richer, fresher flavor than the canned stuff. Make sure it is really well mixed. Sometimes, I don't end up mixing mine well enough and I get chunks of cream cheese that separate from the rest a little. And make sure you really scrape the sides often while mixing. My mixes tend to slough off on the side and stick.

I hope that if you make this, you really enjoy it. I am pretty sure you can add more Splenda than I did. It can be really tasty and the nut crust give it a really interesting flavor. I got this recipe from 500 Low-Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Butter
1/2 Cup pecans, coarsely chopped
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened (I use Neufchatel, it's lower in fat and tastes EXACTLY the same)
1/2 to 3/4 cup Splenda sweetener
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pure canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground gloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
Butter thebotom and sides of a 9 1/2-inch springform cheesecake pan. Sprinkle the botom of the pan with chopped pecans, distributing them evenly.

In a large mixing bowl, use an electic mixer to beat the cream cheese, Splenda, and vanilla until fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl and beaters.

Add the pumpkin and sour cream, mixing thoroughly on medium speed.

 

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one. Mix the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. 

Pour the batter over the nuts in the pan.

Bake for 60 to70 minutes, or until a knife placed in the center comes out clean.

Cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan, and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Hot Chicken Salad

The name of this recipe made me think - Oh, gross! Hot lettuce! But no. I had to read it a couple of times before I realized - ooooh, like chicken salad sandwiches! Yum! And yum, it was. It's simple. It's tasty. And I think you can just about add anything that floats your boat, that you would normally like in your regular chicken salad. Have fun with different veggies, add raisins, or apples. The original recipe is from Diabetic Living Magazine again, and it asks for yellow sweet pepper - I don't like peppers. I just don't. I don't like the way they taste at all. So, I omitted them from this recipe.

I hope you like it.

Hot Chicken Salad
3 cups cubed cooked chicken (about 1 pound)
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped yellow sweet pepper
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese (3 oz)
1 10.75 oz. can reduced-fat and reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1 6 oz. carton plain low fat yogurt (I could not find low fat plain, only nonfat, and it worked just fine)
1/4 c slilced green onions
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup crushed cornflakes
1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, stir together chicken, celery, sweet pepper, cheese, soup, yogurt, green onions, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Transfer to 2 qt. rectangular baking dish.

2. In a small bowl, stir together cornflakes and almonds. Sprinkle evely over chicken mixture.

3. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I have no notes on this, except to read the recipe through first and make sure you have enough time to cook the chicken. I didn't realize that I had to do this and it took me a little longer to make dinner than I had originally anticipated. It was totally worth it, but I wish hadn't had to wait so long for it.

Oh, I also apologize for the lack of pictures. We have been pretty hungry when dinner comes out of the oven lately, and have forgotten to take pictures. I will try to get on that as soon as I can!

And another thing... I notice a few people looking at this, do any of you have any suggestions to make the page better, and types of recipes, stats, food types that you would like to see on here? Links? Anything? I am open to suggestions. I haven't done this type of blog before, so any help is welcome!

Thanks!

Mediterranean Pork Chops and Spinach Strawberry Salad

I "forced" my husband into making dinner the other night because I was too tired. So, I gave him something fairly (OK, really) easy to make. Although there are very few ingredients in the main dish, and several in the salad, it was simple and flavorful. We have no pictures because it smelled so good and we were so hungry that we pretty much devoured it when it came out of the oven. The pork chops are another Diabetic Living recipe from the Winter 2009 issue. The salad was our own concoction.

Mediterranean Pork Chops
4 boneless or bone-in pork loin chops, cut 1/2 inch thick (1 - 1/2 pounds total)
1 tablespoon finely snipped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried, crushed
3 cloves garlic, minced

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Sprinkle all side of chops with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In a small bowl, combine rosemary and garlic. Sprinkle rosemary mixture evenly over all sides of the chops; rub in with your fingers. (Please remember to wash your hands thoroughly after doing this)

2. Place chops on a rack in a shallow roasting pan*. Roast chops 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue roasting about 25 minutes or until no pink remains (160 degrees) and juices run clear.

*We used just a glass 9x13 dish. It worked just fine.

Spinach Strawberry Salad
*These are odd amounts - we just used what we had on hand
1/2 head spinach, washed and torn apart
8 strawberries - cleaned and sliced
1/4 cup chopped pecans
8 oz. Feta cheese, crumbled

Toss ingredients together in a large bowl. Add your favorite sweeter vinaigrette dressing and toss again. I will try to add the recipe we used, but since it was made without being written down, I don't know how accurate it will be.

Hope you enjoy dinner!

The Way To Start The Day - Breakfast!

The first thing I had to change about my diet was breakfast. I was a little sad, because I am pretty much an easy in, easy out prep for breakfast - cereal. Unfortunately, that was not cutting it in the blood sugar department. Luckily, about that time, dlife - a Diabetic website - came out with a 7 day breakfast meal plan. I didn't like all of the choices, of course. So, I skipped some things, and tweaked others. I'm going to post a couple of my favorites. dLife listed reasons for the food choices they had, and so far, they seem to have worked for me.

On my weekends, I try to prep stuff for my breakfasts and lunches, so I don't have to spend too much time on it before work during the week. One of the things that I do, is prepare the nuts for a Greek Yogurt Parfait.

Nuts to Add to Greek Yogurt Parfait
1 Cup Almonds
1 Cup Macadamia Nuts
1 Tablespoon Ground Flax Seed
1 Tablespoon of butter/margarine
1 Tablespoon honey
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

I use a nut chopper and chop up about a 1/4 cup of nuts at a time, set them aside and add the flax seed. Melt butter and honey in a frying pan. Once melted, add all nuts/seeds and cinnamon. Toast over medium heat, making sure not to burn them.

Cool, and refrigerate for use later.

Greek Yogurt Parfait
1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt (plain)
2 Tablespoons Nut Mixture
1/4 Cup Berries
1 Teaspoon Splenda or other sweetener
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Add vanilla and sweetener to yogurt and mix with spoon. Add berries and nuts.

According to dLife, Greek yogurt has more protein and less carbs and is easier to digest than regular yogurt. It's also great for those that are lactose intolerant.

Fruit and Yogurt Smoothies
1/2 Cup Milk (I use 1 %)
1/2 Cup Greek yogurt
3/4 Cup Fresh or Frozen Fruit (my favorite is blackberries)
1 Tablespoon Wheat Germ or Flax Seed
Vanilla to taste
Sweetener to taste
Ice Cubes

If you use frozen fruit, put that in the blender first, if you use fresh fruit, put the ice cubes in first. Add milk, yogurt, fresh fruit (if not using frozen), vanilla, sweetener, and wheat germ/flax seed. Blend until liquid and smooth.

Steel Cut Oats
This takes some time, so I generally make it either the night before, or on my weekends.
This makes four servings - but it refrigerates well for later.
1 Cup Uncooked Steel Cut (Irish) Oats
1 Tablespoon Butter/Margarine/Oil
3 Cups Boiling water
1 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Chopped Fruit
1/2 Tablespoon Butter/Margarine
1 Teaspoon Flax seed

Toast uncooked Steel Cut Oats for 2 minutes in melted butter. Add boiling water. Cook for 25 minutes on med-low heat, stirring a few times during. Add milk and cook for 10 more minutes. Cover and set aside for 2 minutes. Spoon out into bowl and add butter, fruit (or dried cranberries, raisins, etc) and flax seed. You can substitute 2 Tablespoon Peanut Butter or 1/2 cup nuts, for the extras on here.

When reheating this - add a little milk or cream. It helps a lot with the consistency.

I hope this gives you some good starts for the day. I encourage you to check out dLife for some other ideas.